Moreno Valley Puts on its Jazz Shoes

On Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 7, Moreno Valley College held a free jazz quartet performance as part of their “MoVal Concert Series.” The performers, “Disciples Trio + One,” are a group of four guys: Ron Feuer, the pianist; Paul Tavenner the drummer; Matthew Berger the guitar player; and Jon Lee Keenan the upright bass player. Berger, Keenan, and Tavenner are currently working in the studio and making music for their band, “Disciples Trio,” and are currently working on their first record with the addition of fellow musician, Feuer. Berger, the guitar player, has a background full of music. He graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in guitar performance. After moving to Los Angeles and writing music for television and filming industries, his main focus has been making music with his band “Disciples Trio” and Feuer. Keenan, upright bass player, grew up in Las Vegas and was a triple major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in vocal performance, vocal music education, and jazz studies as a double bassist. After graduating, Keenan moved to Los Angeles to attend CSULA and then to University of Southern California to earn his masters and doctoral degrees in vocal arts. Now, he is a part of the “Disciples Trio,” and is working in the studio. Tavenner, drummer, also graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston. When he was only 25 years old, he started his first business called Man Alive Music Productions after working at CBS-TV and Capitol Records. He has worked with many famous musicians and bands including Sublime, Quiet Riot, William Shatner, and many more. Other than contributing to his band “Disciples Trio,” Tavenner is also on the music technology advisory board for Pierce College in Los Angeles, a mentor for Berklee College of Music alumni, and has a teaching studio in Los Angeles. Feuer, the pianist, grew up in the Bronx, New York. His music career began when his father brought him an accordion home one day. Within four years, Feuer knew how to play almost every piece of written music. Ever since, his music career has been nothing but success. With the free concert lasting about an hour long, they played about eight songs, some of which they have written themselves. The first song they started with was actually Berger’s song called “Falling into Grace.” Following was “Work Song” by Nat Adderley, “Three’s a Party” by Berger, “Autumn Leaves” by Johnny Mercer, “It’s Not That Easy Being Green” by Joe Raposo, “Drones” by Berger, “Sweet Rain” by Feuer, and they closed the concert with “All Blues” by Miles Davis. In between songs, they would mention very briefly what the next song was called. As they started to introduce one of the songs as “Three’s a Party,” Berger shared while chuckling, “I wrote this song when I realized that I should start writing more songs.” “You should’ve called it ‘Four’s a Party,” Tavenner joked after explaining that Feuer makes four people and not three. The crowd laughed as they began to play the song. The whole room was filled with various people: students, kids, and even faculty members. The “Acknowledgements page” for the concert stated that, “Today’s concert is made possible by the Associated Students of Moreno Valley College and Music Club.”