The enemy-turned-ally trope has long sparked box office success. And on the hockey rink, adversaries have lately been doubling as lovers. The Seattle jazz scene can now offer its own spin on this storied plot arc: Northwest high school rivals turn into New York buddies, form an avant-garde brass quartet and earn their first Grammy nomination.<\/p>\n
The protagonists are trumpeter Riley Mulherkar and trombonist Andy Clausen, who graduated at the top of their jazz bands at Garfield High School (Mulherkar) and Roosevelt High School (Clausen) in 2010. Both of those bands attended the New York City finals of the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Competition. Garfield triumphed. Mulherkar and Clausen returned east in the fall to attend The Juilliard School, teaming up on the bandstand after \u201chomesickness\u201d\u00a0inspired them to start a group<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fifteen years on, Clausen said The Westerlies \u2014 which now includes trumpeter Chloe Rowlands and trombonist Addison Maye-Saxon \u2014 spent 2025 touring \u201cas much as we ever have\u201d on the back of their excellent album \u201cParadise,\u201d which sees the quartet translating 19th-century shape note singing (historic American choral music) into jazzy, occasionally extemporaneous horn blowing. \u201cThe music we make,\u201d Clausen said, \u201cthe stuff we\u2019re doing, it feels pretty far from the mainstream. Fame, in that lens, has never been our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the band has garnered significant critical acclaim over the past decade and a half, none of greater magnitude than their first-ever Grammy nomination this past November. Clausen found himself watching a YouTube broadcast announcing the 2026 nominees. Just in case.<\/p>\n \u201cIt happened very fast,\u201d he said. \u201cOur category took like five seconds. It was almost so fast where I didn\u2019t believe it. I had to go back and rewind, and say, ‘Is this real?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It was real. The opening track of \u201cParadise,\u201d the frenetic, ostinato-fueled \u201cFight On,\u201d had earned a 2026 Grammy nomination in the category of best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella. Clausen and Mulherkar can still scarcely believe it, even as they discuss wardrobe options for the forthcoming L.A. festivities. \u201cI got a text from Andy in all caps,\u201d said Mulherkar of the nominations aftermath. \u201cIt was impossible to know whether (a Grammy) was ever attainable, given that we\u2019ve never been nominated before. But I will say, we were proud of that record.\u201d<\/p>\n Mulherkar and Clausen both understand that the Grammys are a complicated, even apocryphal measure of status in the jazz world, a signifier that vaults immediately to the top of your C.V. even as the televised awards show channels a brittle strain of pop culture that, these days, has practically nothing to do with jazz\u2019s place in American culture. \u201cBut at the end of the day,\u201d said Clausen, \u201cthe Grammys are a voting process by members of the Recording Academy who are industry professionals. So from that perspective, to be nominated by our peers, and folks in our field, feels like a tremendous honor. That recognition is meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFight On\u201d is an arrangement of a tune from the historic American shape note songbook \u201cThe Sacred Harp.\u201d That songbook is written for choral performance \u2014 bass, tenor, alto and soprano \u2014 and lends itself to arrangement. Although The Westerlies are a brass band, Clausen said, \u201cWe think of ourselves sometimes as a string quartet.\u201d Mulherkar wrote the initial parts for \u201cFight On,\u201d after which members of The Westerlies began tinkering with their lines through live and studio performances.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that the nomination came in best arrangement<\/em> felt very fitting,\u201d Clausen said. \u201cAt the end of the day, everything we do is arranging. Whether it\u2019s rearranging pieces for our music, or arranging our music around vocals, it\u2019s about rearranging things to be as personal to us as we can make it. That\u2019s been true since the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Even better, the category\u2019s other nominees are artists whom The Westerlies are proud to measure themselves against. Cynthia Erivo, of \u201cWicked\u201d fame, earned a nod for \u201cBe OK.\u201d Saxophonist and composer Remy Le Boeuf was nominated for his Nordkraft Big Band arrangement of the Thad Jones jazz standard \u201cA Child Is Born.\u201d And Charlie Rosen\u2019s 8-Bit Big Band<\/a> punched their ticket with a take on the video game tune \u201cSuper Mario Praise Break.\u201d<\/p>\n Mulherkar and Clausen have long known Le Boeuf and Rosen from the New York scene; they\u2019ve apparently been texting back and forth since the nominations came out. \u201cWe\u2019ll save the trash talk for the red carpet,\u201d joked Clausen. \u201cWhoever wins, we all feel like we\u2019ve won, because three of the four of us are New York creative musical pals.\u201d (The fourth, Erivo, is a clear winner in many formats this year.) \u201cThe main thing we\u2019re excited about is the hang,\u201d said Clausen. \u201cWe know a lot of people who will be there. And there are events all week long.\u201d<\/p>\n Mulherkar drew a parallel between the award nomination and the band\u2019s very first gig, at Columbia City\u2019s Royal Room, where Seattle pianist and composer Wayne Horvitz gushed over the group\u2019s interpretation of his compositions. \u201cWayne was more excited about the band than we were at the time,\u201d said Mulherkar. \u201cA nomination from the Recording Academy feels similar. It\u2019s encouragement from people who are mentors and peers of ours. It says, \u2018You guys are on to something here. Keep going.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n