Video Game Music: The Sonic Edge with Ravita Jazz

This concert features inventive, contemporary jazz and pop tunes. Ravita Jazz includes pianist Greg Small, drummer Mark Leppo, bassist Phil Ravita, and percussionist Greg Herron.

Video Game Music represents a new genre reaching listeners of all ages. The genre is gaining popularity with pop music audiences, being played by symphony orchestras, and finding its way into academic institutions. Its trajectory parallels that of jazz, movie music, and music for television. Its development was driven by the introduction and increasing popularity of new entertainment media.

Among the pop tunes to be heard are the Angry Birds Theme composed by Ari Pulkkinen in 2000 and Kokiri Forest from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, written by Koji Kendo in 2019. On the jazzier side are the Kendo composition Overworld from Super Mario World and Rainbow Road, a 1998 composition from Super Mario Kart 8 by Shiho Fujii.

This concert presents compositions from favorite games in their entirety. Audience members have the opportunity to fully appreciate the inventiveness, interesting melodies, rhythms, and changes in key and tempo. It is a fascinating introduction to a new genre whose composers include musicians trained in multiple genres such as symphonic or classical music, jazz, funk, pop, rock and Latin styles.