Bridgewater and Piedmont Wind Symphony Performs Amid The Pines

Dee+Dee+Bridgewater+performs+on+stage.

Dee Dee Bridgewater performs on stage.

Isaac Cooper, Managing Editor

On the night of December 16, three time grammy-winning jazz artist Dee Dee Bridgewater performed alongside of the Piedmont Wind Symphony in the Reynolds auditorium in an hour and a half concert entitled, “Happy Holidays.”

During this concert, Bridgewater performed a variety of songs, from jazz standards like “Autumn Leaves,” to Christmas Classics like “Rockin’ Round The Christmas Tree.”

“It has been really great,” concert-goer Cragen Brown said.  “I really enjoyed the first part.  To be honest, I haven’t listened to a whole lot of jazz before, but this has been really enjoyable.”

House Managers Teri Beadle and Linda Moody both loved the performance from Bridgewater and the Piedmont Wind Symphony

“It’s gorgeous.  I feel honored to get to actually work this concert because she [Bridgewater] is amazing,” Beadle said.

“She has an amazing voice.  I would love for more people to be seeing her and hearing her,” Moody said.

Despite such raving reviews of this concert, some students did not seem interested in seeing a performance from a jazz singer.  Students like junior Matthew Taylor and Andrew Gillett stress the workload of upperclassmen making them unavailable what would be an enjoyable concert.  Other students like freshmen Lawrence Dullence and Emanuel Smith are generally disinterested in the genre.

“My teachers stack so much homework on the weekend… If I didn’t have any work, then it would depend on what time it is because I have other things to do on the weekend,” Taylor said.

“Once in awhile I will listen to it to cool off, but to just sit there and think about what they’re saying… I listen to rap and hip hop mostly,” Dullence said.

Despite dissonant opinions on the genre, Bridgewater and the symphony garnered a near-packed house on the night of the concert; the auditorium was replete with people who just wanted to enjoy music some music on a Saturday night.

“I like any music in general really… If it’s music, then I would like to go to it,” Gillett said.