The Jazz Lab Band concert took place on Tuesday in the Dounda Fine Arts Center Dvorak Room.

The event was held from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.mm and was free to attend. Around 90 people attended the event including students, parents and friend.

Kehinde Omosor, a junior music performance major, was a part of the Jazz Lab Band.

Omosor said the lab band was great, the selection of music was good, the lab band did their best and that is what it is about giving your best.

Omosor said he comes all the way from Nigeria to study music, it’s always been something he’s done his whole life which is listen to music so that why he loves playing and he’s passionate about it.

Omosor also said during the performance he wanted to achieve playing good music for the audience and to make them happy.

“Playing good music and just making people feel welcomed and at home and entertaining them, not just entaining them giving them the best of the best,”  Omosor said.

Paul Johnston is a professor of Jazz Studies at Eastern and director of the Jazz Lab Band.

Johnston said these concerts are designed with several goals and he wants the students to have a chance to learn about a variety of jazz music.

“Feature music and different number of different styles and from a number of different time periods,” Johnston said. “We also hope that the concert was something that other people find value [in] and so that’s why it’s nice to have a crowd of people who are going to share it so we hope that it’s enjoyable for the audience as well.”

Johnston also said the event was successful and the students did a great job challenging themselves with playing this type of style of music. They look forward to their upcoming event in April.

“To hear the students, play and we had some challenging music they really rose to the occasion, I just try to help the students reach a high level of performance,” he said. “Our students have regular concerts, and this group has one more in April, so, we look forward to that.”

Izzy Willaims, a freshman English major, attended this concert to supporting his friends.

Willaims said he was attending the concert to come support his friends live and listen to the music that was played.

“I have some friends that were participating in it, and I wanted to see it on the fly and come support them as much as possible,” Williams said. “I enjoyed the music they were playing and they played really well. I do plan on coming to more events like this.”

Duane Carter can be reached at 581-2812 or at dcarter2@eiu.edu.