The Tappan-William Jazz Quartet played at Seeley-Swan High School Sunday, April 17.
Ann Tappan playing SSHS's new Yamaha, five and half foot, Grand Piano. Retired SSHS Music Director Robert Green spoke with Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) Fine Arts Supervisor John Combs about the desire for SSHS and 2VS to have a grand piano in Seeley Lake. This piano belonged to MCPS and was at Jefferson School. After the restructuring due to the MCPS Bond, it needed to find a new home. "Seeley-Swan was the perfect place," said Green. 2VS paid for it to be moved to Seeley Lake and it will reside at SSHS in the music department.
SEELEY LAKE - If attendees closed their eyes Sunday afternoon they could have been transported to a jazz club in New Orleans as the music of the Tappan - Williams Jazz Quartet filled the Seeley-Swan High School gym. The group played two sets of jazz standards mixed with a few modern jazz tunes. This was the final concert in the 2 Valleys Stage (2VS) 2015-2016 concert series.
The quartet included Ann Tappan on piano, vocalist and jazz trombonist M.J. Williams, Brad Edwards on drums and percussion and Rob Kohler on bass. They played to what Williams called, "the great American heritage that highlighted the history of regionalism, racism and creativity."
The four musicians traded solo choruses as they improvised on the various tunes. Williams used vocal improvisation called scat. Scat uses wordless and nonsense syllables that incorporate musical structure and melodic lines. The notes are often a variation on scale and arpeggio fragments, patterns and riffs like would be heard from instrumental improvisers.
"The main feature of jazz is improvisation," said Williams. "It allows jazz musicians to always be growing and creative, not static. Our ability to reinvent has kept us going."
The 2VS 2016-2017 concert series will kick-off Aug. 26 at the Double Arrow Grounds with Shakespeare in the Park's "Richard III."
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