Amateur Hepcats Compete

The soulful sounds of bass and saxophone filled the Harvard Club of Boston’s headquarters as seven undergraduates competed in a jazz festival on Friday night.

Surrounded by oil paintings of Harvard’s great statesmen, two groups of students each performed three pieces and joined together for a jam section in the ninth annual Harvard Club Horblit Jazz Combo Festival.

Greg Hopkins, noted trumpet player and Professor of Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music, served as the “guest adjudicator” of the evening, sitting at a small table right in front of the performers and scribbling brief notes on his pad.

Harvard University Band Director Tom Everett, the evening’s organizer, jokingly told the groups that “the only thing [Hopkins] has written down is that he doesn’t like your names.” But Hopkins did pick as the winner “The Democratic People’s Republic,” fronted by the festival’s only freshman, Jonathan P. Lee ’08, on saxophone.

Lee, whose musical career includes a stint playing with the band at last year’s Grammy Awards, was joined by Charles A. Frogner ’06 on piano and Eric P. Wehrenberg-Klee ’05 on bass.

The competition’s runner-up, named “What Pool Party?”—a playful reference to the Senior Splash event that many were missing that night—had competed in the Festival for the past three years and won the last two. The group consisted of Kyle E. Nasser ’05, Jacob H. Bor ’05, Corey E. Bernhard ’05, Jeremy A. Lawrence ’06, and Wehrenberg-Klee, who was part of both combos.

“There is a paucity of bass players at Harvard...even fewer who play jazz bass, and even fewer who play jazz bass competently,” said Wehrenberg-Klee, explaining why he was a member of both groups.

Bor said of the mandatory piece that “Pool Party” played, “We played upside down and backwards; I thought it was great, but the judge said we sounded like a wedding band.”

Hopkins said after the competition that both groups had “very fresh creative ideas,” adding that he enjoyed “meeting their musical personalities.”

Although both groups rehearsed only a few times specifically for the concert, members said they shared a bond from playing together before, adding that the jazz community at Harvard is small and close-knit.

“Jazz doesn’t have a huge presence on campus,” Bor said. “I mean, it’s not a cappella.”

While only two groups have competed in the jazz festival for the past two years, there used to be at least three or four. Everett said the timing of this year’s festival, which occurred in the same weekend as the tsunami relief concert, may explain why more groups didn’t sign up. But he added that the benefits of having fewer acts included each group getting to play longer and the opportunity to have a jam section for the first time.

This was also the third year that the competition was held in the Harvard Club’s Massachusetts Room as opposed to the Great Hall. Everett said he preferred the new space to the Great Hall, which he called “echoey” and “hard to fill.”

The room was at full capacity on Friday night, with people even standing at the back. The audience, which frequently laughed and clapped at particularly impressive or surprising moments, included mainly friends and family of the performers.

Everett said that while he doesn’t kow how much prize money the winners were awarded this weekend, in the past, the total amount for all participating bands ranged from $700 to $900.

One non-Harvard-affiliate, Sandra Slarsky, who lives near the Harvard Club, said she was there simply for the musical experience. She used to play piano but recently gave her instrument away.

“I am overwhelmed with the talent and enthusiasm” of the Harvard jazz musicians, she said. “It has inspired me to go back to learning music.”