How did you first become interested in music? All types of music were played in my home by my parents. My mother played a little piano and we had an old upright in our home. She loved “finger-popping” music, R&B. But my father preferred classical and jazz.
He had hundreds of albums from the big bands - Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Oliver Nelson, etc.; vocalists – Sarah, Ella, Billie, Carmen McRae, Nat “King” Cole, Pearl Bailey, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, Edie Gorme, Steve Lawrence, Morgana King, Lorenz Alessandra, Gloria Lynne, etc.; instrumentalists – Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Budd Johnson (who was my babysitter, when I was a student of his wife, Bernice Johnson’s Dance School).
So, I listened to jazz almost every day of my childhood. Then, we listened to many radio shows from classical to jazz and blues to R&B. I remember Symphony Sid and Frankie Crocker. We always had music playing in our home on our Grundig stereo that had a sound out of this world!
Who where some of your first musical influences? All of the above. But my piano teacher Gerald Price was the greatest influence on my becoming a performing artist and composer. I lived in Philadelphia from 1976-1982, where I got my Bachelor’s in Music and Communication.
I studied with Gerald most of that time and wrote my first recorded song, SWEET RETURN, recorded in 1983, by Freddie Hubbard on Atlantic Records with Lew Tabackin, Joann Brackeen, Eddie Gomez and Roy Haynes.
How did you become attracted to Jazz? Like I said, above, my father’s record collection. But, in 1968, I met my second husband, who promoted jazz.
This was at the inception of JAZZMOBILE in NYC. He had an extensive record collection, too, and we went to all the jazz clubs in the City (Slug’s, Village Vanguard, Village Gate, Blue Note, Tavern on the Green), up in Harlem (Minton’s Small’s Paradise, Lickety Split, St. Nick’s Pub, Club Baron, Well’s Chicken & Waffles), in Brooklyn (Blue Coronet), Queens (Joe Johnson’s Bottle & Cork, Club Ruby, Village Door) and the Newport Jazz Festival. I was exposed to all the living jazz greats, during those years 1968-1970, including Frank Foster, Charles McPherson, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Irene Reid, Ruth Brown, Betty Carter, Art Blakey, Harold Vick, Richard Davis, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus, Joe Lee Wilson, Leon Thomas, Pharaoh Saunders, Peck Morrison, Ron Carter, Harold Mabern, Budd Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Jordan, Hugh Masekela, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tommy Flanagan, and so many others I just can’t remember at the moment.
At one time or another, I spoke with most of them. I used to sit with Helen, Lee Morgan’s wife. At one point, I thought, “One day, she’s going to kill him.” And she did.
My husband and I moved to Tampa, in July, 1970, where I raised my two children, Michael and Michele. We moved to Philly in 1976, where I completed my B.A. in Music and Communications, and began singing professionally.
In 1982, I moved back to NYC for two years and sang there with many jazz musicians. In 1984, I moved to Fort Lauderdale, and I sang at O’Hara’s for three years with Bob Vandivort and Just Jazz, Dr. Lonnie Smith and several other musicians.
In 1990, I went to Europe, where I toured for 8 years in 8 countries, and recorded my first CD, Feelin’ Good, in Sicily with Giovanni Mazzarino’s Quartet. My second CD, In Pursuit of a Melody (2005) is a compilation of recordings done between 1983 and 2005, including 6 piano pieces I recorded in my studio in Atlanta, GA.
What is your one single source of inspiration, today, for your music endeavors? The organization I founded in 2007 – WOMEN IN JAZZ SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission of promoting Women in Jazz, locally, nationally and globally, through contacts, articles, interviews, newsletters, events, courses, clinics, workshops, lectures, research, history, archives, websites, film, audio and video recording, concerts, performances and recognition. I love doing the online radio show – MUSICWOMAN that is in its second year. I’ve interviewed over 60 women and men.
The radio show is live on Wednesday @ 12 Noon to 2 p.m. at www.blogtalkradio.com/musicwoman. All shows are archived there and on my website at www.wijsf.com/radioguests.htm I’ve interviewed artists from Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Holland, Greece, France, Sweden, Belgium, South Africa, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Florida,
Just before you're going on stage for a performance, what is going through your mind? I’m always excited about singing. I love the stage, the music, the musicians and all the songs I sing.
What is it about your music that you want your audience to understand after a performance? I want them to know that I’m there to sing for them! I love singing my own music, though my repertoire includes all the great American composers – Ellington, Miles Davis, Dizzy, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Rogers, Hart, Hammerstein, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Robert Flack, and those from around the world - Jobim (Brazil), Michele LeGrand (France), Basia (Poland), and many others.
Tell us about some of your current musical projects? WIJSF is a partner in The Lauderhill Jazz Series, a 5-month jazz series that occurs on the third Saturday of the month at The Warehouse, 3500 NW 15th Street, Lauderhill, FL 33311. See www.floridajazznetwork.com. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door that opens at 7:30 p.m
There are 3 sets of music, beginning at 8 p.m. The first concert was on October 17 with me, Jus’ Cynthia, Sam Vique (tenor), Paul Banman (p), Mike Harvey (d) and Anthony Turner (b). On November 21, we feature Rochelle Frederick (tenor sax), Renee Fiallos (flute), and the Alison Weiner Trio.
On December 19, Jamila Sahar (piano) and Robin Avery (vocals) with the Paul Banman Trio. Randi Fishenfeld is featured on January 16, 2010, and on February 20, we’ll have an all-day festival featuring all of our member musicians who are available in Florida to perform.
We have 61 members and 22 of them are musicians. We have members from Florida, Texas, New York, California, Georgia, Sweden and Belgium. Personally, I perform whenever I get a gig. I’ll be a guest at the Blues Concert presented by the American Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica, on February 26, 2010. All my gigs are listed at www.fyicomminc.com/files/gigs.htm
What is your best advice to young inspiring musicians that want to pursue a career as a performing artist? Read my books, especially, So, You Want To Be A Singer? My other books are:
In Pursuit of a Melody
Amazing Musicwomen
Joan Cartwright Song Book
Songs For My Children
A History of African-American Jazz and Blues
Rhythms of the Heart
Gaiamind Poems
The Moon, Sun Showers, Rainbows and Whipped Cream Clouds
