| Walden
Jazz Band
The Walden Jazz Band was Jeremy
Shatan and Michael Diamond's
first foray into the performing arts, yet the line-up that
featured them was actually the band's second incarnation.
The original line-up consisted of Amy Burton on vocals,
Jeremy's brother Greg Shatan on saxophone, Matt Penn on
drums, Dave Chalat on guitar and Joe Chalat on bass. Stan
Free, composer of the early synthesizer hit "Popcorn"
was the group's music director and vibes player. Interestingly
enough, Amy Burton now sings with the New York City Opera.
However, she is not the only member of this line-up to go
on to success in show business. Matt Penn, son of Arthur
Penn, director of the classic Bonnie and Clyde among
other films, has worked in movies and television for years,
most recently producing Law and Order. This group
played together from 1975 to 1976, during which time they
played at least one full-length concert and one or two songs
at the occasional Walden School assembly. Sadly, when most
of the musicians graduated in 1976, the Walden Jazz Band
folded.
In 1978, the Walden Jazz Band reformed with new band members
under the guidance of a new music teacher at Walden named
Phil. Following in the footsteps of his older brother, Jeremy
Shatan signed up to be the band's piano player. He was joined
by Leo Shapiro on trumpet, Evan, a guest musician from St.
Ann's School, on bass, Phil on saxophone, and Michael Diamond
on drums. By signing up to be a part of the jazz band, an
elective part of their education at Walden, the musicians
promised that they would set aside time to meet and practice
once or twice a week throughout the school year. These practices
were held with the end goal of perfecting a couple of jazz
selections which would later be performed before an audience
at the school's annual talent show "A Musical Evening
at Walden."
In an October 2005 conversation with Beastiemania.com,
band member Jeremy Shatan recalled that in addition to performing
with the Walden Jazz Band, he had the honor of being the
master of ceremonies for "A Musical Evening at Walden"
in both 1978 and 1979. When asked what he recalled of these
historic nights in musical history, Jeremy responded by
saying the following: "…I recall that I wore a
gold lamé jacket and that we played two jazz classics.
One was 'Watermelon Man' by Herbie Hancock and the other
was 'Mercy, Mercy Me'by Joe Zawinul." At Beastiemania.com,
we are always curious as to whether or not a recording of
something with historical importance such as this could
possibly exist, so we put the question to Jeremy. "I
don't know if a recording exists or not. I suppose it is
possible. I remember Walden having at least one of those
old video recording cameras that was attached to a backpack."
So until the recording surfaces, the online Beastie Boys
community will have to settle for tracking down MP3s of
"Watermelon Man" and "Mercy, Mercy Me"
and using our collective imagination as to what they might
have sounded like as performed by the Walden Jazz Band.
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