Many students walk into The Oak House expecting a relaxing and comfortable place to hang out with friends and decompress. What many customers don’t realize is that if they walk into the coffee shop on the first Friday of the month, they can expect jazz music from Small House.

Small House is a jazz band comprised of six Elon University students. Senior Brandon Mitchell, one of the band’s members, always had aspirations to start a band. 

Once they begun comprising original pieces, they got their first gig at The Oak House — “First Friday Jazz Jams.”

“It’s been good so far because people are really coming by to show their support,” Mitchell said. 

Small House started as a collaboration between Mitchell, senior Jack Garno and sophomore Brandon Atwell.  

“We all shared an interest in playing jazz and the like, so we figured we’d start writing and performing originals together since both of the Brandon’s already had a few songs in the works,” Garno said.

The band describes themselves as jazz fusion with a touch of many types of different music.

“We pull our influences from bebop, Latin, funk, blues, rock, R&B and numerous other genres,” Garno said.  “We fuse all these together to produce colorful arrangements.”

The band’s members all contribute something unique to their sound. Mitchell plays vibes, piano and percussion. Garno plays bass. Atwell plays vibes, piano and percussion. Sophomore Carey Bina plays alto sax. Hampton Smith plays drums. Freshman Andrew Trautmann plays guitar. Sophomore David Williams plays keys.

“Our sound palette is expanding alongside the music,” Garno said.

For its Friday performances, Small House follows a loose routine. First, the band plays some of their original compositions. 

“Now we have around 10 original compositions that are constantly evolving, with more on the way,” Garno said.

Then, after taking a short break, they open the floor up to anyone who wants to collaborate.

“Vocalists can sing with us, instrumentalists,” Mitchell said. “From there we branch out and do whatever people want to do. We kind of like to reach back to the community and reach back to other musicians.”

Because of this the three original members added three more.

“The addition of new musicians who play different instruments and bring their own unique influences to the table helps keep ourselves and our audiences interested and inspired,” Garno said.

One of Small House’s purposes is to remain connected with those who listen.

“Jazz in general is a universal language,” Mitchell said. “It really does bring people together. We’re really trying to focus on the community aspect. We’re trying to introduce this music to people. We want people to share this experience with us because it really is an experience for us too.”

Mitchell, a music performance major with a concentration in percussion, has been collaborating with members of the band for a while.

He met Garno, another member of the band, the very first day he came to Elon.

“We had Elon 101 together,” Mitchell said. “For the first year we just played basketball together. But then we ended up getting in the same ensembles and musical groups. That’s when we really started our musical relationship together.”

The group’s name came from a play on of the small size of the music department.

“Our music department here at Elon is pretty small and so we’re really personal with each other in the department,” he said. “We were always collaborating, even before Small House started. We each had this idea that we’re a small house but we’re promoting big ideas.”

So far, the group has had two Jazz Jams. They plan on playing during December and Winter Term as well. The Jazz Jams have given the band a good foundation for their future careers.

“We’re looking to record an album over winter term and hopefully have it ready to go by spring semester,” Mitchell said.

The group is planning on using the new recording studios on campus at Arts West, said Garno.

“At that point we might try to get out and tour a little bit. We might try to go to Raleigh or the Greensboro area and really try to see where this all goes,” Mitchell said.

The group still plans on continuing to perform at The Oak House.

“The Jazz Jams have been very successful and fun so far, so were excited to keep doing them,” Garno said.