Quartet of Happiness profile picture

Quartet of Happiness

a theatrical jazz experience

About Me

Quartet of Happiness takes modern jazz and infuses it with a hefty dose of cheekiness and irreverent humor, wrapping it all up in the sort of theatrics reminiscent of Blue Man Group. The group has made it its mission to take jazz out of the ivory tower and make it accessible to a wide-ranging audience. Playing games, wearing costumes, and engaging the audience with their antics, the Quartet of Happiness’ performances are at times reminiscent of a cross between an improv comedy show and a theater of the bizarre. It’s part jazz, part performance art, and all of it the child of insane wit.
The architects of Quartet of Happiness are saxophonists Kelly Roberge and Rick Stone. The pair met while each pursued a Master’s Degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Frustrated by the role of modern jazz as the province of intellectual wonkery, Roberge and Stone shared the inspiration to put the sense of pure, childish fun back in jazz.The seeds of this quirky quartet were sown in 2003, while Roberge and Stone were on tour in Japan with a big band during the summer after their graduation from conservatory. They’d been on tour for a solid month, playing the same compositions day after day. To keep themselves amused (and freak out the audience), they began to act out. They’d storm the audience during a solo, and perform various other shenanigans to the chagrin of the demure Japanese bandleader. It wasn’t long, though, before the bandleader succumbed to the effect that the pair’s antics had on everyone and eventually embraced the behavior as part of the performance.
Armed with this new encouragement, Stone and Roberge began to take their ideas further, and thus the Quartet of Happiness was born. The band appeared in various incarnations before the more cohesive present lineup, which now includes one of the most formidable rhythm sections in Boston: bassist and fellow NEC alum Kendall Eddy, and drummer Austin McMahon. Now a veritable quartet of four kindred, goofy souls, the Quartet of Happiness has toured the Northeast, Midwest, equally at home playing in a downtown New York club and schools in the middle of Iowa. An important part of the band’s ethos is reaching out to younger audiences in schools and clinics.
Some notables that members of the quartet of happiness have collectively performed and/or recorded with include Billy Hart, Bob Brookmeyer, George Garzone, the Either/Orchestra, Steve Lacy, David Liebman, Ira Sullivan, and the band “Boston.”

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/22/2006
Band Website: quartetofhappiness.com
Band Members: Rick Stone, alto sax; Kelly Roberge, tenor sax; Kendall Eddy, bass; Austin McMahon, drums
Influences: Matt Wilson Quartet, Frank Zappa, GWAR, Django Bates, Jerry Seinfeld, Charles Ives, Hector Berlioz, Igor Stravinsky, Steve Lacy, Sun Ra, Hermeto Pascoal, Bingo Gazingo, Ryan Stiles, Mostly Other People Do the Killing, George Garzone, Rob Scheps, everyday life
Sounds Like: depends on the topic
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Boston Music Awards Nomination!!!

Hey everyone,It's been awhile since we've posted one of these, but here's a new blog for everyone to see! We were recently nominated for "Outstanding Jazz Act" in the 2007 Boston Music Awards. The a...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 02:24:00 PST

April 2007

Happy spring everybody! We had a blast playing at Beacon HS!! You were a great audience! We'd like to thank Jeffrey Benson for setting up the show. Our YMCA show with Dan Bennett and Jerry Bergonzi's ...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 09:47:00 PST

The Ides of March.....

Hello everyone,Our CD release weekend is over and we'd like to thank everyone who came out and gave their support. We'd especially like to thank everyone who came out to our Boston CD release during ...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:31:00 PST

February 2007

Greetings once again from the land of Happiness! After a brief hiatus we're happy to announce some upcoming shows. We'll be heading down to Miami once again in February for a couple of performances ...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:01:00 PST

QOH Debut Album now available!!!

Hello everyone and Happy 2007!We're happy to announce that our debut album is now finished and ready for the public. The album will be available for purchase through our website for $12.50 (includes ...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 05:42:00 PST

Thank you Iowa!

Hello everyone,Well, we're back from Iowa and the trip was a blast! We'd like to thank all the students, teachers, and friends who came out and supported us last week, it was great to see all of you....
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:52:00 PST

October/November 2006

We hope the fall is off to a good start for everyone. Things have been pretty busy in "QOH Land". Our first album is nearly complete and we're beginning work on a short movie featuring "The Monster" ...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Sun, 15 Oct 2006 11:56:00 PST

August 2006

Happy August everyone (even though August is already half over)We've had a great month so far with performances in New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Boston. We'd like to thank everyone who made it to those s...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:52:00 PST

July 2006

Happy summer to all! The QOH had a blast with "Mostly Other People Do the Killing" with our NYC and Boston shows! We thank everybody that came out tothose shows and made some noise. Coming up for July...
Posted by Quartet of Happiness on Tue, 04 Jul 2006 12:53:00 PST