Breaking up is hard to do: Jazz combo calls it quits

Smashing Pumpkins. Soundgarden. White Zombie. Cadmium Orange. Ole Tu Madre. It was fun in the beginning, but the sound became tainted with dispute. Music gave way to personal and conceptual differences. Whatever the means, the end is the same.\nBands break up.\nOle Tu Madre had its share of crescendos and decrescendos in the band's three-year history. Yet the band differs from the breakups of recent acclaim: Musicians in OTM had a bit of independence within its structure. In the format of a jazz combo, cohesion gives way to cooperation.\nAs some of the ex-members of OTM say, rock bands operate within a tight structure, rehearsing, writing and performing with the same group. Jazz musicians swing from combo to combo, rehearsing with some of the same people but mostly rehearsing on their own.\nWhile typical bands develop sets and songs before showtime, the lifeblood of jazz is improvisation. Hence, jazz musicians have some arranged compositions but can also read a sheet of only chords to create myriad melodies and solos. \nThis independence brought together six musical spirits with different ambitions. As former saxophonist and senior Rahsaan Barber says, to make it work, it took the "ability to conglomerate" six different influences into one sound. \nAt first, it was fun. The original group came together with the inspired desire of trumpeter and senior Diego Merino, who pursued the combo idea during his freshman fall semester. Merino paired up with bassist and senior Tom Warburton, trumpeter Ben Hempel, original saxophonist and senior Armando Perez, pianist Dan Siller and drummer Ryan Fitch, now of Danagas. After Fitch moved on, OTM settled on sophomore Justin Shaw. After Siller left, guitarist and senior Jeff Litman took over.\nWarburton describes OTM's original sound as experimental. These musicians were playing music that was not what the music school's jazz faculty favored, the bassist says.\nJazz students at IU are some of the best among their peers throughout the nation, if not the world. Their talent and continual growth takes root in different forms of sound. Latin, bop, contemporary -- individual musicians tend to have different leanings within the same genre. At the same time, being students, the musicians' development grows at different rates. \nThese variables, as Litman says, can show on the bandstand. When they are pulled together, the sound is favorable. When they are not, the difference the musicians hear is glaring. \nLitman says jazz is often described as a conversation. With OTM, he continues, it eventually turned into an argument.\nWhile many of the members agree that OTM was, in a way, lead by Merino, they also say the decision-making process was a democracy. Multiple members composed tunes, and everyone contributed ideas. \nFor Perez, dropping out of the band was a "big step." He cited going from practicing and gigging nearly every week to not as often as one of the main changes. \nThis weekly action was seemingly another factor to the combo's demise. \n"College in general is a time drainer," Barber says. For music students, rehearsal, recitals, classes and various musical excursions around town add to the list. Barber compared the time requirements for OTM to those of taking another three-hour class. \nWhat now?\nAll of the interviewed musicians are working on new projects. Merino says now he is working in a group that allows him to concentrate on the intricacies of the music, such as how the angle of the drummer's wrist relates to the bassist's strumming method. \nPerez and Litman have been playing with other musicians and practicing on their own. Barber plays both in the Latin band Alma Azul and the Barber Brother's Quintet. \nThe musicians still play together occasionally. Merino, Litman and Shaw live in the same house. \nThe effect on the members has not been detrimental. Perez, Litman, Barber and Warburton reflect on OTM with a bit of fondness. Barber says there is no tension among the former members. \nThere seems to be no fallout necessary to end years of effort. Sometimes, bands just break up.