Alex's Final was a huge undertaking, and I think that in some parts it was a big success, and in other aspects, it could have been better.

To begin, I thought the Big Band sounded fantastic, with Rob and Ania killing it on trumpet, and the rest of the band sounding powerful and well rehearsed. Mason's conducting added so much energy to the performance, and drove the band to play with as much excitement and drive.

Alex's technique was great, and he pulled off a lot of fast lines, high notes, and maintained a great sound while doing it. He played with a steady tone that rarely wavered, and was consistent through the entire performance.

Some of the things I think could have been done better was that it felt like this was not Alex's final. It felt more like Alex being the guest soloist of a Big Band. In the end, when Alex was playing his tune and the final piece with the rhythm section, only then did I feel like this was about him.

His improvisation, while technically impressive, did not leave a huge impact on me. I found that while he played a lot of notes, many of them lacked meaning to me. The lack of a real theme in the tunes made it hard to remember the performance, and I could not help but feel like there may have been some mishaps while organizing something so huge.

However, I was really happy to hear Alex play some Kenny Wheeler tunes, and the melodies he played on them I thought were fantastic. The Big Band tunes also sounded great, with again, a killer band, and they had the drive and energy to keep me engaged. The vocalist singing with the band, while a fantastic singer, I found it hard to hear the lyrics he was singing.

Finally, the last tune Alex played, named in the program as Smile did just that. Alex played it with emotion. Not only that, but I felt like he combined his emotion, technical skill, and skill at playing through the chords of a tune I don't doubt he loves to get a memorable final tune. Above all else, this tune is the one thing I remember clearest from his recital.

To conclude, Alex had a really ambitious final, which has a lot of amazing aspect, and in my opinion, some thing which could have been done better. Hearing this final gave me some ideas as to what I could do for my own final, and some thing I would want to alter.

Thank you to Alex for performing, and putting so much work into his concert.Alexei OzerovAlex's Final Recital Notes