There aren’t many choices in the South Bay when it comes to hearing live jazz. Santa Clara University’s eclectic composer and saxophonist Carl Schultz aims to change that, while bringing some of the most innovative pieces, composers and performers to local audiences.
Schultz has two concerts coming up this week, one in San José’s intimate Break Room jazz club on Thursday, Jan. 22, and the second at SCU on Friday, Jan. 23.
Thursday’s concert features singer and composer Wellington Bullings, a longtime collaborator of Schultz.
“She creates very accessible, R&B-influenced melodies,” said Schultz. “She’s a brilliant singer, but she always hires musicians who are more jazz musicians. So there’s that flexibility that you have with jazz that comes into her compositions. Audiences love the melodies, and yet, what’s being played is quite sophisticated.
“When I play one of her recent hits, Flame, for non-musicians, they just love the music,” he continued. “But when I play it for musicians, immediately they’re talking about how it’s not in a conventional meter.* It switches meter halfway through the piece. And there are different sections for improvisation that are really more like early Miles Davis than R&B.”
Friday night’s concert at SCU features’ Schultz own compositions and arrangements, including his arrangements of Joni Mitchell songs, and an ensemble of musicians from across the U.S. and the Bay Area.
Schultz’s compositions and arrangements cross many styles.
“Cinematic” is one of the words he uses to describe his newest album, The Road to Trantor; a suite of pieces based on Isaac Asimov’s (1920-1992) Foundation science fiction series. One way to describe the work is a movie score without a movie.
“I started writing the music and realized that the pieces all felt very atmospheric, almost like they were scenes from a film,” Schultz said.
“I started thinking: We have the opening credits music, and we have the beginning of the plot, and well, what is it missing? What would happen next in a movie like the Star Wars? That inspired me to write the rest of the pieces.”
Just like a drama, the music flows through dramatic points and then relaxation points, Schultz says.
“You need to bring the audience member through to the other side. That’s something that I’m always very cognizant of,” said Schultz. “These pieces embrace some different or new textures, but the ‘closing credit’ for the film is very conventional.”
As much as he wants listeners to buy recordings of The Road to Trantor, he wants to encourage them to hear live music.
“You’re physically feeling the vibration of all these sound waves in your body,” he said. “You are there, you’re a part of it. As an audience member, you are as much part of it as anybody else in the room, including the performers. There’s a special energy that’s created, and it’s a special feeling. I encourage people to come out and get that feeling.”
Schultz’s San José concert with Wellington Bullings is on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 8 p.m., at the SJZ Break Room 310 S. First Street, San José. Tickets are $27.
His Santa Clara concert is on Friday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the SCU Recital Hall on Franklin and Lafayette Streets, Santa Clara. There’s paid parking in the SCU North garage, 1063 Alviso St. Tickets are $18-$22.
Schultz also performs at 3Flames Restaurant in San José at the restaurant’s weekly Tuesday Jazz Night.
*Musical meter describes the recurring pattern beats in a piece of music.
Carolyn Schuk can be reached at carolyn@santaclaraweekly.com.
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