Blog 3 - The N'Awlins Gumbo Kings

On the Friday night of January 22, 2010, the N’Awlins Gumbo Kings played their own art music of jazz at 8:00 p.m. in the Conference Center of UT Dallas. The performers each wore suits, but none completely matching each other. The man who played the clarinet and saxaphone, Mike Sizer, wore an awesome hat to top off the look. The crowd was composed mainly of seniors, who seemed to be somewhat familiar with each other as if this was a regular event to attend. However, there were also a few students in attendance as well, most of whom walked in late. The fact that the performance was on a late Friday night might account for the lack of students who came.

Their stage was set up to where the stationary instruments, such as the drums, bass, and keyboard were located near the back; whereas the mobile instruments, the trombone, trumpet, and saxophone, were found in the front. The pitch of their first song was very versatile. The high and low notes simultaneously created a flowing harmony. Like the rest of their songs, the first one was syncopated with duple and simple meter of a high frequency. The saxophone held the melody for the majority of the opener. Meanwhile, the trombone and the trumpet walked around stage casually, just enjoying the sound. All of their songs were obviously pulsatile. There was no doubt that their music wasn’t strophical because you never heard the same thing twice. It was easy to see that they all had good rhythm because they seemed to deeply enjoy their music, as their faces and body language showed it, which led me to believe they were a form of art music above anything else.

You can get more information about them at
http://www.gumbokings.com/default.htm