Rob Tapper, University of Montana s trombone professor and the Director of Jazz Studies, conducts the band during the UM s 41st annual Buddy Defranco Jazz Festival in Dennison Theatre on Thursday, March 25. Kennedy Delap / Montana Kaimin
The rising crescendo of University of Montana School of Music students and faculty playing Sonny Rollinsâ âSt. Thomasâ fills the mostly vacant seats of George & Jane Dennison Theatre with the raw, relentless sound of hard bop jazz.
The tempo is fast, but the students and faculty take their time, backed by the chorus as they riff on their instruments for each allotted improvisation. While this is one of many senior UM music studentsâ last concerts with the School of Music, itâs one of their first few concerts playing with UM faculty.Â