An Account of McLean's Performance in Jazz Concert in Lincoln Center

The Lincoln Center was privileged with a free performance of Grace McLean & Them Apples on Wednesday, the 21st of January in 2015 at 7:30pm in the David Rubenstein Atrium. The band consists of Grace McLean, a singer-actress-composer-teacher, following by the bassist (Justin Goldner), percussionist (Hiroyuki Matsuura), and vocalists (Kate Ferber and Liana Stampur). McLean is most known as a pop/jazz singer that can make her own music as a solo artist or accompanied with her band “Grace McLean & Them Apples”.

For this concert, being that it was the opening of the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook season, there was no need for reserving a ticket. This occasion was special because there were going to be a lot of guests and surprises including: goodies, journals and bubbles. On top of everything, the concert was completely free to everyone that attended. This concert was one of the first ones of the year of 2015 which later led her and the band to complete a tour of Pakistan that was sponsored by the US State Department.

The music from the performance sounded very uplifting. The reason for that is because the mix of all the beats combined to give a happy feeling. By the use of the console she had in front of her allowed her to do the repetition of her voice or electronic sounds while she sang. There were moments were the music would get very rapid that it gave the sensation of wanting to dance. While listening to the concert, the human sense of listening and sight were activated specifically because all the sounds produced and motion the performer portrayed to the audience made it happen.

Like it was mentioned earlier, McLean used a lot of repetition and looping through her own singing to make the constant background music as she sang. One thing that was very noticeable was that she used the motion of her body and hands almost throughout the whole performance to place a strong emphasis and attention to the music. The feeling brought by listening to the performance was like being in a black and white classical movie where the ladies would be dressed using the old-school style falling in love with guys. The music gives an impression where a lady is teasing a guy by walking around him and then suddenly everything goes bad and goes through a breakup with a guy.

The performance was for the majority composed of original songs and one or a few covers. Her concert had different rhythms for every piece she sang. The notes were broken down into patterns by using the console where it allowed her to repeat the same sound or silence. The pitch varied throughout the performance because in some songs she sang very calm and would randomly rise to a higher pitch. The tempo was well used throughout because she would either slow down or speed up the rhythm by the magical device she had at her reach. McLean’s performance had a polyphonic texture being that more than one instrument was being played at the same time.

McLean’s style of singing was very new to me because I have never listened to someone perform using the repetition of their own voice as part of the song. I really enjoyed watching the concert and I now have the interest in listening to her new released EP. In my opinion, the best part of the performance was when she would change the repetitive beat and would make everyone excited. I consider this kind of music a great way to entertain the new generations.