Ryleigh Clukey, Arts & Life Writer EMORY, Va. — On Thursday night, the Emory Activities Board (EAB) hosted a special event for the students: a live performance by the Wolf Hills Jazz Quartet, with Ed Davis, Emory & Henry professor of geography, featuring the vocal talents of senior self-designed major—consisting of vocal music, creative writing and mass communications—Elise Harvey. The group played big hits such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” inspired by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Annie Lenox’s version of ”I Put a Spell on You”, and “At Last” by Stevie Wonder—which was Harvey’s biggest hit, according to Davis. Harvey makes the most recent addition to the group, joining around the start of the semester. Initially, Davis said that he did not think E&H students would be interested in a jazz quartet when the EAB initially asked him to play. However, he changed his mind, thinking that a vocalist could make all the difference. “I went to Josh Boggs, and I said, ‘Do you have a singer who could do, like, jazz or blues type stuff?’ and he said, ‘Elise Harvey.’” Harvey was already well known for her singing on campus, having been in the choir for seven semesters and winning a karaoke contest during the Global Street Fair on Emory & Henry’s campus in the fall of 2018. She said that she really enjoyed getting to sing for the group. “This group introduced me to [“I Put a Spell on You”] and it was really fun to learn something new.” Before the performance had started, Davis’s fear that students would not care for a jazz quartet performance was easily assuaged. Several students came to the event, nearly filling the lounge, and students applauded both pieces with Harvey singing and the instrumental pieces equally enthusiastically. Celia East said, “I think it was excellent, and I think we need to have more diverse music tastes on campus. We need a jazz band.” Composed of Davis, playing upright bass, Tom Peterson on tenor saxophone, Joe Pendergast on drumset, and Dave Ledgerwood on electric guitar, the group was created in the spring of 2016 when they came together to play for a fundraiser for the town square in Glade spring in the spring of 2016. All of the members are from Abingdon or Glade Spring Virginia. For anyone hoping to see Davis’ jazz quartet, the group will be performing at the Bonefire Barbeque Place on Sunday, Feb. 9, and they can often be found performing at Blackbird Bakery and the White Birch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWhitetopper Staff Archives
March 2020
Categories
All
|