By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Howard’s Club H suits the Third Shore Collective well as the jazz quintet wraps up a series of shows promoting the music on its forthcoming recording.
Kyle Brooks, the collective’s saxophonist, appreciates the bar’s status as a local landmark, and though known more as a rock and blues venue, the ensemble of recent Bowling Green State University degree recipients think it’s a great place to expose new listeners to their distinct sound.
The band will perform a couple sets Thursday, July 15, at 8 p.m. at Howard’s Club H in downtown Bowling Green.
Saxophonist Kyle Brooks said “one of the cats came up with ‘jazz adjacent’” to describe the collective’s style. It’s rooted in modern jazz, but takes in everything the musicians hear and play both inside and outside the halls of the College of Musical Arts.
Bassist Dylan Bretz said there’s a vein of Americana running through the sound. Brooks likes neo-soul, hip hop and rhythm ‘n’ blues. The guitarist Zakk Jones plays with a Steely Dan cover band. French hornist Will Schneider studies classical composition.
Add in the element of improvisation, Bretz said, and the music is different every night.
The Third Shore’s sound is nothing like listeners will encounter elsewhere, Schneider said.
All this came together at the university. The jazz faculty put together the group in fall, 2020, as its top chamber jazz ensemble. Aside from Bretz, who was an undergrad, all were second year graduate students at the time.
It wasn’t long, Bretz said, before the band’s sound began to gel. The four graduate students were bringing in their own compositions to the table.
Drummer Brad Billmaier was the first to suggest this was a project worth recording.
The session has been recorded and is now being prepared for release at the end of the year.
To drum up some support for the forthcoming album, they decided to book some gigs in the region.
Brooks took it on himself to make cold calls to more than 40 venues in Northwest Ohio and the Detroit area. He was able to line up several shows including a spring gig at Howard’s and the highest profile show, a triple bill with two other Northwest Ohio combos at Barter Detroit last week.
Thursday’s show at Howard’s is expected to be the quintet’s last for a while. Brooks is headed to the University of Indiana in pursuit of a doctorate, though he expects to come back when the session is released.
Bretz is staying at BGSU to get a master’s in jazz studies. There’s still plenty to learn from jazz faculty members David Bixler and Jeff Halsey, he said.
Bixler was the draw that brought both Brooks and Schneider to campus.
Schneider said he was able to study with two top teachers, Bixler and, on classical horn, Andrew Pelletier. He earned degrees in both jazz studies and classical performance.
His instrument is a bit of an outlier on the jazz scene, but he’s been drawn to jazz from the time he heard it. And at BGSU he’s gotten support from both Pelletier and Bixler.
The Third Shore Collective reflects what’s special about BGSU’s jazz studies program, Brooks said. Its small size fosters a sense of community.
“When there are not many students, so we can really come together,” Brooks said. And that can result in a road-ready ensemble.
“This group taking a more professional viewpoint sets a precedent for incoming groups to start thinking about what happens beyond the walls of this university,” he said.
Weaving so many influences to shape a unified concept “can be challenging,” Brooks said. In rehearsal the composers communicate what they expect in their piece, and the others provide feedback.
“We’re able to mold ourselves into the character of the pieces each other has written,” he said. “It’s a democracy for sure.”
All that will be on display Thursday at Howard’s Club H. The band is looking forward to the show. The music works in the venerable cub, Brooks said, in large part because of owner Steve Feehan’s skillful work at the soundboard. “It’s fair to say our last gig there was a lot of fun.”
