11-29-08

We just got back from our Iowa tour and it was once again a blast! Thank you to all the students and teachers who helped make the experience such a memorable one. Special thanks to David Lang and the Independence High School Band, to Bill’s Smokehouse in Independence, to Steve Shanley and the Cedar Rapids Washington High School Band, to Christopher Bird and the Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School Band, and to Chris Merz and the University of Northern Iowa Jazz program. Also, special thanks once again to Paul “Doc” Tenney for having us stay at his home in Cedar Falls, we really appreciate your hospitality!

The Kennedy High Jazz One, under the direction of Christopher Bird, did an outstanding job rehearsing and performing both their own set of music and four of our QOH big band arrangements. Thank you for taking the time to join our world of theatrical jazz big band! We’d also like to thank our good friend Ayn Inserto for all of her help in both the arranging and Finale notation of several of these charts. We’re hoping to have several more arrangements in the near future.

In other news, we’re gearing up for a round of Boston area performances in December, starting with a special outdoor holiday show in front of Macy's in Downtown Crossing at 12 noon on December 5th. Just two days later, we perform a 7pm show Sunday December 7th at Improv Boston in Cambridge as part of their Sgt. Culpepper’s Comedy Jamboree. We’ll also be sharing the stage Monday night December 15th at the Lily Pad in Cambridge with two outstanding solo acts from New York, Patrick Breiner and Becca Stevens. We’ll hope to see many of you at these upcoming performances. (bring your hat and gloves to the 12/5 show!)

Thanks for checking in and stay tuned as further updates are on the way!

10-15-08

Hello everyone, summer is over, fall is here, and it’s time for an update.  We’re very excited to be returning to Iowa for another tour of the schools.  We’ll be in the area Tuesday, November 4th (Election Day!)-Saturday November 8th, making stops in Independence, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and Urbandale, Iowa.  Check out our shows page for specifics.  Our performance at the Cedar Rapids Kennedy High Jazz Night will feature the return of QOH big band music.  We will be premiering a brand new big band chart at this performance so get ready.

Our November school shows will continue back in Massachusetts as we perform at Hingham Middle School on November 25th.

We have also filmed and completed a Japanese advertisement for our Japanese audiences. The Quartet has worked hard to learn to speak Japanese for the ad so it is a must see!! We'd like to give a special thanks to Mia Shimokawa for her voiceover and translation work on the advertisement. Experience it on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYfj2Uss2q4 and soon on our media page, under videos. See you soon!

8-20-08

Hello once again, time for another update!  First, we’d like to thank the students of Lynn for all of their great feedback on our website.  We really enjoyed performing at the Sisson School and we’ll hope to see you all again soon.  Next, we’d like to thank Zumix for having us perform at the Seaport Festival in Piers Park in July.  We had a great time and we’re looking forward to future collaborations with Zumix next year. 

We’ve been busy working on our second album this summer as well.  The mixing is almost finished and we’re really happy with the results so far.  Stay tuned for further album updates.

Summer has also provided us time to work on plans for the upcoming year.  Look for us in early September performing as part of the Boston Music Festival.  Also, we’re hoping to make our way back to Iowa for another school tour in early November, so keep checking in! 

Finally, we’d like to direct your attention to some new features on our website.  We now have education and media links that include lesson plans, a song catalog, clinic outlines, etc.  

5-18-08

May greetings to you all! We had a great time at Oakmont High School doing a clinic with the band and a performance for the entire school. The Oakmont HS band has some of the best ears in Central Mass and they dominated the Copycat game! Thanks to Kris Demoura for his hospitality, Scott Graves for his help, and to the Oakmont cafeteria for such a great lunch. A few days after our Oakmont show, we went back into the studio at Wellspring to work on mixing our second album. It's shaping up, but with the large amount of material, we'll have to go back for a second round!

Coming up later this month, we're going to have a marathon week. First we are performing for Zumix, an amazing community music school in East Boston for our second show there on the 28th. Two days later, we're headed to Sisson Elementary School in Lynn for two shows with their students. We're looking forward to performing for new faces in Lynn, and some familiar faces at Zumix!

Special thanks to Ernie Boch Jr. and the "Music Drives Us" foundation that has made these shows possible. Happy May everybody!

4-12-08

Hey everyone, we're springing into action this month with three shows, one of which we performed yesterday. Our show yesterday in Brooklyn at Achievement First Elementary School was a success, especially with how well the students participated. Special thanks to Veena Srinivasa and the staff of AF for making our
show go smoothly. We are looking forward to performing in Central Mass at Oakmont HS next Friday the 18th and joining our comrades MOPDTK at the Cambridge Family YMCA on the 26th starting at 7pm. Come join us at the YMCA for the first day of Boston Jazz Week!

2-29-08

We just got back from Cedar Rapids, Iowa after having an amazing experience at the Coe College Jazz Summit Festival. Special thanks to Steve Shanley and Bill Carson for having us, to Bernie Tiede for all her help and support, and to the Coe Jazz Band for doing such a great job with our big band charts. Thanks to all Coe students/staff, we really appreciate your enthusiasm and hard work and it was great hanging out with all of you! Also, thanks to everyone who came out to the Grand Finale Concert, we had a blast performing for you and we hope that you enjoyed it as well.

We’d also like to thank Eric Kilburn at Wellspring Studios in Acton, Ma. We spent two days in the studio prior to our Iowa trip and we had a great time recording our second album. Eric was a pleasure to work with, as always!

That’s all for now but stay tuned for pictures from our recording session and the Coe College Jazz Summit Festival, as well as an updated spring performance schedule. Keep warm and we’ll hope to see many of you soon.

2-20-08

Hello everyone,

It’s been awhile since our last update so here’s another edition of QOH info!  First off, we’d like to thank Ernie Boch Jr. and the Music Drives Us Foundation for funding some upcoming performances in East Boston, Lynn, and Leominster, Ma.  We’re really looking forward to bringing our show to a variety of communities/locations in Massachusetts, and we appreciate the assistance that the Boch Foundation is providing.

We would also like to thank Chris Ribot for taking some great pictures at a performance we gave at the Jamaica Plain Library last November.  Check them out on our pictures page.

We’re heading into the studio this week to record our second album.  We’re really excited to be returning to Wellspring Studios in Acton, Ma with engineer Eric Kilburn. 

We’ll be flying out to Cedar Rapids, Ia following the recording session as guest artists’ at this years Coe College Jazz Summit!  The grand finale concert takes place Saturday, February 23rd and will feature the premier of three QOH big band charts.  Come check it out if you’re in the area! 

Thanks for tuning in and for all the support.  Keep checking back as we’ll be posting more performance locations/times as they develop.  Take care and we’ll hope to see many of you in the coming weeks! 

12-18-07

Happy Holidays to all from the QOH! We are digging out our cars and heading to Zumix to perform a concert on the 19th. We are very excited to be performing at such an incredible organization, dedicated to promoting the arts to the youth of East Boston. Also, look for the conclusion of "The Monster Meets George Garzone" to be posted within the next few weeks. Stay warm until nexttime!

11-05-07

Thanks to those in JP that came out to our very successful show at the JP Public Library. There was a hurricane that day (well almost) so it was awesome to see how hearty Bostonians really are. Special thanks to "Four Across" for performing the double bill with us.

In other news, we are very excited to announce that we have been nominated for a Boston Music Award under the "Best Jazz Act" category. Click on the BMA icon on our homepage if you'd like to vote for us. Stay warm until the next update!

10-11-07

Happy autumn folks! We had a great show a few weeks back at the YMCA theatre with the Infared Band. What a great space to have a movie screening in! We had a big turnout with many new faces in the audience that we hope will come out to many more of our future shows.

Speaking of future shows, for our New York city fans, we're down in Williamsburg at the Galapagos Art Space on Friday, October 26th with MOPDTK and showing the "Monster Meets George Garzone" movie down there as well. See you soon NYC!

09-08-07

Hello fans! Fall is almost upon us in Boston and we have an exciting show coming up that will keep things warm. The debut screening of "The Monster Meets George Garzone" will happen in a few weeks on Sunday, September 23rd at the Cambridge YMCA Theatre with our show and Eric Hofbaeur's Infared Band. Adding to the debut of the movie, we will be premiering some new works, paying tribute to reality TV and introducing a new QOH character (along with a familiar one). We're excited for the show so we hope to see many of you there!!

07-16-07

Summer is here and even though our next show isn't for a few months, we are super busy! First off, we have completed a trailer for the Quartet of Happiness original short film: "The Monster Meets George Garzone" check it out on our videos page! We will be releasing the film at our September 23rd show at the Cambridge YMCA theater.

Secondly, we are working with a consultant to generate funding through local grants and foundations to bring you more Quartet of Happiness shows, primarily at schools and in local Massachussetts communities.

Lastly, we've completed a photo shoot with photographer Doug Despres, you'll see lots of new pictures on our website. We hope everyone is having a great summer!! See you all at our September show!

04-27-07

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 KGB trio was a triple thrill. Special thanks to Dan Bennett for setting that up as well.

The folks up at Reading HS take the cake for enthusiasm and sheer numbers. Six hundred strong with a record 80-90% participation in "Follow or Lead the Dynamics." You guys sure got your exercise!! Thanks to David Bunten for having us up to play at Reading's jazz night.

We hope to see at our May 18th show at the Lilypad, which will be the last show before the summer for our Boston fans!

03-19-07

We’d also like to thank everyone in Miami who helped make our February trip such a blast. Special thanks to Joe Rehmer and his roommates for letting us stay for the week, and to Cornerstone Miami and Gerry Keller for having us perform. March continues to be a busy month as we have a short Massachusetts mini-tour in Reading, Wakefield, and Southbridge from the 28th-30th. We’ll hope to see some of you at these performances. Check our shows link for specifics.

02-13-07

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 -click on CDs, DVDs, & more or here- for $12.50 (includes shipping and handling) and at our shows for $10. We're also planning on posting the album on CD baby and iTunes in the near future. Please stay tuned to both MySpace and our Website for info regarding official CD release parties in Boston and New York as well as upcoming tours and performances.

11-17-06

10-28-06

9-06-06

Visit again soon for more updates as we're planning CD release parties in Boston and New York as well as tours in other areas promoting the new album!

Coming up for July, the QOH will be recording our first album!, as well as filming a short movie starring George Garzone and the monster(a QOH favorite).

Concerning our website, our DVD "Live at the Stain Bar"� is now available through paypal on our site under "Cds, Dvds & more". Also the members of the QOH will now actually interact with each entry on our interact page. We will answer each entry in a timely fashion. We are very appreciative of those that have already sent us entries!!

Stay tuned for our future adventures!

Next we will be collaborating with two other bands, the Daniel Bennett Group and Colin Stack and Novelty Act at the newly formed Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA on March 31st.

Besides the chance for showers and thunderstorms, April will also bring a 100% chance of the Quartet of Happiness in Iowa. We will be visiting the cities of Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids to give a series of shows and clinics.

Watch out Brooklyn, we'll be there next! We'll be performing at Stain Bar in the ides of March (the 3rd to be exact) to show off our fading tans.

Check out our shows page for the specifics.

Also, a new addition to our website is our interactive blog. Since much of our music is programmatic, we are thirsty for any crazy/funny/scary stories that we could set to music and act out. Come and be a part of the art™, click on interact and tell us your story.