"Sweet" Sue Terry, Saxophonist, Colleague and long-time high-school friend of Thomas Chapin at Andover's Phillips Academy, MA
I was a freshman, Tom was a junior. During the first week of school, he found me in a practice room playing jazz. At the time, Hartt was primarily a Classical conservatory, and I had been accepted as an applied clarinet major. My secret agenda, however, was to play jazz saxophone and study with Jackie McLean.
I became Tom's sidekick almost immediately, and he introduced me to the ""secret"" jazz activities at Hartt, which included Paul Jeffrey's amazing ensemble. I ended up studying with Paul as well as with Jackie. But Tom was also a teacher for me. He was already playing professional gigs, composing music, and leading bands. Besides playing alto and soprano saxophones, he also played great flute. I tagged along on many of his gigs, occasionally sitting in.
One of his regular club gigs was with a Latin Jazz band called Talking Drums. At the opposite end of the musical spectrum was a group called Zasis. This was a collective, featuring Tom with Robbie Kaplan on keys, Bill Sloat on bass and Thad Wheeler on percussion. The group was unique in that all the concerts were completely improvised, from beginning to end. In addition to their regular instruments, each player had a wardrobe rack with many unusual ""instruments"" hanging from it, like keys, bells, bowls, pans, and other objects.
Tom was constantly searching for new ""instruments"" to add to his collection. We often went into antique stores (though Tom didn't care for euphemisms and referred to them as 'junk stores') and I was fascinated as he would go around tapping and striking things, auditioning them for Zasis. Most of the objects did not pass the audition. Tom was looking not just for sounds, but for sounds that had qualities such as resonance, overtones, and a compelling timbral bouquet. Sometimes, a sound was just plain funny. Tom showed me that humor is an important part of music too!
I believe there are some recordings of Zasis extant; hopefully they will be released at some point. The group made an important contribution to the lineage of free improvisation that should be documented and made accessible to others.
In the late seventies, I was a neophyte musician whose musical sensibilities were just beginning to take practical shape. Knowing Thomas Chapin at this time, as he was developing his own singular concept of playing and composing, both inspired me and expanded my mind to embrace the immense possibilities that exist in the universe of music. May the spirits bless his continuing journey.
The 1977 photo features Sue and Thomas Chapin playing in the Hartt Concert Jazz Band led by Alexander Lepak."