Jazz music rang out in Langdell Hall’s reading room last Thursday evening. Although the space is usually quiet enough to hear a page turn, this musical break, organized by a spontaneously formed student-led jazz band and HLS Beyond, was a welcome break from decorum.
Cosimo Fabrizio, HLS ’25, and Shaan Pandiri, HLS ’26, co-hosts, have known each other since grade school but fell out of touch. When they realized they had both landed at HLS, they took it as a sign to pick up their music where their friendship had left off. “We’ve known each other since 6th grade. When we found out we were both here at HLS, we knew we had to play together,” says Pandiri.
The duo brought together a talented group of musicians last fall to entertain a crowd of a few dozen students. This week, they did it again for a crowd of students, faculty, and family. The quartet played unique arrangements of classic Jazz standards like Miles Davis’s “So, What,” and original arrangements titled “Tea for Two” and “Body and Soul.”
The evening came together fortuitously with the lineup of musicians coalescing just hours before the event. Pianist Ebba Dankel, an undergrad at Berkeley, and drummer Maria Marmarou, a grad student at Temple, say they just happened to be available to gig tonight. But such spontaneity is what made the evening special, and is illustrative of the music genre’s unique features.
“One of the beautiful things about jazz is that so much is rooted in improvisation. This is the first time everyone here has played together. That’s part of what makes the music so special. We hope you can hear some of that,” says Fabrizio.
“We hoped, by putting on the first show, that we would start building a community of artists and musicians at HLS. Strong Ma (HLS ‘26) approached us at the last event and said he’d like to play with us sometime. We told him about this show, and now he’s making his jazz debut on keys.” Fabrizio continued.
Some, like vocalist Kiyanoush Forough, HLS ’25, were making their worldwide debut.
“A couple of my friends who came here tonight don’t listen to music without words. So, in order to accommodate them, we tried to find a singer. We asked Professor Gersen, who is a co-sponsor of this event. After he said ‘absolutely not,’ the natural next step would be to reach out to Kiyanoush. He got a call at about 10 pm last night,” remarked Fabrizio.
Forough, who claims not to be a singer, wowed the crowd with “HLS blues.”The tune, written by CHATGPT and arranged by Shaan overnight, was based on law school woes like the headaches of sorting out tort law elements. The piece clearly struck a chord with the audience, a crowd favorite that elicited a standing ovation.
“Hopefully this will be something that happens more often. We as law students, especially here at Harvard, need more music in our lives. “ says Fabrizio.