UCL Jazz Society’s Fusions: the joy of artsUCL small shows
Poster for Fusions: A Musical Documentary. Credit: Maya Khurana & Harry O’Donovan
The concept for UCL Jazz Society’s upcoming show Fusions: A Musical Documentary began in the typical way - impulsively, on a creative high, and late at night on a Notes app. Directed by Harry O’Donovan and produced by Nerea Sainz de la Maza Melon, Fusions takes you through the musical journey of the birth and development of jazz fusion as we know it today. Pi was lucky enough to sit down with the two to discuss the show’s concept and what goes into making such a spectacle.
The show features a diverse setlist including Japanese funk, musically-challenging arrangements from the likes of Snarky Puppy, and politically significant jazz rap. With a cast of musicians consisting solely of students from UCL’s own Jazz Society, the audience is steered through a chronological documentary on how the genre came to be. “We begin at the start of the genre, late 1960s, with the death of John Coltrane - a really pivotal moment in jazz history,” explained Harry. “I think it’s really cool that you can do a ‘jazz show’ and it can include hip-hop and acoustic and soul and rock, too.”
While many of the small shows put on by artsUCL societies are less intensive in both their promotion and production scale, they capture an important element of the performing arts: the visionaries behind it. The sheer amount of creative input sourced personally from the production team as they include their favourite musical ‘eureka’ moments adds an element of raw personality not found in larger productions. “Not many people know that Billy Joel has an album where he decides to do a little bit of jazz in,” revealed Harry excitedly.
On how the concept for the show was born, he said, “I just had a lot of fun doing the small Jazz Society show last year and thought it would be sick to direct one… I immediately spent an hour on my Notes app thinking about all the music I’ve enjoyed playing in the past.” As director, Harry is responsible for creatively leading the show, which includes sourcing the music and running auditions and rehearsals. His own musical journey began on piano and trombone, which quickly blossomed into a love for live performance and jazz, drawing him immediately towards the Jazz Society upon arriving at UCL.
The show’s producer, Nerea, is also no stranger to the musical scene at UCL. Currently president of Live Music Society, Nerea has enjoyed her increasing involvement with Jazz Society through various collaborations between the two; both are popular amongst performance-starved musicians at the university. The two have had a blast directing and producing side-by-side, with Nerea fondly sharing, “I heard that Harry wanted to direct a show and I was like, ‘say less!’” Nerea’s role as producer entails handling communications and logistics between various teams involved in the production. For her, this challenging role has been familiar for a while: “As President of Live Music Society, I’ve had to communicate a lot with the Students’ Union and get to know key contacts, so producing this show has been sort of like an extension of that!”
The two are equally excited for Fusions to take the stage. “I think it’s just a good way to introduce people to jazz,” remarked Nerea, “...it’s not that different to other genres, everything’s connected.” The show is set to be held in the Camden People’s Theatre (CPT), which the production team affectionately described as a “very intimate and personal” venue with “a homely kind of vibe.”
“Sometimes, in a big theatre, you lose the connection between the audience and performers,” noted Harry. “In the CPT, you’re playing and you can see people’s engagement and smiles and it’s great, but also it means you’re terrified of messing up!”
However, the show’s production team feel confident in their casting choices. “We’re so lucky that artsUCL has such a talented pool of musicians to choose from,” they gushed, describing Fusions as no less than a “stacked show”. At the end of the day, what matters is that artsUCL small shows are exactly that: small. They possess a glorious ability to be both a passion project and a high-calibre showcase of talent. When you think about it, Fusions is really just real people telling real stories the way they do it best - through jazz.
Fusions: A Musical Documentary is playing from 15th-17th February at the Camden People’s Theatre - you can buy tickets here.