Rob Hochschild | January 22, 2013

Drummer Wil Tecla and pianist Kevin Clark were first-year students when they met at Berklee during the 2011-12 school year. The two musicians shared an interest in jazz and hip-hop music, and wasted littled time forming a band to explore their interest in composition and playing. They arrived at a band name—English Tom in the Bookstore—whose origin and meaning remains a mystery, at least for now.

In addition to Tecla and Clark, the band features saxophonists Derrick Tate and Utril Rhaburn, flutist Julia Price, bassist Mike Dyer, and vocalist Gracie Jessop. The group executed a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund an EP it released in May 2012. One of the tracks from those sessions was selected out of many submissions to appear on Ripple Effect, the latest release from Berklee's student-run Jazz Revelation Records.