The Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center has provided an explosive jazz season, featuring both Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center and more recently, The San Francisco Jazz Collective. The concert, which took place last Sunday, was and was an experience not to be missed.

The San Francisco Jazz Collective, (SFJAZZ Collective), is an ensemble of eight extraordinary artists launched in 2004 by San Francisco Jazz, (SFJAZZ), the largest nonprofit jazz institution on the West Coast.

Along with the Jazz Collective, SFJAZZ presents an annual jazz festival, at which the Collective is always a highlight. Possibly even more impressive than the Collective itself is their repertoire, comprised each year with brand new pieces composed by the members of the Collective itself. This collaborative and innovative approach to jazz ensures that the genre is continuously moving forward into the future, both drawing on the past and the talents of the moment.

The collective participates in Bay Area community outreach through education programs set up through SFJAZZ. Taking place during an annual eight-week residency in San Francisco, the collective also performs a few home concerts. Undoubtedly, this time together in San Francisco and working on new projects diversifies and refines the collective’s sound.

The concert attracted a wide range of patrons, including quite a few students, even at the end of fall break. “I really loved it,” said senior Amber Kissman.

“I didn’t even know I liked jazz. It’s kind of an accident that I ended up here tonight,” she said.

The program had fairly loosely defined pieces, not listed by title in the program but rather by long stretches of music meandering through the evening.

“Each bit was like a story you could make up for yourself,” Kissman said.

Senior Liz Geist agreed, saying, “It blew my mind many a time.”

SFJAZZ provided an unforgettable musical adventure. Additionally, after the concert, some of the musicians came out to speak with young audience members, undoubtedly not only an exciting but priceless experience for music enthusiasts.

As world-renowned jazz artists, their innovative approach to composition and moving concerts make the SFJAZZ Collective a force in the future of jazz, one which delivers a journey in music that is unbelievable.