And All That Jazz: Students form a jazz quartet, building a friendship around their passion for music

Freshman Nash Ohlund was confused as an email with the subject line: “Combo?” flashed up on his screen. Three upperclassmen whose names he recognized from the upper jazz band had a proposal: they needed Nash to play a few songs for their up-and-coming independent jazz group.

Assuming the invitation was for a class-assigned grade, he agreed. Little did he know, seniors Henry Revare and Delia Cashman and junior Ruby Wagner had been planning to recruit him for weeks since first hearing him play piano in the lower jazz band. He had talent they’d never seen from a freshman.

“He’s probably the best piano player in this school,” Henry said. 

The three upperclassmen had already been playing together after connecting through the East band and a UMKC summer band camp in 2022. With Henry on trumpet, Delia on standing bass and Ruby on drums, they were missing a key component, one more instrument to tie it all together. 

“The bass is walking, then someone is soloing, so we needed someone to do the chords behind the beat,” Delia said.

Though intimidated at first, Nash connected with the three not just as bandmates, but as friends. Delia never recalls the group being awkward, even at the beginning — their dynamic was almost an immediate fit.

Six-hour-long practices are broken up with Mario Kart breaks and a slew of inside jokes, like the mention of a “condensed sugar candy collection” that sends them all into laughter. On weekends, they’ve gone out to see local jazz performances, taken a jazz masterclass together and grabbed tacos for dinner.

Then they just needed an official name. They tossed around names that didn’t feel quite right until they landed on Whitney Payne Quartet: “Whitney” from their matching Pink Whitney beanies they found while thrift shopping — another one of the group’s favorite activities — and “Payne” after Henry’s middle name.   

With about two months of practice under their belt, the quartet debuted at the East winter band concert, performing fan favorite “Hey Ya!” by Outkast and “Black Orpheus,” a jazz standard by Luiz Bonfá. A few weeks after, they landed their first gig at Rock Creek Brewery for two hours of Christmas classics. The gig was a success — one audience member even called for “one more, one more” after every song, according to Nash.

Three months later, they’ve compiled a setlist of nearly 30 songs, filmed a promotional video and launched an Instagram account @whitney_payne_quartet to reach a wider audience. Their main goal for the immediate future is to book as many gigs as they can. Though the pay is a plus, it’s gaining more performance experience outside of school and sharing their music together that they value most.  

The band has found encouragement and support from school band members who hang around after school to listen to them play. Band director Alex Toepfer is always around to offer advice on their pieces and make room in band concerts to showcase the “strong group,” Toepfer says.  

The group attributes their successful dynamic to their natural ability to communicate and relax while performing. In jazz, Delia says, it’s vital that the musicians listen to each other and communicate non-verbally — a skill not every musician has. While Henry spins off into a blaring trumpet solo, eyes closed and foot tapping, Ruby keeps the beat on track while making eye contact with Delia, nodding on beat. From his corner on piano, Nash scans his bandmates for any impromptu changes. 

“We’re good enough to play with each other and interact with each other, which is on another level from a lot of the musicians in this school,” Ruby said. “It’s difficult to be able to interact while playing music with people who are struggling to play their instrument. Here, we don’t have to worry about that.”

Practices vary, but their dedication doesn’t. Whether it’s during seminar in the band room or on weekends in one of their basements, hour-long tune-ups or half-day jazz sessions unite them as often as they can in their busy weeks.

Though they’ve mastered a setlist of covers, they’ve begun writing some originals — a process Henry describes as “messing around.” It’s different every time. Sometimes Henry comes with a piece he mixed on LogicPro for the group to arrange into a jazz song, like he did for their original “Lucid Dreaming.” Other times they just play until something fits, a method used for “Whitney’s Pain.” Their recent piece, “Thank You for the Mercury,” came from an accidental tune Nash played that morphed into three hours of a “hot mess.”

“Henry masterminds it,” Delia said. “The first thing we come up with is chords, so it’s all just [Henry] and Nash figuring it out. Then we just kind of add our own parts to it.”

With its collaborative music style, jazz allows each member to showcase their own musical talents, while still combining to make one collective song. The quartet doesn’t necessarily begin their rehearsals with a plan, they just play and see what happens.

“We don’t get very far because we do a lot of trial and error to see what sounds good,” Henry said. “But we make something in the end that I think sounds fun. We have to stop ourselves and move on so we can actually get through the music.”

Though Delia and Henry graduate in May, Nash hopes he and Ruby can continue Whitney Payne Quartet. Still, Nash doubts he’ll find another two people that fit the dynamic as perfectly.

“I think it’s gonna be difficult because we don’t know who to replace unless there’s some genius freshmen coming in,” Nash said. “We’ve formed a great friendship and I feel like we play together better because I’m more relaxed with them.”