ROCCO PRIOLETTI
Staff writer
With timbrel complexities ranging from a Juilliard-trained swarm of honeybees to the virtuosic trills of a tenured gaggle of geese, Chautauqua’s Library Kazoo Chorale left both performers’ lips and concertgoers’ excitement levels buzzing. Arrayed on the steps of Smith Memorial Library, the season’s finest kazooists carved precious time out of their schedules to serenade dozens in song.
The ensemble warmed up with a rendition of “The ABC Song,” a tune so intrinsically well-tailored to the kazoo’s prolific canonized repertoire that it warrants no elaboration as to its cultural and Anglo-linguistic significance. The Library Kazoo Chorale quickly succeeded the alphabet with a swift sail down the stream in “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” solidifying their talent for nursery rhymes.
Despite the golden yellow program distributed to kazooists, the ensemble opted for a handful of improvisational compositions of beloved songs in place of the pre-suggested repertoire, including Leonard Cohen’s enchanting “Hallelujah.” Should they have performed it, the Library Kazoo Chorale surely would have been the first Chautauquans to ever play that illustrious “secret chord” David once famously played.
Being seasoned and esteemed kazooists, when an impromptu request for “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” graced the group, they responded, all organ-like piping along as if it had been strenuously rehearsed. Similarly, the chorale celebrated a member’s birthday with the tried and true “Happy Birthday to You.”
Between songs, one kazoo instrumentalist — alluding to Thursday night’s evening entertainment performer — exclaimed, “Kenny G has nothing on us!”
During the iconic coda of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” the kazooists swooned gracefully, many with one hand waving back and forth and the other locked onto the kazoo to ensure the score’s precise notation was portrayed exactly as Paul McCartney himself had envisioned it.
In remembrance of the late Dolly Parton, the ensemble attempted hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5.” After a rocky start to the anthemic “Jolene,” the group quickly and expertly regained its footing for an abbreviated rendition of the latter tune. Scott Ekstrom, director of Smith Memorial Library, said, “I’m so sorry, Dolly.”
Though the kazoo remains an underrepresented instrument among country twang, the chorale buzzed the sounds of Nashville — in addition to beloved favorites — Thursday afternoon for all of Chautauqua to hear.
