Paul Keller and his quintet thrilled the crowd with their classical-jazz mashup, “Swinging the Classics,” Oct. 9. 

Senior Nick Heide was invited to join the quintet onstage in the Plaster Auditorium to play a number with the group.

Keller composes and arranges music for several ensembles based in Detroit. Keller’s quintet is made up of vibraphonist Cary Kocher, clarinetist and vocalist Sarah D’Angelo, pianist Cliff Monear, and guitarist Ralph Tope.

The band played jazz  renditions of Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart, and Dvořák among other classical works. In what Keller likes to call “The Keller Game,” they take the themes and harmonies of a song and riff on that. 

“We take the headlines, just the top melodies and the harmony that we can,” Keller said. “A lot of it we have to cut out.” 

As red, orange, and green lights glowed behind the stage, the band laughed and Keller called out cues on the bandstand. Sarah D’Angelo stepped up to the microphone to introduce a song she wrote to a theme from Johannes Brahms. 

“Lots of us have a classical background,” D’Angelo said. “It’s kind of my first love.”

Cary Kocher has played with Keller since they were in high school.

“What we’re proud of, and what I’m proud of, is the package that we’re able to put together by putting a little thought into the repertoire and really making it jazz and making it our own,” Kocher said.

Freshman David Oduwusi said he started listening to jazz last year and attended the concert with friends.

“Jazz has a unique flow, so when they took classical pieces and added a bit of jazz to them it gave a sense of familiarity, and then brought unpredictability with it,” Oduwusi said. “All the musicians seemed really alive.”

Halfway through the show, Keller called up Heide to the bandstand. Keller and Heide got to know each other two years ago when Keller was a judge for Battle of the Combos and heard Heide play.

“We played a little bit together, and we just hit it off because we love all the same old jazz artists,” Heide said. “We love the same style and we’re just kind of aligned in what we enjoy.”

Heide started learning piano when he was 9 years old, and fell in love with jazz composers like Red Garland and Vince Guaraldi. Onstage, Keller and Heide improvised these great artists they share a love for.

“I think the three pianists he threw out there were Teddy Wilson, Earl Hines, and Duke Ellington. He knows those are my favorites,” Heide said.

The experiences that Keller and Heide share, and their knowledge of the greatest that played before them have made moments of spontaneous improvisation possible. 

Keller said his preferred group to perform with is his quintet, yet he hadn’t brought them to Hillsdale until “Swinging the Classics.”  He says he loves to play with the quintet because of a musical term called tutti. 

“It means that everybody’s playing the same rhythm,” Keller said. “I like doing that with no horns and no drums. I just love it when we’re all playing the same melody or even better, a harmonized melody.”

The quintet has been playing together for years, but every gig takes diligent and creative preparation, as Keller said during the show. In fact, Keller said that they’ve been practicing for this concert for months. 

“We like to make it look like magic, like it’s easy and we just do it falling off a log,” Keller said. “But there was a lot of effort that went into putting that together.” He said communication is how the quintet survives. 

As for his personal success, Keller says it has a lot to do with daily dedication, practice, and work, but that he also had to follow a dream.

“I’m a lot like Nick. I fell in love with it at a very early age,” Keller said. “And I selfishly went after my own dream and took charge of my own happiness. And so I live in this little fantasy world that I love.”