THE JAGUARS MEET THE FOUR FRESHMEN


When you're a 17-year-old kid growing up in the 1950s in a town located in Indiana with a population of less than 50,000, you never expect to meet anyone famous.  Mike Maine had a dream fulfilled.  Indiana has always been well-known for basketball, but it is also a state that has generated famous musicians from Butler University.  Mike attended the only high school in Anderson, where he was one of over 600 students in his class.  The school had a large music department, which consisted of marching, stage, and concert bands, and a choir. The department also had its own composer/arranger.  The music director decided to form a jazz quartet, and Maine became one of the members of the quartet called The Jaguars. Their idols, The Four Freshman, were a world-renowned group at the time. The school's composer would listen to The Four Freshmen records and create arrangements for The Jaguars. The group kept busy performing at clubs and events around town.
  
The Four Freshmen were the most famous jazz quartets in the 1950s through the 1960s, and they have continued to perform throughout the world for over 70 years. The Four Freshmen have consistently received awards as best vocalists by Jazz Times and Down Beat magazine readers' polls. They first formed as “Hal's Harmonizers” while students at Butler University in Indianapolis in 1948.   There have now been 26 individuals who have rotated through the group. The Four Freshmen are known for integrating the jazz and big band sound into their performances, as they not only sing, but each plays an instrument.  Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys has cited The Four Freshmen as being a significant influence for them.

Mike Maine's parents rented a cabin at the picturesque, glacier-formed Tippecanoe Lake in Indiana.  Tippecanoe Lake was famous at the time for Tippy Dance Hall, where hundreds of people on Saturday nights would dance to the sounds of people like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.  When Maine heard that The Four Freshmen would be performing at Tippy Dance Hall, he invited his fellow Jaguars to join he and his parents for a weekend at the lake.

The Jaguars decided to introduce themselves to The Four Freshmen, fully expecting them to dismiss the four 17-year-olds.  After all, The Four Freshmen were famous at the time and probably had youngsters continually approaching them.  Much to the boys' amazement, the quartet didn't blow them off. Instead, they invited them onto the stage following their performance and listened to The Jaguars belt out their version of tunes by The Four Freshmen. The Four Freshmen encouraged the group to continue singing.  Mike described the evening, “We were just four teenagers who had the naivety and audacity even to think the members of such a great group would give us the time of day!” It was a night forever burned into the boys' memories.  None of them pursued music professionally, but music has always been a significant part of their lives.  Maine, a retired attorney, now sings in the choir at the Church of Horseshoe Bay, the Highland Lakes Men's Chorus, and is president of Horseshoe Bay's Cultural Enrichment Society.

Sometimes life has a way of coming full circle.  Maine has maintained communication with The Four Freshmen members throughout the years and has been instrumental in bringing them to Horseshoe Bay through his role with the Cultural Enrichment Society.  The Four Freshman will appear on Sunday, November 10, at 4:30 PM at St Paul the Apostle Church in Horseshoe Bay. Tickets may be purchased online at hsbenrichment.org.


Mike Maine (standing left) was a proud member of The Jaguars while attending Butler University a life time ago. The highlight of The Jaguars' musical career was meeting their idols, The Four Freshmen, at a dance hall one magical summer night. 

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