The sounds of creativity flowed through Little Fish Brewing Company Friday as musicians in the Hellbender Jazz Organ Trio traded improvisations with Jocelyn Gould, and the good energy was felt throughout the crowd in the back dining room.
The Hellbender Jazz Organ trio started playing together in 2023.
“We’ve played together before … in different incarnations,” Sean Parsons said.
All three main members of the trio – Parsons, Roger Braun and Matthew James – are faculty at Ohio University. Parsons is an associate professor of instruction at the School of Music. He also leads the Contemporary Music and Digital Instrument program. Roger Braun is a professor of percussion and director of studies for HTC Music. James is director of Jazz Studies and a professor of saxophone.
Parsons said he likes playing jazz because improvisation gives him a chance to be the most creative. He’s been playing the piano since he was a kid and now plays the jazz organ in Hellbender Jazz Organ Trio.
The band got its name from the hellbender salamander, the largest salamander in the U.S. It’s also endangered and native to Ohio. Someone recommended it as a band name to Parsons on Facebook.
Eli Chambers filled in for the sick Roger Braun on Friday, who is an adjunct professor of percussion. John Horne, Gould and five university students also joined the band.
Horne has been playing the guitar since he was a freshman in high school and is now an adjunct professor of guitar/jazz studies.
“Sometimes when one of those guys can't make it, I'll fill in and other people will fill in as well,” Horne said.
Horne described playing with the Hellbender Jazz Organ Trio as “exciting, complex and fun.” Horne said he likes improvising with the Hellbender Trio because there's a lot of listening and responding to one another in the moment.
Gould, a jazz guitarist, was visiting Athens for a couple of days for the 2025 Athens Jazz Festival. She’s from the Canadian city of Winnipeg, but travels on tour for about 10 months out of the year.
Gould has released four albums, and her album “Elegant Traveler” won the 2021 Juno Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Solo. She also won the 2018 Wilson Center International Jazz Guitar competition.
“Organ trio is a really cool, unique configuration for guitar players,” Gould said. “I don't get to play with organ that often.”
She most often plays with a quartet of upright bass and piano. Her favorite kind of music to play is “swinging, soulful blues.”
“We speak the same language,” Parsons said before performing with Gould for the first time.
For one of the last songs of the night, Chambers, James, Horne and Parsons cycled out so students from OU could play with Gould. Ben Trimboli, a junior studying English pre-law, played the tenor sax. Philip Wilfong, a graduate student studying trumpet, played his instrument of study. Conrad Burt, a sophomore studying music, played the drums. Landon Elliot, a senior studying CMDI, played the guitar. Zachary Winkleman, also a senior studying CMDI, played the organ.
On Saturday, Gould performed with the Jazz Ensemble I and the Jazz Percussion Ensemble. Before that, she led a Jazz Masterclass, and both events were at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
The Hellbender Jazz Organ Trio occasionally plays at other locations besides Little Fish Brewing Company, but no other events are scheduled at the moment. For the summer, they will be playing at Little Fish once a month.
