The first big event of the semester was a concert by the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Mr. Marsalis and his entire quartet are currently participating in an extended artist in residency program at North Carolina Central University here in Durham. The concert was one of those incredible experiences where you get to enjoy the talents of four great jazz musicians. The quartet is made up of Mr. Marsalis on saxophones, Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass, and Justin Faulkner on drums. They played for almost 2 hours straight. Some of the music was based on the songs found on a new album they recorded in October. Marsalis explained that they really hadn't rehearsed them since October, but you couldn't tell. Their first number was written by Calderazzo, which for recording purposes was called "Joey's fast number". When pressed for a title by the record company Mr. Marsalis named it "Twister", which appeared to be news to Mr. Calderazzo. In any event, the music soared. I loved watching Calderazzo get into his solo's sometimes standing up(a la Jerry Lee Lewis) and playing away. One other high point was a drum solo by Mr. Faulkner. At most jazz concerts that I've been to the drum solo gives the band an opportunity to rest. They walk off stage and let the drummer bang away for 5 or 10 minutes. In this case, the rest of the quartet stayed on stage and played a repetitive series of five or six notes while Faulkner and his drums became the center of focus and became one - it was great. Another piece that both Nan and I found moving was one written by Marsalis in the style of the French jazz artist Sidney Bechet - very romantic. One of the best concerts we've been to since being down here.
Of course the new semester also includes getting back into Duke sports. One of the first things we went to was the opening match of the women's tennis season. Duke is ranked #3 in national poles and features the top-rated Freshman recruiting class led by the 7th ranked amateur Beatrice Capra. The opening match was against William and Mary and resulted in a Duke sweep. In order to entice students to attend, pizza was served during the break between the doubles ans singles matches. The second tennis match I went to was against Indiana, and again Duke prevailed with a sweep. This time Bojangles chicken sandwiches were featured as "half time" treats. If we keep attending tennis matches, I think we can save on our food bill.
It was a doubleheader sports day as I went from the tennis to Duke (#5) versus Maryland (#8) women's basketball game. I got to go with my friend Spiro who has great seats in the front row just above the student section. It was an excellent game in which Duke triumphed. We were not so fortunate last night playing UConn. The Huskies played great defense and shot a high percentage of 3s to beat us by 16. Despite the loss it was a battle of quality teams. We just couldn't find enough offense to stay close. The place was hopping though, which is great for a women's game which only recently has begun to develop strong student support.
There was an interesting article in The Chronicle, the Duke student newspaper, about how student attendance has fallen off dramatically at sporting events. It appears that some of the students' seats are now available to the community at large. The article has sparked an interesting debate in the paper about the level of funding the sports' program is receiving in light of the falling student attendance. Of course as long as the programs continue to produce massive revenues for the University, I doubt very much if there will be a reallocation of funds to other programs. I can't help but wonder if this is something that is occurring only at Duke, or is happening at other schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment