Acoustically Speaking, a band comprised of professors, to perform in CAC concert
Courtesy of Allegra Distefano
Tonight Acoustically Speaking will perform a collection of jazz tunes for Cultural Affairs Commission’s weekly concert series.
Today 7:00 pm
Kerckhoff Coffee House, Free
By Rebecca Chen
March 4, 2012 11:46 p.m.
Tucked away in a corner of Boelter Hall is a laboratory with instruments one might not expect ““ a music stand, keyboard and saxophone. This lab belongs to Joe DiStefano III, a distinguished professor of computer science and medicine and chairman of the Computational and Systems Biology Interdepartmental Program, who plays both alto and tenor saxophone in the band Acoustically Speaking.
Tonight, Acoustically Speaking will perform a collection of jazz tunes for the Cultural Affairs Commission’s weekly concert series at Kerckhoff Coffee House.
The group is composed of five musicians: saxophonist DiStefano; guitarist Clyde Spillenger, professor of law; drummer Steve Arbuckle, graduate student affairs officer in the department of computer science; guitarist Todd Millstein, associate professor of computer science; and bassist Ron Rohovit, education director of the California Science Center.
DiStefano said that the band’s style is “straight-ahead bop,” citing Lee Konitz (DiStefano’s mentor), Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins as influences.
The band will play two sets tonight, and DiStefano will switch between playing alto and tenor sax during each set.
“It’s very difficult to find people in a small environment of non-professional musicians who are able to get together to practice and play, so this was very fortuitous,” DiStefano said.
He and Millstein played together for several years before they banded with Arbuckle, Spillenger and Rohovit to form Acoustically Speaking.
The group will perform its own arrangements of classic jazz pieces such as Count Basie’s “Li’l Darlin,” Johnny Mercer’s “I Thought About You,” Sonny Rollin’s “Tennessee Waltz” and Dexter Gordon’s “Willow Weep for Me.”
DiStefano said the name Acoustically Speaking was coined as a nod to acoustic integrity.
“It’s very important to me to be able to play and hear myself, and it’s very difficult to when bands play loudly. I think this is an issue with the culture ““ ever since rock “˜n’ roll, music has been very loud. … I never play with a microphone,” DiStefano said. “Even if it’s a big room and there are a lot of people in it. … Well, if people want to hear it, they’ll have to be a little more quiet, that’s all.”
Lauren Gennawey, a co-director of the CAC Concert Series, said the band will be living up to its acoustic claim.
“They didn’t want any amps or mics or tech equipment at all, which has never happened before. Actually, when I told the ASUCLA events manager that we didn’t need any tech equipment, she was really confused.”
Acoustically Speaking performed at the Fowler Museum last spring during the museum’s exhibit called “Jam Session: America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World,” but tonight will be the first time they play at the Kerckhoff Coffee House.
“I’m not nervous, I’m very eagerly anticipating it. It’s a nice, relaxed venue, (and) it’ll be very fun to play there,” Spillenger said. “There’s no keyboard player, so I have to function ““ play the role, essentially ““ of (a) piano player on the guitar. That’s an interesting style of guitar playing, it’s challenging and I really enjoy it.”
According to DiStefano, balancing his work life and jazz life is not difficult at all, and is instead very enjoyable.
“That’s what keeps me happy, my music. … I can’t get to practice every day for an hour, but I try to put in 10 to 15 minutes just to make some sounds, and when I have more time, I’ll play for a couple of hours.”
Spillenger said he hopes students will enjoy the show and see that professors really are human beings.
“I think students really like things that humanize their professors, to show that they have lives outside the academy,” he said.
