Music "The Jukebox": Albert Joo '15 and Lucas Lebovitz '15 Senior Theses

The Jukebox takes the listener on an eclectic journey between the 19th and 21st century, making stops in contemporary classical, jazz and electronic music.

In the first half of the concert, Lucas Lebovitz and the Amherst College Jazz Ensemble will take you on a trip back to the golden age of the Big Band. Once the most widespread and popular form of popular music, Big Band Jazz has shaped popular music since its heyday. On this trip you’ll hear a survey of original compositions inspired by and dedicated to the important figures and bands of the time. The music pays tribute to many famous composers and arrangers: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Gill Evans, Fletcher Henderson, Nelson Riddle, Tito Puente and others. Special thanks to the Amherst College Jazz Ensemble and conductor Bruce Diehl for the performance.

Albert Joo explores the elements that give music depth and complexity, while attempting to keep it accessible to the general public. This balance includes the use of both consonance and dissonance, as well as rhythms that are both intuitive and erratic. His performance combines traditional acoustic instruments with the more popular electronic sounds of today, as he hopes to examine how they build off of each other.