Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Local jazz band beats odds

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Southeast Missouri State University student Kyle Clay has played jazz since junior high school and found a passion for the genre in its demand for freedom of expression.

"We're not reading a lot of music," Clay said. "It's really a lot about -- you can put your own inspiration into it, your own ideas. The conversation between the musicians that are playing it is really freeing. Take the song wherever you want it to go. You guys are really playing off each other, and you're not locked into a certain set of notes that are on a page."

Clay is one of three members that make up that currently make up the local jazz ensemble, the 440's. With Clay on bass, the others include Matt Gates on guitar and Trevor Smith as both saxophonist and keyboardist.

After playing cabarets at the late Buckner Brewing Co., experimenting with a Jimi Hendrix sound and introductions at Southeast, the final trio came together. Clay said Brad Pool, owner of downtown bar LoDo, "gave them a shot" for a gig a couple months back and ever since they've been one of the spot's regular bands.

The term 440 isn't insignificant. According to Clay, on the other hand, it may seem like it to someone who doesn't practice music. The "A" that an oboe plays before a performance is used to tune the rest of an orchestra, and this note is set at 440 Hertz, or cycles of a sound wave per second. Clay joked that the group needed a name, and before they were only known as "those four guys who play jazz together."

Boiled down, Clay said they're ultimately a jazz group; nonetheless, their particular sound is hard to pinpoint. Everything from swing to bebop to contemporary artists like John Legend and Pharrell Williams, the 440's aren't afraid to add variety.

"We even still throw in some Jimi Hendrix," Clay said.

Now a graduate student in composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, Smith has written some original pieces for the band.

Smith plans to remain a part of the 440's, though his departure for graduate school currently takes him away from the group. The trio stays a trio, however -- drummer John-David Hahs recently jumped on-board around the same time Smith left. Hahs had played with Clay in the past and seemed like a good fit for the team.

"We just, over the summer, kind of reconnected with him and said, 'Hey, let's get together and play sometime,'" Clay said.

Clay is finishing a degree in music education at Southeast and admits there's a careful balance between juggling school and the group. He said there's a difference in being a part of a band and working to make a band sound good.

"What we have to do is we have to make time," Clay said. "To rehearse, we have to get together and to play gigs. We don't just do it whenever we're free. We try to make time to get together and actually do this. That sometimes takes away from, you know, your free time, your luxury time, but, in the end, whenever you guys get together and play really well, that's what makes it worth it really."

Clay stressed that it's important, as a group, to be friends beyond the music as well.

"We all hang out outside of just rehearsal and just playing music," Clay said.

Sometimes they grill, have a cookout or simply meet up for dinner, but Clay said when getting back to practice, the process runs a lot smoother. It's easier to keep an open mind to other members' suggestions when viewing them less on a professional level and on more of a personal one.

The 440's "let's do it" attitude contributes to their eclectic set lists.

"I'd say the biggest thing is really being open to other people's ideas and not shutting them down and being open to trying new things," Clay said. "We play songs in different ways probably every time we play them."

The 440's perform at LoDo on the first Friday of every month and will play with Dominique Thomas at Katy O'Ferrell's Publick House on Sept. 13. There is no cover charge for the shows.

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