Suzi Stern, Music news and upcoming shows

2025-03-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to hear music in my opinion is in the intimacy of an artists home...amongst good friends who love music, with a glass of wine or a cup of tea in hand and something delicious to snack on. It covers so many fabulous happy making parts of our senses and lord knows we can all use some "happy making" lifts to our senses.

Sunday March 30th please come join us for music in the spirit of the old salons that brought composers, artists and philosophers together to share ideas and inspire.

Check it out! We finally have a new set up which allows perfect viewing of the band from all angles!

Sunday March 30th

4:00 to 5:30-ish

Playing will be:

From NYC the amazingly talented acoustic bassist Mary Ann McSweeney (Broadway, touring artist, composer, arranger, producer, educator)

Paul Ostermayer on sax and flute (touring artist with Leonard Cohen, Blood Sweat and Tears, Passenger, composer, arranger, educator)

On piano our very own beloved Lenox host George Oldziey (educator, composer, arranger, scored Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Kill Bill, We Can Be Heroes, Spy Kids, Grindhouse to name a few)

And Moi, Suzi Stern will be singing with these illustrious artists! Info. about me, and some brand new tracks if you're curious at www.suzistern.com

BYOB (snacks provided)

Free event but tips are always thrilling!

Bring friends! Bring Family! Relax and enjoy!

57 Taconic Ave.

Lenox MA 01240

Call for more info. (512) 924-5821

2024-12-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've reached out to my wonderful friends and fans, and I felt this would be a perfect time to send you all a wish for a joyous holiday season and a prayer that we will not only find our way through 2025, but flourish. No matter what is going on in the world it can only help to continue sharing art, music and creative outpourings of love.

Now that the winter solstice has passed the days will gradually get longer and we can observe the shadows of winter slowly changing inch by inch as they cast sharp angles of the trees silhouettes across our snowy lawn. We had a beautiful snow fall last night making the Berkshires sparkle in the sunlight today.

I'm currently working on a new recording project. I'm taking my time so it won't come to fruition until sometime in 2025, but here are two of the tracks from the bigger project. A little holiday present. These two compositions are by pianist composer Richie Beirach with my lyrics.

I hope you'll enjoy them, and if you're interested I have some of the highlights from 2024 below...like a travel log!!

Our year has been a full one! Here are some high lights below to peruse!

In Feb George and I went to Austin to gig with GATO6 at the Elephant Room, celebrating George's 70th! Yikes!

We had the chance to hang with so many dear old friends that week:

L to R. Val Unger Visiting from Fort Worth) Estrella Acosta (visiting from Amsterdam) Paul Unger (ft. Worth) Peggy Bates (Seattle) Arjen Goeter (Amsterdam) and me after the Brad Mehldau concert.

I went back to Austin in March to help my girl Ariana Blue get through jaw surgery so I was in Austin for an entire month. She came through with flying colors! After nurse duties relaxed I did some gigs and a highlight was an afternoon with Peggy Stern and John Steinman.

I ran into Peggy again at the viewing of the total eclipse! We had a perfect view!

Myla, Peggy and Will in back and Troy and Ari in front!

A joyful surprise was meeting up with my son René in Austin!

Troy and Ari...

In June Ari flew up to Massachusetts to celebrate my 70th....another "yikes!!" We took a whale watching ride in Boston. Whales are remarkable!

In June I flew to the Pacific NW to celebrate another big BD...my grandson turned 6!! We shot off a rocket together.

In July Brenda and Clif flew up to The Berkshires.

We went to Tanglewood of course

Here is Renee Flemming

In early August my dearest friends flew to the Berkshires from Austin and Seattle to celebrate my big birthday belated! Martha Mefferd, Ann Beeson and Robert Kimsey, Peggie Bates I love you all so dearly!! Unfortunately I got Covid which cut our visit time short but we still managed to have a blast!

In mid August George and I had some amazing musical journeys together. George and I went to Budapest to record more of his iconic Wing Commander Music recorded by a 90 piece symphony orchestra.

George congratulating the orchestra on a job well done...

George in the studio...

My dear friend Maj flew from Stockholm to Budapest to meet us...it was great hanging out with her there!

Maj relaxing...

On the stairs of Castle Hill

While we were overseas we visited our friends Jojo and Alan Cooke in Sauve France which is an incredible medieval village they live in not far from Montpellier. Jojo and Alan have an amazing, very old, beautiful warm home and they were the best hosts.

We jammed with artist and famed cartoonist R. Crumb!!

Then we spent time with Paul Johnson and Be a in Paris before flying back to the states:

Back home in early Sept...

....we hosted a beautiful concert with Jazz Guitarist John Stowell.

October highlights! Headed to Salt Lake to record the choir for George's Wing Commander Project. In flight we saw the Northern Lights from the air!! It was amazing!

Phil Klein conducted the choir in Salt Lake City, and we had a wonderful time hanging with Phil and Suzi at Sundance after the session.

Suzi H at Sundance...

And serendipity! My cousin was on tour in Salt Lake while we were there:

And in October our very tall 6 year old grandson came to visit us in Lenox...

bringing with him, his amazing mom Selena and dad René. Here I am with papa René...

George and Selena with us in the Berkshires...

Pumpkin carving of course...

November highlight was Dia De Los Muertos:

And hiking with my gal pals...from Austin Annie B and from N. Hampton Carrie Baker:

November trip to New Hampshire!

And the major highlight: recording with these 3 amazing musicians:

Sara Caswell, Jesse Lewis and Adam Coté.

and another December highlight was leading a fun vocal clinic with amazing, focused and talented singers!

The winter is coming...

House Concert with John Stowell

2024-09-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and neighbors!

Coming up a very rare opportunity to hear world class music played in the intimacy of our living room.

We are so excited to be presenting renowned jazz guitarist John Stowell

Sunday Sept. 22nd

The concert is from 2:00 to 4:00

(light refreshments will be served)

Suggested donation $25

Reservations and address: Call or text: (512) 924-5821

Or Email: suzistern@gmail.com

We look forward to having you join us right here in Lenox MA for an amazing afternoon of music!

Visit John's web site to learn more about this remarkable artist at www.johnstowell.com

“Guitarist John Stowell’s style with standards is a delightful departure from the road well traveled. He transcends the label of jazz guitarist.” Los Angeles Times

“He plays his amplified guitar as if he were surrounded by fine crystal... the type of slow burning, sustained energy that you hear in players that practice all the time.” Downbeat

“John Stowell’s approach to harmony that is uniquely his own.” Just Jazz Guitar

"Stowell made his electric guitar sing beautifully, displaying all the virtosity that has brought him to the jazz world's attention in recent years. Coda Magazine, Toronto

GATO 6 featuring Suzi Stern

2024-02-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

GATO 6 reunion performance!!

This all original high energy Latin Jazz band returns to the Elephant Room in downtown Austin TX!!

George Alan Thaddeus Oldziey (aka GATO) is featured on Piano and accordion

Suzi Stern vocals

Dr. John Mills sax

Brian Bettger and Dennis Dotson (of Woody Herman fame) on Trumpet

Mike Longoria drums

Kris Afflerbaugh bass

Bruno Vinezof percussion

P.S.

It's Gato's 70th birthday celebration so come prepared to party!!

looking back at 2023

2023-12-21T14:09:00.000-08:00

Hello again, and happy holidays!!

I haven't written in such a long while and felt like taking a look at some of the highlights of my past year to share with you.

In some ways 2023 felt like it flew by, but at the same time upon reflection, some things seemed like they happened ages ago!

It has been a joy having Paul Ostermayer relocate to the area living only 20 minutes away. George, Paul and I routinely play through material together.

George has been working a lot in his home studio when he's not in Boston teaching at Berklee. We love Boston and we get to experience a nice balance of city VS small town Lenox each week.

In March we had some snow!

And then we had some more snow...

In April I flew to Austin to be inducted into the Austin Texas Jazz Hall Of Fame. It was a distinct and sweet honor and a fun gig!

We had a great band playing for the event: Mitch Watkins guitar, John Fremgen bass, Steve Summer drums, Peggy Stern piano, Su Terry, John Mills and Alex Coke woodwinds...all dear old friends.

My amazing kids surprised me and came to the ceremony!

In April there was also LuluFest ATX! Peggy brought the amazing saxophonist Su Terry into Austin from Ecuador for our festival. She knocked my socks off! Do people still say "knocked my socks off"? As I wrote that I thought it weird and old and odd....but she did blow me away!

Here I am with my dear friend and bass player for many years Paul Unger.

He came down from Fort Worth for the festival.

And another very dear friend the amazing guitarist Margaret Slovak played a set.

I paused while in Austin last spring to meet the newest addition to our clan! My grand niece! She is perfectly adorable!

And...Passover and Easter celebrated with friends and family before heading back on the road.

We are making the most of living in our 140 year old Victorian house in Lenox, with salon concerts in the parlor for the community and a sound proof recording set up in our attic.

When I'm not making music in Western Massachusetts I'm making bowls out of paper, gold leaf, paste and lacquer. I'm obsessed! Music is a theme that runs through most of the vessels.

And then more travels...from San Francisco, to Seattle, to Portland and....

Again from Boston....

back to Austin.....

Celebrating her 34th...

My daughter Ariana's BD and a night at Antone's...

Tex Mex and Troy! Austin food is the best!!

Lunch with two renowned Austin talents: Brilliant photographer Brenda Ladd on the left and Texas music legend Marcia Ball on my right.

Even though Austin has changed profoundly, it still has a truly remarkable, supportive, amazing arts community.

And back in Massachusetts :

In May I produced LuluFest Lenox...the sister festival of LLF ATX...women led bands music festival.

Here I am with Mary Ann Mc Sweeney on my LLF set...My band was George Oldziey piano, Paul Ostermayer sax and flute, Conor Meehan Drums, and Mary Ann.

On a break with my buddy Nina...

MaryAnn played the following night fronting her own sensational Fado influenced jazz ensemble.

Here are some shots from the Bernstein Theatre sound check.

Mary Ann Mc Sweeney's Fado band, Peggy Stern's Quartet and The Sara Caswell Quartet played that evening.

I am so thrilled to report the evenings performances were old out!

Sara Caswell violin, Mary Ann Mc Sweeney leader and on bass, Todd Isler setting up his drums and Jason Ennis guitar

ke Sturm bass...on Sara Caswell's set.

Jesse Lewis Guitar, Ike Sturm bass, Sara Caswell and Jared Schonig drums

Jared, Ike and Jesse

Todd Isler...

The sold out theater and magical music...a view from the wings:

We are enjoying all of the music and art in this area when we're here.

In our own home we had the brilliant John Stowell perform in our parlor for a captivated audience in September, and last week we hosted a wonderful holiday / jazz quintet salon performance here. George played piano, I sang and we had Paul Ostermayer on flute and sax, Jon Sutters on bass and Conor Meehan on drums. We had the warmest most engaged lovely audience. I believe house concerts may be the best way to experience live music these days! We loved it.

So onward!! Here's to making more music and art in 2024.

And a prayer for peace, clarity, understanding and more love pouring into this chaotic world of ours. The world...the planet, needs that!

I am forever the optimist.

Happy New Year Everyone.

Musically and lovingly Yours,

Suzi

Casa Taconic Salon Series Begins

2023-08-23T09:46:00.004-07:00

Mark your calendars for an intimate afternoon concert in our home here in Lenox MA

Casa Taconic in the Berkshires

Sunday September 24th

3:00 P.M.

We are thrilled to be hosting my dear friend,

The brilliant renowned guitarist

John Stowell

John is headed this way on tour from the west coast

Space is limited so call to reserve a seat (512) 924-5821

Suggested donation $25

snacks provided

CD’s for sale

John is a truly unique and creative jazz guitarist influenced as much by pianists and horn players as he is by guitarists.

His original take on harmony, chords and improvisation sets him apart.

This is a rare opportunity to catch this remarkable artist in such an intimate setting.

"In the age of mediocrity and clones, John Stowell's uniqueness and originality are a breath of fresh air."

I love playing with him.

Paul Horn

“Guitarist John Stowell’s style with standards is a delightful departure from the road well traveled. He transcends the label of jazz guitarist.”
Los Angeles Times

"He plays his amplified guitar as if he were surrounded by fine crystal... the type of slow burning, sustained energy that you hear in players that practice all the time."

Downbeat

"John Stowell plays jazz, but he doesn't use any of the cliches; he has an incredible originality."

John is a master creator.

Larry Coryel

Find out more about John here: www.johnstowell.com

Hear John on You Tube here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=John+Stowell+you+tube&oq=John+Stowell+you+tube&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgNGB4yBggCEEUYPDIGCAMQRRg80gEINzI1MGowajSoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:83c6bc89,vid:FwJQ2pOMQ4s

Hope to see you on the 24th!

Musically Yours,

Suzi & George

LLF Lenox was a huge Success!

2023-07-31T17:14:00.003-07:00

Hello Dear Friends of Jazz,

Last month was the wonderful musical culmination of many months of planning, connecting, rehearsing and more planning, with the incredibly successful result...LuluFest Lenox, the sister fest from LLF Austin...our "women led bands jazz festival" which happily....thrillingly came to a beautiful conclusion on July 15th.

Both nights were sold out with fantastic audiences and the music I have to say was spectacular...really beautiful all around. Brilliant playing and stunning compositions and arrangements. We all had an amazing time and I was so thrilled that the entire weekend turned out so beautifully...it makes me say "maybe I'll do this again next year!!!"

Here are some images from the weekend, and for those of you who were able to be there, thank you so much for the support and for your energy out there in the audience!

Onward towards the next LLF Lenox!

Musically Yours,

Suzi

The weekend at a glance:

The Suzi Stern Quintet : Vocalist and composer Suzi Stern with George Oldziey piano / Mary Ann Mc Sweeney bass / Paul Ostermayer on flute and sax / Conor Meehan drums

Mary Ann McSweeney Urban Fado Project: with bassist and leader Mary Ann McSweeney / Jason Ennis guitar / Todd Isler drums / and Sara Caswell violin

The Peggy Stern Quartet: Peggy Stern piano / Lew Scott bass / Ron Horton trumpet / Peter O'Brien drums

The Sara Caswell Quartet: Sara Caswell violin / Jesse Lewis guitar / Ike Sturm bass and Jared Schonig drums

Texas Tour

2023-04-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a wonderful few weeks of music and time spent with my daughter and dear friends in Austin Texas.

LuluFest ATX was sold out and we all had a blast making music. Guitarist Margaret Slovak's trio opened the festival with Paul Unger on bass, and Mike Gordon on Drums. It was a beautiful set of textural dreamy music all composed by Margaret contrasted nicely to Emily Gimble Texas Swing sound in the second set. Emily's voice and piano chops are unparalleled. She had people up out of their seats.

The last set was Peggy Stern's band "Estrella Salsa" featuring the incredible Su Terry on soprano sax. Also in the band was Alex Coke on tenor, Suzi (me) vocals, Ryan Hagler bass and Mike Gordon drums.

A high point for me was getting to sing one of my original compositions with long time friend and collaborator Paul Unger on bass along with Mike Gordon on drums and Peggy Stern on piano. Making music with Paul again was incredibly special as we hadn't seen each other since pre-covid!

On the following Sunday I had the great honor of being inducted into the Austin Jazz Hall Of Fame. The honor was so heartwarming and to top it off my son and daughter were both there, René having flown in from Portland Oregon to surprise me at the concert!

Playing with my old friends and band mates again was an absolute joy.

Mitch Watkins guitar, Peggy Stern piano, John Fremgen bass, Steve Summers drums

Here I am looking appreciative as I receive my award with Ariana and René looking on.

Here with John Mills and Alex Coke

The event was sold out!

Thank you Austin Texas!!!

I am back up in the north east once again.

Enjoying the cool temps and watching my tulip bulbs come up after a long cold winter. We have a mama finch sitting on her nest that was built in the eaves of our front porch and everything smells like spring here.

Last night we played a smoking' set at Gateways with an incredible audience, so between the pines, the blood red tulips, the gold finch and cardinals singing for joy and a great venue to play our music it feels good to be back.

Now I am busy preparing for LLF Lenox coming up on July 14th and 15th in western Massachusetts. The line up is fantastic so keep your eye on my page for this upcoming July Festival in Lenox that I'm producing with my friend and fest founder Peggy Stern. More details can be found here: Lulu-fest.com

Hall Of Fame

2023-03-07T11:27:00.003-08:00

It has been too long since I've written to you all. I keep getting emails from out of town friends and fans wondering what's going on in our new lives here in Western Massachusetts.

A quick run down: We've been commuting to Berklee School of Music in Boston every week for 2 days, then returning to our magical little abode in Lenox. We're enjoying watching the snow fall...even enjoying shoveling the white stuff! It's good exercise and when you're finished there is a nice sense of accomplishment staring you in the face being able to see the walkway again which safely welcomes visitors to your front door.

I've been getting things in order here in Lenox to produce a sister festival of the Lulufest we started in Austin Texas. I'm learning to write grants...learning to be brave about asking foundations and private donors for assistance to get Lulufest Lenox off the ground. It's been a learning curve and I'm loving it.

It is all coming together nicely so that on July 14th and 15th I will proudly present The First Annual Lulufest Lenox!

We will be kicking off the festival with my Quintet on the 14th of July at Gateways Inn on Walker Street in Lenox. My dear life long friend and a new transplant to the Berkshires...Paul Ostermayer (of Leonard Cohen fame) will joining us.

Then on July 15th at The Bernstein Theatre in Lenox I have a beautiful line up of women led bands:

Mary Ann McSweeny's Urban Fado Band, The Peggy Stern Quartet

and grammy nominated jazz violinist Sara Caswell and her band.

Sara just released a long awaited C.D. and we get to hear it all live! Cannot wait!

But before all of that happens I'm traveling back to Austin Texas to perform and assist with production of Lulufest ATX on April 1st. Here are more details: https://lulu-fest.com/

And on Sunday April 2nd I am being inducted into The Music Hall Of Fame in Austin Texas. I was so surprised, flattered, moved and deeply honored when I received the call from the Austin Jazz Society about being inducted. I'm truly thrilled.

Here are more details:

https://www.austinjazzsociety.org/content.aspx?page_id=4002&club_id=215484&item_id=1934543

Well this was just a quick catch up and if you've made it this far reading my post I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Stay warm! Spring is just around the corner!!

Musically Yours,

Suzi

Back to the future!

2022-08-09T10:30:00.007-07:00

It has been an incredibly long time since I last wrote and much has happened since last November!

I have returned to my original north eastern home turf in a way. Having been raised in Buffalo N.Y. I'm back to where it all started...feeling familiar but new.

Our move from L.A. to the Berkshires was a leap of faith and it seems that we made a good call.

We purchased a 125 year old Victorian house that has tons of character and great vibes...and it's a good thing we love her as much as we do because she needs a ton of work! We are slowly chipping away at what needs to be taken care of with a dream of intimate house concerts at the center of our visualizations.

The Berkshires hosts a lot more jazz than we realized. The summers open up here and become an active bustling hub for the performing and visual arts. We chose this area because of that fact but we didn't realize to what extent the arts come alive here once the snow goes away!

Not only do we have John Williams, James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma, The BSO at Tanglewood (which is just a walk away from our house), but there's Jacobs Pillow Dance, Shakespeare and Co., Berkshire Film Fest., MOCA and the Clark Art Museums, music at The Mount, Music Mountain Summer Festival with artists like Helen Sung and Sara Caswell; But the great news for two jazz musicians moving to the mountains is that there are a plethora of venues in Lenox and surrounding towns that have top notch weekly jazz ensembles featured and many outdoor summer jazz festivals supported by The Berkshire Jazz society who have graciously invited me to perform.

So one of my L.A. buddies asked me last night on a zoom call...

"On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being moving east was a bad idea and 10 being the best idea greatest move ever...how would you rate your move?"

I think I'd give this move a solid 81/2 and that's only because my children live on different coasts so I miss them terribly and the winters are seriously cold and a bit too long....but no place on earth is perfect right?

Life has a nice balance here and we're finding a new rhythm. George loves being professor Oldziey at Berklee driving into Boston two days a week, I love performing with a band again...Covid and a two year shutdown had me forgetting that this is what I love doing with every fiber of my being. We love taking the train to NYC now and then and we adore having people come visit from all reaches of the world...making music with us, eating good food, drinking wine and chillin' on the front porch.

So on that note, please come share some music with us! Come chill on the front porch!

We will be hosting our first house concert in our old Victorian on Thursday August 25th and if you're in the area or know someone who is, circle the date!

We will be featuring...

Jazz pianist Peggy Stern (all the way from Austin)

and

Bassist MaryAnn McSweeney (from N.Y.C. and the Berkshires)

Thursday August 25th

7:00 P.M.

Seating is limited

Call for details: reservations, address and parking info. (512) 924-5821

$25 suggested donation

B.Y.O.B we will provide some snacks!

AND...

some more Jazz in the Berkshires

The Suzi Stern Group

Gateways on August 18th

with

George Oldziey piano

MaryAnn McSweeney Bass

6:00 to 9:00

51 Walker Street , Lenox MA for reservations and more info: (413) 637-2532

AND...

Friday, August 19th

The Suzi Stern Quartet

with

Paul Ostermayer sax

Will Carroll drums

George Oldziey piano

MaryAnn McSweeney bass

The Red Lion

Stockbridge MA

30 Main Street

(413) 298-5545 for more info.

Stay healthy, happy and thank you for keeping music in your lives!

2022-06-27T09:54:00.003-07:00

Suzi Stern July Gigs in The Berkshires

Sat. July 16th

The Suzi Stern Trio

with

George Oldziey * piano

Mary Ann McSweeney * bass

The Gateways Inn

6:00 to 9:00 PM

51 Walker Street / Lenox MA

(413) 637-2532 for more info.

Sat. July 23rd

The Suzi Stern Quintet

The Pittsfield Commons

Jazz on the green!

S.S.Q. 2:00 PM

(Rain date Sunday the 24th)

Suzi is joined by George Oldziey keys / NYC based Saxophonist Paul Ostermayer / Bassist Mary Ann McSweeney / Conor Meehan on Drums.

Bravo to my students!!

2022-03-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

This has been a month of being extremely proud of my talented and hard working students!

Let me boast about three of them in particular!

Kalie Jennings (KJ) blew me away with her commitment to jumping through a million hoops (including taking time off from her studies at Berklee School of Music) to participate and place on this seasons T.V. show "The Voice" So proud of her on so many levels! She is the real deal!

Here's a sample of KJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xRtwXf2iP0

And then there is the amazing Austin Texas based singer / songwriter pop sensation Susannah Joffee who will be showcasing this evening and several times more this week at SXSW. Catch her sets if you're in Austin this week. She is fantastic!

Susannah: http://www.susannahjoffe.com/

And most recently my improvising rising star Chelsea Chiu who won the Downbeat student best jazz vocals competition! This is huge and well deserved. She worked incredibly hard on tunes by Miles, Monk and Parker impressing my rhythm section and evidently impressing the Downbeat judges as well!

Congratulations to Susannah, KJ and Chelsea and to all of my beloved students who keep applying themselves and reminding me why I love doing what I do!!

Keep singing! It's good for the heart and soul!

Beautiful Youth!

2022-02-09T11:45:00.003-08:00

It's an incredibly clear, sunny day here in Boston today.

Warm for Feb. anyways. I think I'm acclimating to this northern climate because at 40 degrees it feels balmy.

I took a walk while on a break from teaching some online voice students and I sat down in an inviting courtyard filled with trees and good energy, then I noticed it was one of Berklee's dorm buildings.

I watched young musicians making their way to rehearsals and classes pushing double basses on wheels, cellos and violins strapped to backs...two young men guiding a dolly filled with drums trying to avoid snow mounds on the sides of the street.

I could feel the focus and excitement of their inspired musical journeys. It was almost visceral. I remember that energy well. It made me smile. The winter light-warm sun and sounds of sparrows anticipating spring...eavesdropping on bits and pieces of conversations passing by me about Bartok and Chick Corea wafting on the air.

In spite of the insanity of the world right now I felt so full of hope and contentment.

This was outside the dorm. A lovely dedication to Wayne Wadham in the courtyard.

He said "Drench yourself in the torrent of life. Devour and conquer the best and most current technology available to you. Know how great artists achieved miracles with virtually no tools at hand. Then when life confronts you point-blank, shakes you like a leaf in a hurricane-and you survive to relate the experience-you will be equipped to do so in the most empathetic and powerful form possible."

The path at the Charles river this morning.

Along the frozen shore...

Embracing the snow!

2022-02-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hello World!

Life has been in such an incredibly interesting flux for George and me.

We moved from L.A. across the continent 3,000 miles to Massachusetts so he could take a great gig as associate professor of film scoring at Berklee School of Music. He adores working with so many motivated talented young composers. He comes back from classes inspired and that makes me happy and inspired as well!

Boston got slammed with snow last week but we thankfully missed the storm by one day driving home to Lenox on clear roads.

I'm super stoked about meeting in person some the amazing people we've hooked up with online involved with Berkshire Jazz and also the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative. For now we're just sitting tight and looking into the future when Omicron doesn't make it quite so hard to meet with big groups.

I'm so grateful for the beautiful mention in Jazz Wax about my collaboration with Denny on Quiet Now as it's brought some interesting new collaborations my way.

As far as the big move to New England, George and I are both loving the changes in the light and the weather...literally minute by minute here, but we're excited about spring coming!! It will make the walks in Boston a little more enjoyable for sure!

That being said, I must admit sitting by a fire in our 110 year old cozy house listening to jazz on vinyl has been lovely. We are feeling extremely fortunate.

Stay warm, healthy and inspired!

All the best!

Suzi

Here's a few lines from Jazz Wax if you missed it last month:

Denny Zeitlin: Back then, singer-lyricist Suzi Stern sent me a cassette after she completed an album on which she wrote lyrics to jazz compositions and recorded them, including Quiet Now. I'm not sure if the album was ever formally released, but I was very impressed, and accepted her lyric for copyright.

JazzWax: What made her Quiet Now lyrics different?
DZ: I was knocked out by both the lyrics and her voice. She is one of my favorite singers. She combines a deep, sophisticated musicality with a haunting, pure sound and a rich amalgam of strength and vulnerability. She’s a brilliant lyricist, navigating the complex terrain of jazz compositions. Suzi showed me that Quiet Now can be a beautiful love song celebrating the moment of connection, not just the fragility of love.

JW: What did you think?

DZ: I thought the chemistry was very special. The album had limited distribution, but Suzi recently uploaded Quiet Now on YouTube, and I’m very happy to hear it brought back to life.

Quiet Now...

2021-12-06T20:42:00.004-08:00

I am so honored to have my lyrics married to Denny Zeitlin's incredible composition "Quiet Now"

Here is a lovely interview with Denny from JazzWax about the story behind the writing of this remarkable song and I am deeply touched by Denny's support of my work.

I'm unbelievably fortunate to a part of his world of music!

Enjoy!

The Story Behind 'Quiet Now'

I have known and admired pianist-composer Denny Zeitlin for many years. My admiration dates back to the early 2000s, after I heard for the first time his four albums for Columbia recorded in the mid-1960s. I was blown away. Our friendship dates back to 2009, when I did a multipart JazzWax interview with him. We've been email penpals ever since.

Last week, Denny sent along an email urging me to give a listen to vocalist Suzi Stern sing his composition Quiet Nowon her now-out-of-print album recorded in 1995. Suzi had uploaded the song to YouTube. You know Denny's song because it was part of Bill Evans's recording and gig repertoire for much of his career. I gave a listen to Suzi's track and had an idea. Would Denny be willing to share with me the story behind the song's birth and evolution? Denny eagerly answered my questions.

Here is my interview with Denny on the writing and recording of Quiet Now:

JazzWax: You were in college when you wrote Quiet Now. Where were you studying and what was your major?
Denny Zeitlin: When I graduated high school in 1956, I left Highland Park, Ill., a relatively cloistered upper middle-class suburb of Chicago, and headed down to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. My primary goal was to get into medical school. While the University of Illinois's undergrad, pre-med curriculum was fixed, I also wanted to make the most of a liberal arts opportunity. Philosophy, with its history and adventures of ideas and grappling with major questions was an attractive focus.

JW: Was there a jazz scene on campus?
DZ: Yes, an informal one. In and around town, I had a chance to play with some great players, like Joe Farrell, Wes Montgomery, Punchy Atkinson, and Jack McDuff. Being near Chicago, I’d frequently go in on the weekends to be part of the jam-session scene. I got to play with artists such as Ira Sullivan, Johnny Griffin, Wilbur Ware, Wilbur Campbell and Bob Cranshaw. All this constituted my continuing education as a jazz musician. There were no formal courses in jazz offered back then in the music department. Instead, I studied composition with Thomas Fredrickson, a faculty member who was fluent in jazz and modern classical composition and orchestration. He also was a hell of a bass player.

JW: What about the social scene on campus?
DZ: The fraternity-sorority system there was very strong and considered a major social stepping-stone. On arriving at the University of Illinois in 1956, I was immersed in fraternity “rush.” My high school experience in jazz performance and writing of stunt shows made me a highly desirable “pledge.” Stunt shows were musical-theater pieces that ran about 20 or 30 minutes each.

JW: Which fraternity did you join?
DZ: I ended up at Zeta Beta Tau, which seemed the best all-around fit, and began the challenge of living with 60 or so guys in a big old house. Though I was not religious, my ethnic background was Jewish, and ZBT appealed to me since they were known to cross religion boundaries freely in events and dating. I also was drawn to the overall vibe of the members. [Photo above of the fraternity house where Quiet Now was composed]

JW: So your ability to play jazz piano at a professional level was an asset?
DZ: For sure. Very soon, there was pressure on me to write music for the yearly competitive stunt shows where a fraternity and sorority pairs up and collaborates on writing and performing a 20-to-30-minute piece of musical theater. There was a lot of support from the music school. They provided a high-quality band and help with orchestration when needed. Competition was keen, and many of the entries were original and professional.

JW: What was the theme of the stunt show the year you wrote “Quiet Now”?
DZ: The fragility of love—how fleeting love is, how delicate it is and how easily love came be broken. The final piece for this stunt show called for a ballad. So I wrote Quiet Now. The title, for me, focused on the awesome silence of aloneness.

JW: Where on campus did you write Quiet Now?
DZ: I composed the music in the fraternity-house living room, at a medium-size grand piano. When I finished, someone in the fraternity wrote lyrics. All I can remember is the opening phrase: “Love has come and gone away.” Subsequently, the song, for me, had a requiem feel.

JW: Why did you choose the "awesome silence of aloneness” as a theme?
DZ: The overall theme of loss came from the libretto, which I did not write. I attempted with Quiet Now to evoke a nuance, to capture that "awesome silence of aloneness."

JW: What personal experience governed your writing?
DZ: It wasn’t romantic love, since I hadn’t experienced that yet. I was quite shy dating in high school and had never suffered a bad breakup. My resonance with that feeling came from my immersion in the ballads of the American songbook, which so often explore the heartbreak of lost love. Frank Sinatra's 1955 collaboration with Nelson Riddle on The Wee Small Hours had a profound effect on me.

JW: What was the writing process like on Quiet Now?
DZ: Most of my writing for four different shows was done late at night, under time pressure, when the day-time racket from 60-plus fraternity brothers simmered down. Pieces emerged at different rates of time. Quiet Now was the last piece I wrote for that show sophomore year, and it crystallized quite quickly in just a few hours.

JW: Was it secretly written for a girl you liked on campus or wanted to impress?
JW: No.

JW: When you played it for your fraternity days before the show, what was their initial reaction?
DZ: They were really touched. I made no changes.

JW: What was the problem with the initial lyrics?
DZ: I can't remember anything beyond the opening phrase. My sense is that the lyrics were appropriate for the production but not particularly inventive or special.

JW: Of the songs composed for that stunt show, Quiet Now stayed with you.
DZ: It did. The song became part of my jazz repertoire on gigs off-campus at the University of Illinois. I also played it often while attending medical school at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

JW: And when you moved to San Francisco?
DZ: I recorded it in March 1965 for Shining Hour: Denny Zeitlin Live at the Trident, my third album released by Columbia, with Charlie Haden on bass and Jerry Granelli on drums. I was in the city then for my medical internship and psychiatric residency.

JW: How different was the recording from your original version?
DZ: There was no difference. The version I recorded was the same as how it was performed at the frat house.

JW: When did Bill Evans hear the song?
DZ: Bill must have heard the piece on my album. He found so much in it that he kept the tune in his nightly repertoire for over a dozen years and recorded it about eight times.

JW: Did Bill ever tell you why he liked the song or did he say anything about it?
DZ: He never mentioned particulars, but several times over the years he talked about how compelling he found the piece, and wondered about its creation. This exposure prompted a number of lyricists to send me lyrics for the song, but none of them worked.

JW: Something changed in the 1980s?
DZ: Back then, singer-lyricist Suzi Stern sent me a cassette after she completed an album on which she wrote lyrics to jazz compositions and recorded them, including Quiet Now. I'm not sure if the album was ever formally released, but I was very impressed, and accepted her lyric for copyright.

JW: What made her Quiet Now lyrics different?
DZ: I was knocked out by both the lyrics and her voice. She is one of my favorite singers. She combines a deep, sophisticated musicality with a haunting, pure sound and a rich amalgam of strength and vulnerability. She’s a brilliant lyricist, navigating the complex terrain of jazz compositions. Suzi showed me that Quiet Now can be a beautiful love song celebrating the moment of connection, not just the fragility of love.

JW: How did she discover the song?
DZ: I believe her initial contact was listening to Bill Evans’s 1969 live recording released on a 1981 album entitled Quiet Now, which then took her back to my original recording in 1965. In 1995, Suzi's album Seven Stars was released by Mad Moon Records. It's out of print now and hard to find. On the album, she sang Quiet Now with me on piano, David Friesen on bass and Alan Jones on drums.

JW: What did you think?
DZ: I thought the chemistry was very special. The album had limited distribution, but Suzi (above) recently uploaded Quiet Now on YouTube, and I’m very happy to hear it brought back to life.

JW: Ever been back to the campus piano where you wrote Quiet Now?
DZ: I've never been back to Champaign-Urbana. I just checked Google Maps on the web. I see that our ZBT house is still active at the same address. I wonder if that old grand piano survived.

JazzWax notes: For more on Denny Zeitlin, go here. For more on Suzi Stern, go here.

Denny's latest album, Telepathy (Sunnyside), can be found here.

My four-part JazzWax interview with Denny starts here(links to subsequent installments can be found if you scroll up above each post's red date at the top).

JazzWax clips: Here's Suzi Stern singing Denny's Quiet Now, with Denny on piano, David Friesen on bass and Alan Jones on drums...

Here's Denny's recording of Quiet Now in 1965...

And here's Bill Evans in January 1979 at the Maintenance Shop in Ames, Iowa, playing one of his most exquisite renditions of Quiet Now, with Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums..

Posted by Marc Myers at 12:05 AM | Permalink

Tags: Denny Zeitlin, Suzi Stern

Heading East!

2021-11-27T13:20:00.003-08:00

Dear Friends,

I have been MIA for way too long and wanted to update you on what's been going on in our musical and personal lives!

The biggest news is that we'll be leaving L.A. and re-locating to the Boston area so that George can take a gig as associate professor of film scoring at Berklee Music School. I am so proud of him. He's an amazing composer and orchestrator and a passionate educator so this will be a brilliant fit.

I have several online vocal students attending Berklee so hopefully I can meet with them in person now, and my busy online teaching schedule will continue as usual but from my new studio in Massachusetts.

Our new home is in the heart of Tanglewood so we are thrilled to be surrounded by music, fine art and dance and I'm excited about immersing myself in a new music community there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanglewood

And on that note, no pun intended, our beautiful K.Kawai concert grand piano has shipped and is scheduled to arrive at our new house mid December (if a blizzard doesn't close the roads) so we plan to continue the Casa Karen concert series that we began in Austin 16 years ago. We have several performing artists already in the queue! We'll need to rename it though...help me out with that one!

We've been psyching ourselves for a plunge into serious winter! Even though we're originally New Yorker's it's been many years for both of us and we realized we don't own any warm clothes!

Since I don't do FB too often I would be so beholdin' to you if you'll consider subscribing to this blog: http://suzistern.blogspot.com (click link then "subscribe" in right hand column next to blog text)

Or better still subscribe to my you tube channel (suzi stern jazz) to keep track of the music and the new events that we're planning: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7QOQqi0iGLZ-h4K8FNlKQ

Feel free to drop me a line and let me know if you plan to be up in the north east, and email me your concert series name ideas! suzistern@gmail.com

I wish you all a happy holiday season!

I am visualizing a new year filled with music, art, forward momentum, positive change, more kindness, of course good health...and sincerely, all the best to each and every one of you. I am forever the optimist!

Love from the road,

Suzi

Ahhh farewell to the beautiful Pacific sunsets for now! But we can watch the sun rise over the Atlantic and welcome new adventures!

If you haven't seen this yet, here's a little music and dance for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYJVWWfxWOU

Loves Benediction

2021-04-15T17:40:00.002-07:00

Hello blog readers!

It's been a long time since I've posted something so I wanted to touch base quickly to share my latest track. The initial recording was done in Austin Texas over a year ago with Peggy Stern on piano, Javier Chaparro violin, Paul Unger bass, me on vocals and engineered by George Oldziey. Then the world scored a pandemic so the rough tracks stayed in our computer until last month when George and I decided to add a few production details from our studio here in Pasadena.

George recently purchased and amazing sound library and I fell in love with the children's choir so he added some soaring lines in places where I wanted lift. We recorded George playing accordion which of course was needed on a tango and we added percussion.

I sent the mixed track to Sarita Apel and Andres Bravo in NYC who choreographed this dance to my track then George edited the final footage. It was trial by fire because video editing is much different than audio editing which he's a master at. I'd suggest a cut on a certain turn or lunge or request the entire thing might be cool if it were in black and white except for Sarita's fire engine red skirt, so he would open up tutorials on You Tube explaining how to do that given effect, and we'd creep along this way learning as we went. It was Suzi and George's pandemic project # 32!

I hope the link below works but if not you can find it on my channel at You Tube Suzi Stern jazz "Loves Benediction"

There are several almost completed tracks waiting for their finishing touches so I'll keep you posted.

If you're reading this it's because you 're on my list and support the performing arts, and for this I thank you.

With deep gratitude and musically yours,

Suzi

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_011&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_011&hspart=iry&param1=yhsbeacon&param2=f%3D1%26b%3DSafari%26cc%3DUS%26p%3Dmcyahoo%26cd%3D2XzuyEtN2Y1L1QzuyD0A0A0CtAtByDzytGyEzzyC0BtGyDyB0A0DtGzz0F0EyBtGtCzyzzyC0B0CyEzztD0D0C0AtN1L1G1B1V1N2Y1L1Qzu2SyCyCtC0DyDzyyEyEtGzytB0BtDtGyEyB0F0FtGzy0C0A0BtGyByEyBtCyD0FyB0AtD0D0DyC2QtN1Q2Zzu0StBtDtAyBtN1L2XzutAtFyDtFyDtAtFtCtN1L1CzutN1T1IzuyEtN1B2Z1V1T1S1NzutCtAyEtCyB%26cr%3D618643459%26a%3Dmcy_mdmac_17_30_ssg02&p=you+tube+Suzi+Stern+Loves+Benediction&type=mcy_mdmac_17_30_ssg02#id=1&vid=ee756bc4ede239a6b99abcdbcd9d15de&action=click

Stop Action Obsession!

2021-02-14T14:18:00.015-08:00

This pandemic has been life changing and very hard in so many ways, but I feel truly fortunate that I can continue to teach online and that George's work is also manageable online. We are among the lucky ones.

Our families are OK, we have a house to live in, we have food to eat, access to the internet which keeps our lines open to the world and our music. I know I have nothing to complain about, but the sameness from day to day and the isolation was getting me down which is why I think I got so excited about jumping into something very different...something that woke up a different part of my brain.

Stop action animation!

I'm on an obsessive jag and it's totally fun! It takes freakin' forever to get 30 seconds of moving image but that's the Zen factor that I'm loving. I space out, think of where the story is going and micro-cosmically move objects between clicks on my iphone....yep...my iphone!

I have a nice "real" camera but it seemed like a grand challenge to take on...seeing if I can create a decent stop action animation using only my iphone.

It's a learning curve for sure and I'm a beginner, but here are my first two short (like REALLY short) videos to share with you....music by my wonderful collaborator, the amazing George Oldziey!

This video at the top of this blog is called "String Love" and we'll dedicate it to Valentines Day. It was my first attempt at stop action.

And below the link will take you to my second attempt. It's called "Active Yeast" about my experience trying to bake bread:

https://vimeo.com/511685470

I'm loving the process and I hope you'll enjoy the videos!

More to come as I figure it out!

Suzi

Ella Swings Gently With Nelson

2021-02-04T18:12:00.002-08:00

Ella not only informed the direction my music would take from childhood onward, but she continues to evoke memories that run deep and spin around inside of my gut and make my heart happy.

George and I decided to put on some old vinyl while we played a hot game of Scrabble last night and I chose "Ella swings gently with Nelson".

The cover of this well loved Verve recording has peeling edges and a yellowing paper insert protecting the precious black disc. The feel of the glossy cardboard square was already intoxicating, with a beautiful close up of Ella in a pink sequined trimmed chiffon dress, eyes closed caught in a blissful moment of expression, singing into that classic sliver RCA vocal mic that I know George would kill for.

I placed the disc onto the black felt turntable, closed the dust cover and pressed "play".

The soft crackle of the needle making contact on vinyl just before the anticipated notes came ringing through the speakers is a sound that almost makes me want to cry with joy. That pre music announcement...pre 'what ever album' we were about to listen to, soft crackling sound brought back years of memories...life changing moments that the soft hushing of the needle on vinyl would become the back drop to.

Then her voice issues forth...Ella in her prime...the same "Sweet and Slow" that would be playing on my parents old Hi-Fi during a special dinner party, or on Christmas Eve while silent snow fell heavy flakes flying around the Buffalo street light in the front yard, fancy hors d'oeuvres and wine glasses set out and ready...or when I was supposed to be asleep but I could hear the music from my bedroom while mom and dad danced in the living room, or on a Sunday afternoon while I'd help mom clean the house. All of these sensations rushed in and filled me up before the first 16 measures played.

"Georgia" "I Can't Get Started" "Street of Dreams" "The Very Thought Of You" my eyes are closed and I'm swaying and George declares "Bingo" on some insane word like "zouaves"!!

Having stumped me while I was lost in an Ella ecstatic coma I object "What does zouaves even mean?"

I continue my Scrabble outrage "If you can't use zouaves in a sentence I don't think you should be able to use it on the board!!"

He says "I have no idea but I know it's in the Scrabble dictionary!"

Once again I lose miserably but I don't care at all because I was sent reeling back to my original love of singing and jazz and warm wonderful sensations for two whole sides of "Ella Swings Gently With Nelson".

Jazz on the lawn!

2020-11-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Pasadena is expecting rain this Sunday, Nov. 8th....but weather permitting we plan to have a musical event from 2:00 to 4:00 on our front lawn! (socially distanced playing of course!)

There will be folding chairs scattered about so you can relax, and enjoy the music!

George Oldziey on keys, Blake White on acoustic bass, David Sierra on drums, Suzi Stern vocals with special guests!

We will re-schedule the neighborhood musical offering until December if we have wet weather on Sunday! If the day remains dry come join us!

Playing for a real live audience is something all performing artists miss terribly during this year of COVID. Playing together and responding in the moment along with the energy that an audience supplies is so much a part of any live performance and we love and appreciate you for that!

685 S. Oak Knoll Ave. Pasadena CA

If there's a question about the weather cancelling the music feel free to drop me a text at (512) 924-5821 and hope to see you tomorrow!

Steel dust on lilac leaves

2020-09-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

When I was a child I would pick leaves from the lilac bush in the back yard and examine the shimmery silver dust that frosted each one.

Bethlehem Steel was still going strong in 1960. The wind would carry billows of gray smoke from those looming industrial smokestacks up into the Lackawanna air, sending fine particulates of steel along a breeze to my Buffalo back yard, blocking out blue and challenging the summer clouds to a duel.

No one ever talked about how bad the air was in Buffalo. I thought silver dusted leaves were the norm. I was just a child. I guess the adults tolerated it because the steel plant which had been vital during both world wars had kept Western N.Y. employed for 80 years.

I did hear grownup murmurs about how Lake Erie was dying though.

“We could go fishing today, but don’t eat any thing you catch…throw it back. It’s poison!”

“Don’t go swimming in the lake!”

“if you get any lake water in your mouth…spit it out!”

Those comments left an impression.

Bethlehem Steel ran a 2 mile stretch along the Lake Erie shoreline, continually dumping into the once pristine waters, toxins that went unchecked by the government until people couldn’t help but notice and start talking about it. The green crust along the lake’s surface had a stink that said toxic and it was impossible not to be concerned.

The lake was indeed dying and people were dying from breathing the air.

In 1982 the plant closed its doors. Steel plant families panicked, foreclosed, moved away if they were able. For many in the area Bethlehem Steel had been their bread and butter for generations.

Buffalo and the surrounding areas went into a financial depression that took years to turn around.

The earth coming back to life actually had a faster turn around than the financial strain on Western N.Y. which is a hopeful thing. With a relatively small amount of effort lakes can come back to life and the air can become cleaner once again. These manmade problems can be resolved with manmade resourcefulness and diligence. We just have to listen to the science and be vigilant.

The earth cannot be constantly abused without dire consequences.

On the subject of constant abuse having dire consequences, now we have fires.

Lots of fires.

Global warming and drought have assisted in forests blowing up like perfect tinder boxes causing the unstoppable spread of thousands of acres of forest land, taking homes and lives with it.

The western seaboard of the United States is literally burning down. Well over 1 million acres of land in Oregon alone has now burned to ash...and all of this in only one month.

I live in Los Angeles county now. The sun is a distant fuzzy glowing ball in the sky obscured by a peach colored almost opaque canopy above us where blue is just a memory.

We haven’t seen the sharp angle of a sun shadow across the front porch or even the vague outline of the mountains on the horizon in 10 days and it is ill advised to go outside.

In the morning when I first wake and open my eyes, I wonder what time is it? I get no clue from the morning light, which is flat, unfamiliar and ominous through the bedroom curtains.

As bad as the air is in Southern California, it’s worse in Oregon right now. My son and his family live in Portland which was said to have the most hazardous air on the entire planet this week.

Yet we have a man in the White House who dismisses scientific research completely.

How did this man get to be president? That’s another essay...or a book. I am flummoxed....no I'm not flummoxed. I know how he got there. That's another discussion entirely.

Where was I?

Trump has successfully lifted or reversed over 100 environmental protections laws that were in place when he took office. This is a frightening fact.

Last week he met with California Governor Gavin Newsom about the apocalyptic fires running up and down the west coast of the United States.

Trump still denies that climate change is a problem and denies that there is any connection with global warming and this national disaster. He believes that the forests need to be cleaned up (which is true) and that growing heat on the planet and dryness are inconsequential to this issue.

And he adds smiling smugly at Governor Newsom as though God has let him in on a little secret that only he is privy to, “It’ll start getting cooler…you just watch.”

Bethlehem Steel 1965

This weeks fire in Napa Valley

SLRadio Austin Interview on You Tube

2020-08-24T17:30:00.001-07:00

I hope you can take a moment to grab a glass of wine or a cup of tea and watch the replay of Scott Lanningham's interview with us from last month! It was a blast! We had so much fun, and I was reminded of how grateful I am to Austin and the opportunities it sent my way for so many years. I played with extraordinary musicians made many wonderful recordings, and Scott and I waxed poetic about the "Old Austin"!

George played some of his remarkable symphonic scores and discussed his collaborations in film and his transition to L.A.

Here's the replay on You Tube: Enjoy!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTqh12Ws8F4

SLRadio Live interview Monday August 3rd!

2020-08-02T15:17:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

Tomorrow night, Monday Aug. 3rd, George and I will be interviewed by the talented Scott Lanningham on his wonderful SLRadio show via Facebook Live.

We'll be chatting and we'll be playing tracks from many of my past recordings featuring so many amazing artists that I've been blessed to work with over the years. Paul Ostermayer, Doug Hall, Denny Zeitlin, David Friesen, Alan Jones, Bill Ginn, Chris Maresh, Randy Porter, A.D. Manion, Dennis Dotson, Mitch Watkins, Bob Mayer, John Mills...too many to list here actually.

George will be talking about and sharing some of his compositions for film as well as his arrangements for last years amazing Grammy Award winning Mon Laferte Album.

Please tune in and join in the conversation!

live on Scott Lanningham Facebook SLRadio 5:30 PDT / 7:30 CDT / 8:30 EDT

https://www.facebook.com/scott.laningham?__tn__=%2CdlC-R-R&eid=ARDZxMRTvXsBIc48P5IAuOfUz6OLClkSBw3hCyeDtmTu2zidoTU3ziwX8-mThyuHloBksCL4AF6-oP5b&hc_ref=ARRHKuLFk46YPZUdpQ0bMZLW92RvrtnHUhvVN-T_F7qwlx97eSjy5wCdDg0nJpasXqM

Silver Pin

2020-07-19T11:53:00.003-07:00

The Covid 19 crisis has kept people home and forced our hands at becoming creative in different ways.
Online ensemble shares where one musicians plays a part and sends it along to the next player etc. to be finally edited to look cohesive as if we had been playing together.
There are front porch 6 feet apart neighborhood concerts, hundreds of hours of Zoom teaching sessions, and Zoom family reunions, and Zoom cocktail parties.
I'm so grateful for access to other human beings through my devices but I must confess I'm screen timed out.

Since my mother's passing away in April I have lit many candles for her trying to find some closure around her passing away while I was on the other side of the continent.

I created my closure project from a collection of matches struck over the past months.

I've also started bartering with a wonderful writing teacher named Charity Hume. She takes online voice classes with me and I take creative writing classes with her.

It's one of the silver linings in this new strange reality I'm living as of late.

Here is a story I wrote in my last class with Charity.

The assignment was to write about a lost object. My silver pin came to mind.

Thanks for visiting my Blog and stay healthy and safe!

Creatively Yours,
Suzi

SILVER PIN

When we got back from the cemetery there were 7 men sitting in mom's living room dovenning. 7 men no one knew.

Dad's younger brother, uncle Sam was a rabbi. His family were the only serious Jews in the family. He arranged to have these guys come over and sit shiva which is customary. We all believed that dad would have wanted to make his brother happy even though he was hardly a practicing Jew, so we went along with it.

Uncle Sammy was a sweet man. He was a brilliant savant-ish math scholar as well as a rabbi. My parents would often have him stop by the house to tutor me in middle school math, which was not a good idea because middle school math was much too basic for his brilliant brain and he would unconsciously launch into algebraic equations to find the solution to a simple division problem. I’d watch his pencil wildly scribbling numbers and figures onto a piece of paper and then pronounce,

“there you go...the answer is 224.”

He lived in a completely different world from the one we lived in. For several years he and aunt Miriam lived in the brick house across the street from us. We would hide the Christmas tree in the back bedroom every December so Sam and his family couldn’t see it through our front window...we didn’t want to offend him...or maybe it was so we wouldn’t embarrass my father, I’m not sure.

Mom converted when she married my father but a few traditions remained from her former life as a pseudo Christian of some sort. We always had big Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, a tree, Easter baskets that were filled with chocolates, decorated eggs and small pastel colored plastic toys that she would hide and we would find...it was magical, and even more magical were those holidays spent in New Hampshire occasionally with Grandmother Grace because we could come unglued without concerns about relatives from my father’s side of the family voicing any opinions on the schizophrenic nature of our upbringing.

Sitting on chairs set up in circle, the bearded pious men rocked and swayed while reading from small manuscripts on their laps. Their lips were moving and the almost inaudible Hebrew words tumbled onto the floor as these seven professional mourners emulated grief and filled the room with an unfamiliar air of orthodoxy.

I could tell that mom felt like her house had been invaded.

I felt the same way, so when Alan asked if I wanted to take a ride to the K Mart I jumped at the chance to get out of there.

I grabbed my tweed jacket with the silver serpent pin on the lapel that dad had given me.

Seeing the pin brought me back to El Interior in Austin. I had been admiring the coiling silver snake with an elaborate design etched on his back in the jewelry case and when we left the shop and got into the car dad handed me a small box.

“Here you go Suri! I saw you looking at this!”

I can’t remember what Alan was shopping for at the K Mart but I think he needed to pick up a few things for the crowd forming back at the house.

The fluorescent lit, stale popcorn smelling, primary colored bright plastic packaged KMart seemed like a weird comical contrast to the anachronistic circle of men we just left.

As soon as we got back home I was unloading bags and I noticed the pin was missing from my coat collar.

“I need to borrow the car and head back to the store. My silver pin fell off somewhere on that KMart expedition so I’d like to retrace my steps.”

Searching the parking lot, I looked under muddy car wheels and empty shopping carts. My eyes scanned the cracked black asphalt with detritus from years of litter that had been fused into the surface. Old receipts, soda can zip tops, juice box straws, flatterend candy and gum wrappers. My eyes settled on a flash of silver on the ground and my heart did a flip...just the foil from a stick of Wrigley's.

After 45 minutes of exploring every square inch of the parking lot I gave up and headed home.

Kugel…Lois Malek always makes kugel at funerals.

I’m sure she has a stock pile of noodles and raisins in her cupboard just in case.

She was always domineering and impatient with me.

Earlier that day she took me firmly by the shoulders and told me to stop crying.

“Be strong for your mother.”

How dare she tell me not to cry.

That morning at the cemetery I watched her mouth moving as she was giving me instructions on how to be a better daughter.

I turned off the sound of her voice and I was standing in Lois Malek’s back hallway with my sister Sharon.

I was 8 years old. Sharon was 11.

Sharon’s best friend was Mrs. Malek’s oldest child and they played together all the time. I would follow Sharon everywhere so we were standing in the hallway together, feet wet from melting snow.

Lois scanned the two girls standing there and pointing to my sister declared,

“You can come in….but you..”

pointing at me,

“You need to wait in the hall because you’re dirty...your feet are dripping white shoe polish all over my clean floor!”

I looked down at my feet. The go go boots mom bought for us at Hengerer's downtown last month were sure enough dripping white Buster Brown shoe polish all over Lois Malek’s clean floor. How was this strange occurrence possible? Sharons white go go boots were wet but only trailed a bit of clean water from melting snow on the hall floor?

I had a sad realization that Sharon's boots were much better than mine.

Hers were flawless white patent leather with zippers up the inside and mine were a cheaper grade of white faux leather that pulled on gapping at my skinny calves and required frequent Buster Brown white shoe polish rescue. Like the whiteout used on a page of typing errors this shoe polish came in a small bottle with a sponge applicator and I used it frequently to cover up scuffs and scrapes that I acquired from a day of proper play. The label on the polish had a little boy with a red barrette on his head and a blue ribbon around his neck winking and smiling and his dog who looked rabid was beside him smiling as well.

I stood there for what seemed like an hour waiting for Sharon to come back out.

It was most likely only 5 minutes before I turned around and walked out of Mrs. Malek’s side door to head home in the snow leaving the remains of my white shoe polish on her once pristine linoleum hall floor.

She never did like me.

Her kugel is great though.

Who are these 7 men in the living room? What’s their story? This is something I’d like to get to the bottom of.

They had a long list of things one is not to do while in mourning.

Music was one of those things. No music? No singing? No piano playing?

Dad was a professional jazz musician...his friends were all guys from his bands...cool old Italian guys. In the middle of the living room were the 7 professional mourners praying and swaying and mumbling in Hebrew under their breath while dad's friends were sitting around the grand piano at the far side of the living room softly chatting, scotch in hands and cigarette smoke coiling around their heads.

Then something strange happened which broke the hum of voices in the room.

The piano seemed to jump off the ground, at least a quarter of an inch up into the air then slam down again with a loud thump that stopped everyone in the room into a moment of complete silence…the dovenning stopped and the Jewish guys looked up from their prayers wide eyed…the chatting around the piano stopped and Dick Reiderer looking scared took a swig of his scotch...everyone seemed completely dumbfounded.

“What the hell was that?!!”

Dick who played trumpet in dads orchestra said,

“Must be Harry saying hello! That’s definitely something Harry would do!”

The musicians all laughed.

The Jews went back to praying.

Alan and I went into the basement to see if the foundation of the house underneath the place where the piano sat may have shifted?

No answers. Just a curious wonderful sense that perhaps Harry really was saying hello.

Another thing on uncle Sam’s “in mourning you don’t do” list was leaving the house, but Mom who had always been a rebel had an escape plan.

Making aunt Norma an accomplice she assigned her the task of lying to guests who continually streamed in and out of the house, telling them that the family was resting and would come say hello in an hour or two.

We all quietly followed mom out the back door...brother Alan, sisters Trudy and Sharon and their husbands snuck out into the yard carrying instruments, shot glasses and a bottle of Jack Daniels Black label, and piled into the car

We headed back to Forest Lawn to visit dad on our terms this time.

Paul played sax, mom sang "I’m just wild about Harry” Alan read a poem that he wrote then pressed the folded up paper deep into the freshly dug soil of a new grave. We stood in a circle, singing and laughing and toasted to the man who loved to party and make music and poured Jack Daniels on his grave because dad loved Jack Daniels.

Back home more people had arrived along with more Kugel and several lasagnas. A veritable smorgasbord of carbohydrates.

No one had missed us on our secret trip to Forest Lawn.

No more visitations that moved pianos or other heavy objects.

On automatic my hand went up to my collar and I felt the empty space where the pin should be.

The Voyage

2020-04-17T11:28:00.004-07:00

several times a day
i pause and wonder where you might be now
what is it like in this new existence

i'm sure that I feel your lightness of being now
a diamond clear and sparkling transparency
that rains over me
in a gentle wash of you

it's just a feeling
but a comforting one
to feel you are at peace
one with all there is
beside inside and around each one of us

everyone that you ever loved
during your time here
before taking off on your amazing journey
of forever-ness

bon voyage sweet lady.
thank you for the good life you gave to me
see you on the other side.