" I could cry salty tears where have I been all these years...." These are the opening words on the NightSound CD, from George Gershwin's song, How Long Has This Been Going On.As you listen to NightSound, you may hear just a touch of regret for starting so late, but mostly you'll hear the joy of finding jazz, jumping in and going with the music.
When I was 58 years old, I quit a twenty-six year job, went to see Lena Horne do her one-woman show in New York, and came home and told friends and family, "I'm going to do music." For the first couple years I took vocie lessons and sang by myself here on the farm until at age 60 I met stride piano player, Bernie Meltsner, and starting performing in mid-Michigan restaurants and bars.
More musicians, gigs, lessons, jazz camp with Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton, and study with David Darling, Artistic Director of Music for People, all brought me to age 65 when I produced and released NightSound, a CD of jazz hits from the 20't through the 80's plus one song I wrote for my dad.
As a child I heard Hank Williams and Gospel music with jazz creeping in around the edges in piano lessons and radio listening. I walked barefoot in newly plowed fields behind my dad and the horses, picked strawberries by the crate load, and boiled sap for maple syrup. All of this is mixed up in my music today.
Sunny Wilkinson introduced me to jazz singing - jumping ahead, holding back, connecting, being real. Remembering my first voice lesson with Sunny brings me back to the Gershin song, "I know how Columbus felt, finding a brand new world... what a deunce ...
Email a Friend
