Don't Pass The Hall Monitors By

Serendipitous combo of high school jazz coaches became a tight swinging band

The Hall Monitors, l to r: Ben Bilello, Jen Allen, Steve Bulmer, Nathan Edwards, Matt Parker. Whether it’s an original or a deep cut from Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, or Jim Hall, they swing, hard. (Photo courtesy Steve Bulmer)

I do love me some good tongue in cheek humor now and then (actually, it’s hard to get too much in these interesting times), and there may be no better tongue in cheek name for a band in the 8495 than The Hall Monitors.

I mean, your typical first thought when you hear the words “hall monitor” is somebody asking you with stern certainty “Where are you supposed to be?” when that “where” is nowhere near the vicinity of your desired destination.

Ah, but these Hall Monitors do not do that; no, these cats help show you The Way to a place you want to go (or should want to go if you have any cool in your blood whatsoever). In fact, they will be guiding fans to the groove Friday at 8 pm at the Buttonwood Performing Arts Center in Middletown, CT.

They are all performers, all scholars of the art of jazz, and perhaps most importantly for our purposes, they are all teachers. In fact, the band came together out of a serendipitous jam-type performance in October, 2022, at Hartford’s Blackeyed Sally’s in their roles as jazz coaches at West Hartford’s William H. Hall High School. After the school’s noted jazz combos took their turns on the stage, the still-to-be-named band of coaches – Steve Bulmer on bass, Nathan Edwards and Matt Parker on tenor sax, Ben Bilello on drums, and Jen Allen on piano – brought the house down with a set ending with a Parker original called, appropriately enough, “Mr. Hall.”

And, while so many jazz combos are one-offs or ad hoc lineups, Steve saw something in the lineup he thought could endure.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is a great group,’” Steve told 8495Jazz. “I thought it was something that could have legs and be something different. So, being a bass player, and bass players are pretty organized people, I thought ‘OK, I’ll be the one to organize this.’”

To add to the serendipity, about six months after the Blackeyed Sally’s revelation – in May, 2023 – Steve got a call from Massachusetts-based singer Carol Abbe Smith, who was promoting jazz shows in Easthampton, MA. The timing, he said, was perfect. They played an 11-song set, including five originals, and Steve’s hunch was confirmed; this band swung, and they hadn’t even decided on a name yet (though what they ended up with seems fitting).

In the ensuing year and a half, they have played several of the mainstay venues of the region; the Side Door in Old Lyme, CT, the Packing House in Willington, CT, and the stages of the Hartford Jazz Society’s Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series.

Steve is taking a steady-as-she-goes approach to getting the band more stage time as a unit; there are a couple gigs already booked for 2025, with a March date at the Side Door, a show in New Haven, and a date at Hartford’s Butler-McCook House on the schedule so far.

“The challenge in playing with good people is they play with everybody else, too,” he said. “We are all journeymen and soloists in our own right, so I’m just thankful when I make a phone call they say, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’ So the excitement is still there and I feel very blessed to be playing with them – especially with people who are younger than me. Sometimes it’s hard to make inter-generational groups work.”

That last observation is intriguing, because all the band members are educators of the next generation, and not only at Hall, where they are called in as coaches. For instance, Jen teaches at Trinity College in Hartford and is a long-time faculty member at the Litchfield Jazz Camp; Nathan is band director at King Philip Middle School in West Hartford; and Steve is director of jazz combos and bass instructor at the University of Connecticut. Making each student succeed there, he said, is a very individual thing.

“I have some students coming in pretty well prepared,” Steve said. “I have others who are rock bass players and they want to translate from bass guitar to the upright bass. So the bass studio is not like the Suzuki violin method where you go book to book. It’s ‘where have you been, where are you going to?’ and I have all these permutations and combinations. So it’s my challenge to look at each student as an individual and kind of craft their journey for them. That’s what I like about my position there, and it’s also challenging.”

But it’s not only younger folks whom Steve teaches. When I mentioned the example of getting lost in the weeds sometimes in what I thought was the mythical mixolydian mode in the non-existent key of H, he said, in point of fact, that in German musical notation, there is indeed a note called H! What we grow up with here as B-natural is often called H in German notation; B-flat is called B.

“That was some classical training I got a zillion years ago,” Steve said, “and that synapse just fired.”

You’re never too old to learn something new and never too young to swing, and the Hall Monitors are helping to keep things that way.

“Hey Lock!” was originally recorded in 1960 by Johnny Griffin and Eddie Lockjaw Davis and showed off the dual-sax approach. The Hall Monitors introduce us to their version, featuring Nathan Edwards and Matt Parker on the reeds.

Out and About With 8495Jazz

8495Jazz Spur of the Moment Jaunt TODAY

The Parlour, Providence, RI

Clear Audience (combo), 6 pm. $10.

More Holiday Merriment

The New Haven Jazz Underground is paying it forward TODAY with its second annual jazz concert and sock drive fundraiser featuring the Elm City Big Band at Cafe Nine. Doors open at 3. $10. NHVJU founder Nick Di Maria says “we encourage those attending to bring a new package of socks or make a donation to the NHVJU so we can buy some socks and donate them to a homeless charity in New Haven.”

2023 Grammy winner Samara Joy will be at the Jorgensen Performing Arts Center at the University of Connecticut Saturday (Dec. 14) at 8. The 8495Jazz staff saw her on the “rising star” stage at the 2023 Saratoga jazz festival and thought she took the show from anybody on any stage that day. Miss her at the risk of being called hopelessly out of it. Tickets $20-60.

The Matt Wilson Christmas Tree-O (Matt on drums, Jeff Lederer on sax, and Paul Sikivie on bass) grace the stage at Firehouse 12’s Jazz Series show Friday (Dec. 13). Tickets $20 for the 8:30 show, $15 for the 10 p.m. show.

Other Shows This Week

VFW Post 399, Westport, CT

Michael Mossman and Friends (trumpet, combo), Thur., Dec. 12, 7:30 pm. $15.76 - $20.76.

Waterbury Palace Theater Poli Club, Waterbury, CT

Giacomo Gates Trio (vocals, combo), Friday, Dec. 13, 7 and 9 pm. $37.

Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center, Middletown, CT

Evan Wood Quartet (drums), Sat., Dec. 14, 8 pm. $20.

The Falcon, Marlboro, NY

Tatiana Eva-Marie (vocals), Fri., Dec. 13, 7 pm. No cover (suggested $30 donation).

Jams

Cafe Nine, New Haven CT

New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission

Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.

Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT

Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.

Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)

Hartford Jazz Society

Jazz Haven

Jazz Society of Fairfield County

New Haven Jazz Underground

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