At the end of a long, dreary, snow-filled month, SEXtet provided the right kind of cool to end February, a month that featured many jazz performances from the University of Northern Iowa’s School of Music.

Set in Russell Hall’s Bengston Auditorium under the ambiance of blue and green lighting, the mood was laid back and relaxed, but the group provided dynamic jazz.

The six-man jazz ensemble, featuring faculty from the music departments of UNI, Drake University and the University of Iowa, treated its audience to eight jazz numbers in a brisk 90 minutes.

Each member of SEXtet is a professional on his instrument, a fact highlighted by solos, imaginative interpretations and frequent changes in dynamics and time signatures without missing a beat.

The group is comprised of Brent Sandy from the University of Iowa on trumpet; Drake’s Dave Altemeier on bass and John Kizilarmut on drums; UNI’s Chris Buckholz on trombone, Chris Mertz on saxophone and Bob Washut on piano. Each member contributed at least one composition to the show.

The group quickly got the show rolling by featuring a technically challenging drum solo from Kizilarmut, a teaching artist of jazz drums at Drake. From there the band kicked into high gear, with members trading off solos while keeping the steady beat provided by Kizilarmut, Altemeier and Washut.

Throughout the night, the band kept things energetic. Some highlights include Altemeier’s composition “Going Tharn,” with its urgent, epic sound that had the feeling of a “James Bond” or “Mission Impossible” theme song. Merz’s “Koobism” was a mid-tempo number featuring a solo performed at blistering speed by Merz.

Kizilarmut broke things down with an exuberant drum solo before ending with a crescendo. Kizilarmut’s own composition, “Fixed Ra,” was by his own admission a mix of electronica and jazz’s uncommon time measures that invoked at times the blistering speed and power of heavy metal. A
fter a fast start, the number slowed down and seemed to be the start of a new piece before ending with more energetic solos from the horn section. The night ended with Washut’s “Star Lady,” which featured each member of the horn section before ending with a solo from Washut himself.

“It was really good,” said Nick Lewarne, junior music education major, of the SEXtet’s performance. “The soloing scoped out what the outer branches of the song were like, and ‘Fixed Ra’ was interpreted well with its use of time signatures.”

Austin Jacobs, freshman music education major, added, “It was great to see a group of such accomplished musicians while also being able to see our educators in action.”