For the first time at Iowa State, chemical engineering students can be taught about the principles of thermodynamics in class Thursday, and be entertained with live music by the same professor later that night.

Since the reopening of Stomping Grounds, 303 Welch Ave. #105, Ken Jolls, professor of chemical engineering, has been bringing a regular group of musicians to blend the aroma of coffee with the air of jazz every week.

“When they told me about [the remodeling], I said, ‘Oh, we ought to do something special for that,'” Jolls says. “That first Saturday night was just magic.”

And his story begins. Whether one hears it forward or backward, it matters not. The point will come through that the energetic man striking his vibraphone in that coffee shop is indeed bringing something unique to Ames.

“He’s kind of legendary in town,” says saxophone player Mike Giles of Jolls.

Giles is one of the four-member group billed as Ken Jolls, Erin Fishler and Friends.

It may come as a surprise to even frequent concertgoers, but the idea of having a set group of jazz musicians playing together week after week is somewhat unique in and of itself. And perhaps that’s a secret they want kept.

“There’s a joke in the business that you don’t shake hands on the bandstand,” Jolls says. “Because then the audience knows you’ve never played together.”

Although several of these particular musicians have crossed paths many times over the years, even now that they have a regular gig, they don’t practice together, with the exception of an occasional rehearsal between Jolls and vocalist Erin Fishler.

Jolls says this is one of the major distinctions between jazz and the rock music that dominates the music in Ames.

“With rock bands, I usually think it’s like you go to someone’s garage and practice it over and over,” he says.

“With jazz, we’re all trained musicians, and we know what we’re supposed to do, and we can just get together spontaneously and just do it.”

Just do it. That’s the challenge proposed to the average jazz musician when an event organizer gives him or her a phone call. If the mission is successful, “you’re in the club,” as Jolls says. When the experience is there, he says, it can happen no matter how diverse the group might be.

“I can take five different people who speak five different languages, and if they’re competent jazz musicians,” says Jolls, pausing with a smile to snap his fingers. “I can make it so you’d never know.”

This might not be possible with a different style of music, but Jolls says the way jazz is structured, the players needn’t know what song they’re going to play, or how it should sound. They decide how it should sound.

“It is an improvisatory art,” Jolls says.

“You can never play it straight more than the first chorus, and then you have to liberate yourself and just play. Jazz doesn’t work if you don’t do it that way.”

Without rehearsals, jazz is truly unpredictable, even though Jolls says it is structurally stereotypical, which requires the band to play amazingly well in order to dodge the objections of jazz critics.

“We’re pretty much winging it,” says drummer Bob Brown. “A lot of that, for me, is kind of exciting. Endings and beginnings sometimes have been rough because we don’t know exactly how to do a song, but I think everybody has been real sensitive to listening to one another and responding to it in an honest way. To me, that’s what jazz should be all about.”

Not to be confused with free jazz, Jolls and company do use preconceived melodies that can be learned from what are called “fakebooks.” At Stomping Grounds, Jolls and the rest of the gang play straight-ahead vocal jazz, some Latin stylings — primarily bossa nova — and a little swing thrown in for good measure.

Jolls’ experience and talent have not gone unnoticed over the years. He has been recognized on numerous occasions both in areas of science and music, and especially for the ways he combines the two disciplines. In the past, Jolls has played for Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, for clarity and Sonny and Cher.

“Ken is truly a genius,” says bass player Cheri Schendel-Hennager.

“Not only on an academic level, but as far as music is concerned. He has all these songs in his head.”

Even with all the experience, sometimes Jolls can be a little overzealous, and his younger bandmates have to duck and sway accordingly.

“I have to avoid being hit by his mallets,” Schendel-Hennager says. “There have been a few times when I’ve gotten whacked because he obviously gets so into it.”