Eckhardt brings Jazz performance to von der Mehden

Alexandra Eckhardt, a 7th-semester music education major with a jazz emphasis, performed alongside UConn Jazz Faculty professors Earl MacDonald and Bill Reynolds on Monday at 8 p.m. in Von der Mehden Recital Hall. About 100 people, primarily friends and family, showed up to demonstrate their support for Eckhardt and to hear some cool jazz. Eckhardt performed acoustic and electric bass alongside MacDonald's piano and Reynold's drumming. "Bolivia" kicked off the evening, a lively up-tempo bop chart, at once showing the audience Eckhardt's bass virtuosity with quick 16th-note runs. An arrangement of the traditional Swedish folk song "Dear Old Stockholm" came after. The piece, famous for its arrangements by jazz greats Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Paul Chambers and John Coltrane, was a mid tempo swing that here featured a bass melody and extended bass solo. A fast, 16th-note-dominated "Tricotism" was next, also featuring trading piano and drum fills in the middle section. The Italian jazz standard "Estate" followed, with Eckhardt pulling out a bowed bass performance for the beginning and end, framing relaxed, bossa nova-styled music in the middle. Eckhardt switched things up by pulling out her Fender electric jazz bass for the next piece, "Serendipity". This funky, straight-eighth-note fusion piece by Tal Wilkenfeld brought MacDonald to the electric piano, and featured piano and bass solos in the unusual meter of 7/4. Eckhardt's Jaco Pastorius-like playing featured runs all the way around the entire fret board, and some intricate work high up near the neck. The Charlie Parker favourite "Donna Lee" brought things back to the traditional with a bop feel, featuring a highly syncopated bass solo, and drum fills in the middle section. Next, Eckhardt stepped to the front and performed a solo piece, entitled "Samba Petit". This started off with a freeform jazz angle, suddenly breaking into a standard samba in the middle carried solely by Eckhardt, and ending with more freeform jazz. The song was filled with highly complex bass techniques including natural and false harmonics, double stops and playing very high on the neck. MacDonald and Reynolds returned for the Dizzy Gillespie standard "A Night in Tunisia." This unique arrangement replaced the usual trumpet melody with a dual bass/piano call and response line. Eckhardt and Reynolds traded two-measure solos during the solo section. The evening culminated in "Lined with a Groove", a multi-part piece starting offwith an out of tempo bass solo, changing into a quick up tempo rumba section, and finishing in an up-swing part, featuring MacDonald and Reynolds trading four-measure phrases during the solo section. Eckhardt received a standing ovation at the end of the recital, and delighted her audience with her performance. "I loved it when she started accompanying herself on the bass," said Scott McColl, a 5th-semester music education major, referring to Eckhardt's performance of "Samba Petit". "I never expected that at all. She was awesome!" According to MacDonald's Web site, tonight's performance was the first in what is hoped to be a series of annual performances "where an outstanding UConn jazz student will be selected to perform with the UConn jazz faculty in a recital". Eckhardt was the first UConn student to have this honor.