Issue 5, Article 6
For a small liberal arts college, Wesleyan has a remarkable number of great student bands, representing a huge variety of musical styles. Mary's Foursome is an all-frosh jazz group that has managed to gain a lot of respect and fans on campus. I had a chance to speak with them after their rehearsal one night. Having been to a few of their shows before I spoke with them, I was really impressed that a freshman group could be so well put-together and professional without being at all pompous or arrogant (apologies to the pompous, arrogant groups out there). The members - Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tim Keiper (drums), Tyler Goodwin (bass), and Bill Sherman (sax) - are all frosh musicians who also play outside of the group. As a group, they've played at the WestCo Cafe, Chi Psi formals, Alpha Delt, Amnesty International, Art House, the Christian Fellowship Coffeehouse, and at parties in Boston. They play everything from traditional jazz numbers to pieces written by the members themselves. I was disappointed not to hear the piece written by Tyler (they weren't ready to rehearse it yet), but I did have a chance to listen to them rehearsing a piece that Tim had written, which was rather impressive.
Tim and Mary met during freshman orientation, somewhere out in the wilderness. Tim was wearing a grizzly bear costume, and Mary shot him. Or something like that. (They were on the WOW [Wesleyan Orientation in the Wilderness] trip together.) Tim then met Tyler in the practice studios, and one night when the three of them were all drunk, it became "Mary's Threesome" (disclaimer: this is shameless although non-malicious sarcastic slander). They started off as a trio, then played a show at the WestCo Cafe in October with frosh guitarist Tyler Shusterman, and continued to play as a trio for a few months, at which point, Bill joined the group. Mary and Bill had played together at summer camp at Berklee long before they met at Wesleyan, when Mary thought Bill was an idiot,. In Bill's words, "then she had the balls to come up and be like, 'Hi, you were the asshole in my ensemble.'" Mary and Bill agreed that the ensemble they were involved with at Berklee sucked. They seem to get along well now, though.
Bill also plays with Uncle Trouble and Neutral Spirits, and Bill and Mary are both involved in the Fela Kuti ensemble (graduate student Mike Veal's project in Nigerian music). While Tim and Tyler played in senior John Moore's thesis concert and are in the Wesleyan Orchestra together, Tyler and Mary are in Tony Lombardozzi's guitar ensemble, and Tyler and Bill are in the jazz orchestra.
When I asked the members what kind of music they listen to, they gave me a bewildered pause, as if I had asked them if they were planning on eating their parents' corpses after they had died. They listen to a lot of music, which probably made it difficult to settle on one or two bands or performers. According to Bill, "Mary and I like to listen to the Allman Brothers and cheesy stuff like that. But don't write that." Mary says that she likes all kinds of jazz and hip-hop and loves the Allman Brothers. She also mentioned that a few of her influences are Ornette Coleman, Julius Hemphill, and Wayne Shorter. In Bill's words, "what's interesting is that we all listen to the same shit, but collectively, we all bring all our influences into one band... that was so philosophical of me. I just had a moment. Whoo! Anyway..." Tim mentioned Joey Baron, Tyler mentioned Edgar Meyer... and then the door opened, and Tyler Shusterman was added to the list as he walked into the room. Bill also mentioned Maceo Parker, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Jaco Pastorius.
As a group, they see a lot of concerts and shows. They went to see John Zorn's Masada in NY, and Mary said that she and Tim often go to shows at Tonic and the Knitting Factory. I know from personal experience that if there is a jazz show (or almost any other kind of concert) on campus, it's likely that at least one of them will be there in the audience. And now, one of the coolest parts of Mary's Foursome: their personalities. They're a really interesting group, so I figured I'd do them more justice by typing out highlights of the conversation rather than blathering on. This article is for them, after all, not for me. So here:
Sam: What are you guys planning on doing with music, in your lives? Are you planning on doing that for your careers?
Bill: Ty, you're first.
Ty: I want to, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Bill: Wow, Ty, that was pretty deep.
Mary: Alright, Bill?
Bill: I don't know.
Mary: It's a sensitive issue right now, I don't want to talk about it. That's a quote.
[laughter]
Tim: Yeah, Išm gonna play music.
Sam: (to Mary) You have a CD out, right?
Mary: Yeah... so does Bill.
Sam: Do you want to say anything about it?
Tim: A CD out?
Tyler: Yeah, in fact they all do, except me.
Bill: I don't have a CD out, that's a lie. Someone made me a CD when I played a concert. I'm not as cool as Mary, so that's okay. None of us are. I'll tell you about Mary's CD. Mary went to a summer camp called Jazz in July, and she was in this killer octet jive thing - under the direction of Billy Taylor - and they recorded a CD, which - might I say - really kicks ass.
Mary: Thank you Bill.
Sam: What do you guys think of the Wesleyan music scene?
Tim: Sucks.
Sam: That's a quote. I am so pulling that.
Tim: Nah, I was kidding. [nervous laughter]
Bill: Dude, the Wesleyan music scene is my favorite thing about Wesleyan I'll tell you why, 'cause I'm talking a lot today. My favorite part about the Wesleyan scene is that you can play every type of shit. If you know how to work that shit and play your shit, then you can play in every single kind of ... West African drum, jazz, rock, pop, all that shit, you can play in everything if you want to, that's what's cool about it. Free experimental ... Whoo!
Mary: I love it too, cause I love how I get to play with so many different people and do so many different things.
Bill: And therešs a lot of talented fuckers here, too.
Mary: Yeah, there are.