"Nomads." A wandering tribe of sorts, continually exploring the wide scope and versatility of their music, searching for new rhythms and ideas.
They count six among their number: Mike Kohl '06, guitarist; Ben Rogers '06, trumpet player; Chris Parkinson '07, bass player; Dan McGeeney '08, pianist; Austin Leach '08, saxophonist; and Alex Tun '08, drummer.
Their devotion to music is self-evident. Among the six of them, they have over 60 years of cumulative playing experience. Four band members-Kohl, Rogers, Leach and Tun-are music majors.
Kohl and Rogers started the group in the fall of 2004, carefully hand-picking this group of talented, committed and fun-loving individuals.
Not only do "The Blue Nomads" strive to create expressive and dynamic jazz, all of their music is original as well and represents a collaboration of the band members. Once a week, the group rehearses with the College's director of jazz ensembles, Bruce Diehl, for helpful guidance and pointers.
A polished piece evolves out of a process of experimentation and collaboration. A band member writes a song individually and arranges the piece specifically for the group. For Kohl, the challenges of composing music demand a reserve of patience and sensitivity of the ear. "It takes me days with my ear glued to the computer speaker, just trying to hear each separate voice and transcribe it properly," Kohl said.
After teasing out the melody and accompaniments, the composer enters his piece into a computer program that processes musical notes. Each band member receives a printout of his part, practices it individually, and the entire band plays the piece together for the first time during rehearsal. The composer conducts the performance of his piece, hears the ideas and suggestions of the other members and has the final say on making changes. Each composer brings a different approach to jazz. How, one might ask, does the pianist know how to write a part for the saxophonist? "You have to be attuned to what's easy to play and what's hard to play," McGeeney explained.
The band's improvisation does not stop in the rehearsal room, it continues onto the stage. "All of the solos are improvised. Jazz itself is improvised," said Leach. "You have an outline and your chord changes, and from there, you can play anything you want." When one band member spontaneously goes in a different direction during a performance, the rest of the group follows suit. "If we're in the zone, you kind of hear the changes someone else makes and come up with something to go along with it," Tun said.
Improvising as a group demands intimate familiarity with the distinctive jazz styles of fellow musicians, focused concentration, interconnectedness and responsiveness. "Really good musicians know how to play off each other," McGeeney said. He cited an instance during a party gig at Crossett this fall when the group just clicked. "We weren't even looking at each other. We just knew what to do and when to stop," he recalled. Leach added enthusiastically, "It's a natural high."
The versatility of the group's talents, combined with their strong personalities, yields the ultimate reward: An electric chemistry and great jazz. "We sound good as a group," said Leach. "There's a lot of blending that goes on in music." The sound of the group changes depending on the members present in the band at a given time. When Kohl left the group to spend a semester abroad in South Africa last spring, the sound of the group changed dramatically. Tun joined the group as the drummer this fall, causing the band's style to morph once again.
Tun remembered feeling intimidated by the talent and the cohesiveness of the group when he first joined. That feeling rapidly dissipated. "Alex started giving a lot to the group," McGeeney said. "He started conducting rehearsal, contributing to the group and keeping us focused right away."
The band's sources of inspiration include legendary jazz musicians, music teachers and fellow musicians. A source of inspiration for Leach is "A Love Supreme," an album recorded by John Coltrane, also a saxophonist, and his quartet. Kohl cited Charles Mingus as a personally inspiring figure, for he shares Mingus' quirky composing and notoriously hot temper. Other sources of inspiration for the group are less traditional and rather surprising. Notably, the Ice Climbers, the band's favorite character from "Super Smash Brothers," inspired one compositional theme.
Whether creating music or deciding what to wear on stage, "The Blue Nomads" act as a cohesive group. The aim of each band member is not to greedily claim the limelight, but to contribute to the group as a whole. "A piece that we play won't belong to just one band member," Leach acknowledged. "Everyone has their juice in it. Even if someone makes a suggestion and that change isn't made, I feel, that person still gets credit to some extent. Their input helped the composer reaffirm their conception of the song."
The idiosyncratic trademarks of each band member are readily apparent on the stage. One cannot help but notice McGeeney's right foot giddily bouncing and keeping tempo as his fingers flit across the keyboard. This habit has earned McGeeney the nickname "Happy Foot." "When he plays, he moves his foot furiously, and the girls love it," Kohl elaborated. "His foot snares many a fair lass." McGeeney offered an explanation for this mesmerizing tic. "It started out as a way to channel my energy in a productive way and keep time," he said. "The earliest Monkees do it, too. It's good practice for my ankle so I can jump higher in basketball," he said. The band has dubbed Rogers "Chops," a jazz term for stamina and endurance. Because of his tendency to play forcefully on the drums, Tun frequently breaks his drumsticks during performances. When he forgets to keep a spare drumstick on hand, he simply reverses the broken stick in his hand and plays on.
What distinguish "The Blue Nomads" are their close ties to each other. Leach related a story revealing the group's heart-felt friendships. McGeeney, desperately in need of help with one of his compositions, called Leach shortly before Leach's WAMH program went on air and summoned him to the practice room, causing the duo to miss dinner. Partway through the show, McGeeney appeared at the WAMH station with a plateful of food for Leach. Kohl stated, "In terms of musicianship and friendship, this is the best group I've ever played with." Kohl's favorite memories of the band include hanging out, eating dinner together and the energized look on everyone's faces after an intense rehearsal.
A pivotal and especially memorable moment for the Nomads took place just prior to their very first gig last fall at the UNICEF charity concert in Valentine Hall. Frazzled and nervous about their debut, the group warmed up in the men's bathroom at Kohl's suggestion. As they were preparing to warm up, a stranger exposed himself to the group and asked Rogers specifically, "What instrument do you play?" Amazingly, the band members loosened up and played one of their best performances. "That was the shakeup we needed to play well," said Kohl. McGeeney echoed Kohl's words. "It was one of the biggest responses from an audience that we've had," he said. We got rousing applause at the end." The experience, shared by the veteran members of the group, has given rise to numerous inside jokes related to "warming up."
"The Blue Nomads" challenge themselves to expand their repertoire and hone their skills. They remain unfazed by their success. "We continue to make music people enjoy and don't lose touch with the fact that we do this because we love it," Kohl said. Added Rogers, "We're just a bunch of friends trying to make good music."