February 2002 Actuarial Review - Nonactuarial Pursuits of Casualty Actuaries

Nonactuarial Pursuits of Casualty Actuaries
Jammin' With Actuaries
by Marty Adler
I have previously observed that actuaries add evidence to the correlation of mathematical and musical ability. In this issue we feature a jazz musician, one who has jammed with at least three other members of the CAS.
Our Fellow inherited his talent. His mother was a classically trained violinist who stopped playing to raise five children, all of whom took piano lessons. Three continued on to other instruments. His oldest sister has been a church organist and sang with the Pro Arte Chorus on the Carnegie Hall stage. His older brother is a fine trumpet player who has played at the Washington National Cathedral.
Our Fellow started piano at age six and trombone at nine. In ninth grade he played in the Northern New Jersey Regional Band. In college he taught himself the electric bass and formed a rock cover band that played at fraternity parties and local bars. Their first gig started at 2:00 a.m.!
After college he joined an original rock band led by songwriter Ray Donato. For a while fellow actuary Joe Palmer was the keyboard player. They played "showcase" sets (usually 45 minutes) in clubs around New Jersey and New York City. The Aquarian, a weekly music magazine, reviewed them very favorably.
While still taking actuarial exams, perhaps to relieve some of the pressure, he started hosting an informal living room session on Sunday afternoons called "We Be Jammin'." He was joined by guitar players Paul Klauke and John Morley (a former student now training for a higher profession—the priesthood), and later trumpeter Alex Maizys joined.
Upon completion of his FCAS, our Fellow purchased an upright double bass (it plays an octave below the written music) and, taking advantage of all that free time, began practicing and taking lessons. He had recently formed "Swing Unit" with his brother Sam on trumpet and guitarist Scott Smith, a CPCU. (The band's name came from the part of the hospital to which his mother had been moved when her health improved.) After playing the double bass for three months, he brought it to his gigs instead of the electric bass.
At present he studies with two teachers. Nate Lienhard, who plays in the Joe Morello trio, teaches him weekly in New Jersey, focusing on classical technique using the Rabbath method books. Michael Moore, currently in the Dave Brubeck quartet, works with our Fellow about once a month on jazz technique, playing "time" (keeping the beat at all tempos) and learning tunes to develop a repertoire.
Lessons, rehearsals, gigs, and practicing account for somewhere between 500 and 1,000 hours a year with the bass, an interesting replacement for study time. He has had opportunities to sit in with Morello and has attended jam sessions and joined other musicians. He feels fortunate to have taken lessons with many prominent bass players, including Michael Zisman, Todd Coolman, John Goldsby, Rufus Reid, and Jeff Eckels. The brotherhood of the bass is very inclusive. Those fine gentlemen have helped him without hesitation.
Playing jazz has provided our actuary some interesting experiences. He and his band have played at New Jersey's top jazz spot, Shanghai Jazz in Madison. He played in a trio at his niece's wedding in Bridgewater, New Hampshire. Packing his bass in a van, he then took a bicycle trip in northern New England. In Blue Hill, Maine he sat in with the musicians playing at the inn. The building where he formerly worked hired a prominent Broadway piano/keyboard player to play in the lobby during lunch hours in December. On several occasions our actuary sat in with him.
On one Sunday this past December his band was the headline entertainment in a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at New Jersey's Meadowlands. Although his group competed with clowns, face painting, games of chance, and food, more than 1,000 people wandered in and out as the band played. The room was quite a contrast to the clubs where they ordinarily play, which are about the size of a large room. The event had replaced the annual walk in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, which was canceled after September 11.
William "Bud" Ayres considers himself still developing as a musician. Bud is expending energy to improve and become accomplished. Nevertheless, jazz is a difficult living. Gigs today often pay no better than they did 20 or 30 years ago, although the musicianship is better. So Bud will still consider opportunities to use his actuarial expertise.