In the background of the trombonists and trumpeters you could hear the piano playing ever so gently and not so often. It seemed so far to be pretty disjunct, but then the solo from the tenor saxophonist and from the pianist set the song on track for a more conjunct melody. After those the harmony seemed more pleasing to the ear. Rhythmically, the piece had an off time feel to it, as if there was a lot of syncopation going on. The ending of the song consisted of the repetition of an energetic riff by the trumpets and a couple fills by the drummer preceded by a short, heavy riff on the piano.
The song played after was "Better Get It In Your Soul" arranged by Ralph Ford. This song was one that stuck out to me because of the way the trombones were comping with the drummer for a while. Something else interesting that I noticed was the kind of off feeling of the beat and the soft tone of the continuous riff being played by the saxophonists. The guitar solo was a short one, very sporadic and an entirely different dynamic from what the song had been. As far as the trombone solo, it was not a soft tone and seemed more triumphant. Melodically, the song seemed to be a motive with a disjunct sound to it and sounded similar to hot jazz. There was also a short drum fill at the end of this song. .
The last song they sang was a calming tune called "Orange Sherbert." Sammy Nestico arranged this piece. First thing that was evident to me about this song was the walking bass and the soothing feel of cool jazz. Naturally, the shrill sound of the trumpet solo was forte and triumphant as well. The piano solo, on the other hand, consisted of a few short runs and some dissonant notes, but still triumphant. The climbing trumpets gave way to the short, still dissonant finishing notes of the piano and the intense crash of the high hat. .
The Jazz Ensemble II began with a piece of, what seemed to me like, cool jazz.
