May 6, 2004
Hot Sax: Saxophone players Ariel Alexander and Ben Himpel are making a big noise on Bloomington's jazz scene
By Nicole Berner, Herald-Times /The Scene
Benjamin Himpel of the Saxophone Cartel backstage at Second Story April 15.
Staff photo by Monty Howell.In a music school of 1,400 students, Indiana University junior Ariel Alexander's is a tiny field. Only 18 students in the IU School of Music's Jazz Studies department are focusing on saxophone.
And although Alexander plays the smallest versions of the horn — soprano and alto saxophones — the 21-year-old is making a lot of noise.
The St. Louis native co-founded the quintet Conspiracy Theory with Pat Harbison, IU associate professor of trumpet, in the spring of 2003. It includes three students besides Alexander, with Harbison on the trumpet.
"It's not normal," Alexander admitted of the lineup. "But I was frustrated last year; I wanted to play with professors. We have all these really good professors, really good players, and we can't play with them."
When Harbison suggested Alexander seek out experienced players to play with, he didn't really have himself in mind, he said. But Alexander held him to the task.
"She basically said, 'I've learned all the parts and how to fit them together, so can you each me how to play jazz?'" Harbison recalled, laughing. "It's incredible. The moxie, it's just fabulous."
Ariel Alexander performing with the Saxophone Cartel at Second Story April 15. Staff photo by Monty Howell.
Today, Harbison is so proud of Conspiracy Theory, that it's his primary band. It doesn't play for beer and tips; it plays at schools and jazz festivals.
Alexander even secured a research grant for Conspiracy Theory to record an album, released in October.
A member of IU jazz bands since her freshman year, Alexander has taught at the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Camps and recently was named a 2004 International Association of Jazz Educators/BET Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Quintet member.
The group performed at the 2004 IAJE Conference in New York City in January, and later this month, it will play at the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival. Alexander also is co-writing a method book with Harbison, geared toward amateurs and students.
"Probably before she's 22, she will have, like, a major method book on the market," Harbison said. But ask Alexander what makes her stand out among her peers, and she will say she isn't at all different.
Others, including IU professor of saxophone Tom Walsh, disagree. "First of all, she's obviously very talented," he said. "She is someone who has a great desire to play, and she's very pro-active in terms of seeking out opportunities to play — and also be willing to do the work that it takes to make things happen." Harbison said Alexander's entrepreneurial spirit has put her ahead of the game, and that "she has an enormous work ethic."
Alexander began playing the saxophone seven years ago, when she had to pick an instrument to learn in school. "I liked jazz and wanted to be able to play an instrument that could play jazz," she said. Although she was naturally drawn to the saxophone, it didn't come without a lot of practice. "I worked hard at it, for hours and hours. It's a bizarre hobby, compared to other friends who go home and watch TV," she said. She said she had considered medical school, and the deciding factor in where she went to college and what she studied was money. Generous scholarships to go study music at IU made the decision for her. Only recently has she realized she wants to pursue a career in music. "I'm huge into teaching," she said. She already has 10 private high-school students, and she wants eventually to teach even younger children. "A lot of it is that they don't have the mental issues; they don't know definition of what hard is … you can start making an impression on them," she said.
She also pursues an avant-garde style band, a side project called the Saxophone Cartel. It is made up of six saxophonists who take turns throwing in the sounds of other horns in their sessions. "That's all Ben's doing," Alexander said of the group.
Ben is Ben Himpel, a saxophonist making waves alongside Alexander. The 27-year-old Berlin, Germany, native founded the Saxophone Cartel, modeling it after a group in his hometown. He describes it as adventurous, but not "free jazz." It is made up mostly of music-school students and incorporates live improvisation. Walsh calls the group "uncommon and artistically exciting."
"The music that (Himpel) has written for the Saxophone Cartel is really striking," he said. "It really successfully walks the line between being accessible and having depth enough to make it interesting and keep it interesting."
And he's not is not the only one who thinks that. A small but loyal following has gathered for the group since its inception last year. When the Saxophone Cartel played at WFHB community radio station late last year, the group so impressed station manager Ryan Bruce and production director Mike Chrastil, they decided to take it upon themselves to record the loud brass band on their own time. "They were new and interesting," Chrastil said. "I loved the strength of the songwriting, and I know that's mostly Ben's department."
Himpel's fascination with the horn began at an early age, and he began playing it when he was 14. "The first player that I really loved was Stan Getz. That's how it all started," he said.
Since arriving in Bloomington six years ago, Himpel has played in the IU big bands and started a quartet. He formed the Saxophone Cartel in April 2003. "The saxophone itself has so much to offer; one can make a whole group of it," he said.
But what Himpel has learned about his instrument came not from sitting in a classroom at the School of Music. Rather, Himpel is finishing his doctorate in mathematics. (His thesis title is "A Splitting Formula for Spectral Flow on Closed Three-Manifolds.") By autumn, he will be in Bonn, Germany, working in mathematics — and trying to save money to someday buy a used bass saxophone, which can cost up to $9,000. His musical talent is undenied by Walsh and Harbison, and Himpel's decision not to study the instrument formally was a conscious one.
He took private lessons, in Germany and in Bloomington, but he took his parents' advice to secure his future in another field. He also reached an important conclusion on his own: "The nice thing about this combination — doing math for a living and doing music for fun — you really wouldn't be able to do it the other way around." Himpel admits he's lucky to have lived in Bloomington, gleaning much from music-school students he has played with. But he sees the formal study of music as a good way to become a music teacher, like what Alexander hopes for.
For now, Alexander and Himpel will spend the coming weeks putting the finishing touches on their CD with Chrastil and Bruce. Bruce describes the CD as "capturing the moment in time." It is due out in June.
Saxophone Cartel
July 10: A free 11 a.m. performance at "Saturday's Child" at WFHB, 108 W. Fourth St.
July 15: A 5:30 p.m. CD release party at Bear's Place, 1316 E. Third St., is tentatively scheduled.
July 23: Free "Jazz in July" evening concert, outside at IU Art Museum, 1133 E. Seventh St.
More gigs
Ariel Alexander will perform as part of the "IU Jazz Graduation Party" 5:30 p.m. today at Bear's Place.
Also, Benjamin Himpel will be appearing for $3 at 9:15 p.m. on May 28 at Café Django, 116 N. Grant St. He will be joined by Ben Himpel Quartet member, guitarist Paul Kirk.
For more information, see www.saxophonecartel.web1000.com, http://www.arielalexander.com, http://www.patharbison.com/conspiracytheory.html and http://www.bh4.web1000.com.
Reporter Nicole Berner can be reached at 331-4357 or by e-mail at nberner@heraldt.com.
School of Music
Bloomington, IN 47405-2200
(812) 855-1583
Last Updated:
05/24/2004
Comments: musicpub@indiana.edu
Copyright 2003, The Trustees of Indiana University