I attended Matthew Yeakley's jazz session at the Continental Club. It was a dark, cold, cloudy night, which made me want to be inside for a jazz event. Yeakley's jazz band consists of Matt on piano, Aaron on drums, Cooper on electric bass and Mike on trumpet. They all started with simple improvisations to test their instruments. The first song Yeakley played was It Felt Like a Sunday, which started with fast piano and drums with a touch of bass towards the end. At first I was surprised how fast jazz can be, because I'm used to hearing old jazz, which was a little slower than usual. They started playing Missed It, with some beautiful calming piano at the beginning, then switched to Yeakley playing guitar with very light drums. I liked how the tone was gentle at first, but gained intensity as it progressed to the drums dominating the song. Most of the audience was aged between 30 and 40, with few young people in the crowd. It was a very relaxed atmosphere inside, everyone was listening and playing to the beat. As the evening progressed, Mike talked about Miles Davis and his influence on him on the trumpet. He said “he gets chills every time he hears it.” I haven't listened to Miles Davis much, but I know that he was a significant figure in the evolution of Jazz. The next song was called Fitness, which started with a soft piano with a double bass and light drums. This progressed into a much faster paced song with saxophone in the background. I really liked this song because it was played much faster than the first one. It got very slow towards the middle, but gradually picked up momentum with more bass and drums. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The piano really took over most of the song. This song gave me the biggest thrill of the three because of the speed and consistency of the melodies. The next song was "A Place to Call Home", which started with lights, drums and saxophone. The piano slowly joined in, but the saxophone dominated at first. The overall vibe of the song felt like something I would listen to on a morning walk on the beach looking out at the ocean. It had a very quiet feel, which transitioned into some very energetic guitar towards the end. Aaron and Matt were guided by Yeakley as they progressed through the song to adjust their timing for their parts. I liked how the group leaned on each other to improvise during times when they needed to. This song was very different from the others because of its relaxed melodies. I always liked Fitness a lot better than this song, but this one was definitely my second favorite. Even though I'm not familiar with jazz music, I'm glad I was able to expose myself to the Yeakley team's incredible performance. I never thought that jazz could evoke these feelings in me that I don't normally get from hip hop and rap. I can tell there is so much passion involved in playing and creating their work. I'm glad I got to experience it.