Delfeayo Marsalis jazzes up the Majestic with Sunderman Conservatory students

Photo credit: NBC News

Photo credit: NBC News

By Benjamin Pontz, Events Coverage Director

As parents from across the country and around the world descended on the Gettysburg College campus during parent’s weekend, a style of music with influences from across the country and from around the world emanated from the historic Majestic Theater Friday evening, October 28.

The Gettysburg College Jazz Ensemble was joined by the Camerata chamber singers and the Jazz Dispatch combo for a concert entitled “Fall Madness,” which featured trombone soloist Delfeayo Marsalis, a special guest who visited the Sunderman Conservatory and performed earlier in the afternoon at the conservatory’s weekly Now Hear This performance.

Marsalis, the brother of Wynton, Branford, and Jason Marsalis, and the son of Ellis Louis Marsalis, received recognition along with his family from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2011 as a Jazz Master, the nation’s highest jazz honor. He performed five tunes with the jazz ensemble: “Say When,” “Along Came Betty,” “Skylark,” “The Peaches Are Better Down The Road,” and “The Next Big Thing.”

Certainly, it impacted student performers.

Marc Tessier ’17, a music performance major, said, “Playing with Delfeayo was a phenomenal experience. He was so knowledgeable, and also so willing to share his knowledge. He was very down to earth, which is very pleasant from someone of his stature.”

Not to be forgotten, Camerata performed two songs: jazz standards “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “When I Fall In Love.” The pair fit together naturally according to director Dr. Rob Natter, director of choral music at the College.

“The first song never mentions love specifically,” he told the audience before elaborating that the second one is far more explicit; he thought they formed a nice pair.

The Sunderman Conservatory has several events throughout the remainder of the semester including, senior recitals from music majors Luke McCurry, Alex Schweizer, Brittany Barry, Meghan Riley, and Molly Clark, and performances from the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony, and the Choral Program. A full schedule is available at the Sunderman Conservatory’s website:

http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/conservatory/about/performances/calendar/calendar-of-events.dot

Author: Benjamin Pontz

Benjamin Pontz '20 served as Editor-in-Chief of The Gettysburgian from 2018 until 2020, Managing News Editor from 2017 until 2018, News Editor in the spring of 2017, and Staff Writer during the fall of 2016. During his tenure, he wrote 232 articles. He led teams that won two first place Keystone Press Awards for ongoing news coverage (once of Bob Garthwait's resignation, and the other of Robert Spencer's visit to campus) and was part of the team that wrote a first-place trio of editorials in 2018. He also received recognition for a music review he wrote in 2019. A political science and public policy major with a music minor, he graduated in May of 2020 and will pursue a master's degree in public policy on a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Manchester before enrolling in law school.

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