Music lover, scholar, father of drummer Mark St. Pierre
–By Bob Jacobson
“I play no instrument,” says Maurice St. Pierre, BJA member since 2013, yet music has clearly played a major role in his life. As a youth in British Guiana (which gained independence as Guyana in 1966), he saw a wide range of American artists – Johnny Mathis, Louis Armstrong, Chubby Checker, Cab Calloway, Marian Anderson – and calypsonians from the Caribbean, notably The Mighty Sparrow. | Read more>>
A condition commonly plaguing performers can be overcome.
Is there anyone amongst us who has never had some stage fright? My question is, of course, rhetorical. Stage fright is a “common denominator” of musical performers, at one time or another. Moreover, the general psychological phenomenon of performance anxiety is not limited to stage fright per se; it also applies to one’s emotional response to any kind of performance; for example, doing a job interview, giving a toast at a wedding, going on a first date, and “rounding third base” some time after that first date…
Not only is some degree of anxiety entirely normal before and/or during a musical event, it’s actually necessary for optimal performance. | Read more>>
–A nostalgic look at the jazz scene of yesteryear and questions for the future
It was a dark and stormy night … not really; it was actually rather drizzly, but nobody walked through the doors of the old club on Pennsylvania Avenue, The Sphinx Club, without shaking a little drizzle off their hat or wiping down some of the wetness on their sleeves. | Read more>>
Back in the 1970s, as a young jazz enthusiast, I remember listening to pianist Victor Feldman playing in a club in Los Angeles and wondering, “What is he doing??” meaning, what is happening when he is improvising a solo? Where does he get the notes? | Read more>>
For some, retirement brings immediate happiness, but for many, there’s a tough period of adjustment. Without work, you can lose social contacts, a way to fill your time, your sense of who you are, your self-esteem, and your source of meaning in life. | Read more>>