Author: Laurie Early

The Gela Jazz Festival

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Last month I was fortunate to be able to travel to Italy for a couple of weeks. So many wonderful things happened there! Yes, too many cool things, so I will break up my account of the trip into several posts here at “Moments, Memories, & Jazz”.  GELA 2015 The first leg of this trip was a week in Gela, Sicily, to attend the Barry Harris / Stjepko Gut jazz workshops, held September 14-18, 2015,  and to participate in the 4th Annual Gela Jazz Festival held each evening at the Teatro Eschilo. These two interconnecting events were organized by Loredana Melodia, a singer, “super-jazz-woman”, and someone I am lucky enough to now know as a wonderful friend. Professional and amateur jazz musicians from all over the world traveled to be students in Gela. Each weekday we gathered at a school near the center of town to take jazz theory, rhythm, vocals, and improvisation classes. The first class in the morning was with Stjepko Gut, trumpet player, conductor and internationally recognized teacher of workshops and masterclasses. He got us all in …

9/11 Tribute Song – This Unforgiving Town

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This Unforgiving Town (My Lagan Love – 9/11) ©2003 Laurie Early/ASCAP The Hudson flows along the shore Where orchards of steel grow. Each gleaming bough contains a tale Of lives and loves below. And every wave sings out its song For shattered hearts needing repair. Who will be dressed in sorrow’s gown In this unforgiving town? As sunlight wakes the morning sky Our innocence a memory. An axeman wears a selfish smile As he fells another tree. The city’s armor takes the blows But yet the human damage shows. Who will be saved? And who will drown In this unforgiving town? When twilight rolls upon the day A dusty night time looms. A flood of tears won’t wash away The pain caused by these wounds. And so we’re called to higher ground Because it’s there that love is found. Who will be brave? And who’ll be brought down In this unforgiving town? My Lagan Love, the melody that inspired this song, is over 500 years old. I have changed the Irish Traditional up a bit …

Lorena Fontana – A Vision

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A couple of years ago I was surprised and honored to get an email from Lorena asking me to review some of her original lyrics before her recording date. She is an amazing singer and composer I met in Rome in 2011. At the time I was surprised she had reached out to me because her English lyrics were so imaginative and grammatically correct (not easy for anyone, but especially when working in a second language) so I did not know how much value I could add to her work. She did not need any real corrections, but we did engage in a wonderful dialog about motivations in the lyrics and questions about certain phrases that she subsequently revised herself. It was such an exciting exchange of ideas and I am grateful to have assisted her in any way during her creative process. She thanked me in the liner notes and that was a nice little thrill to see. Lorena traveled all the way to California to record this CD and she produced a cool video about the trip entitled “The …

Rainy Afternoon

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As Autumn approaches, and the storms begin to swirl off the coast of the United States, I am reminded of a particular Saturday in a September many years ago. A time when anything seemed possible, and when the rain was a wonderful excuse to stay inside, listen to music, and enjoy the company of someone important to me.

Let Me Sing This Dance With You

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This past Sunday I had the opportunity to sing a few jazz standards accompanied by Murray Wall on double bass (contrabass); he’s a wonderful musician. It was so much fun. No microphone, no piano, no drum, and a no distractions.  We had a small audience who also seemed to be sending out the “no judgments” vibe which was very sweet. It was a showcase-style performance with four other women, and we had a ball singing in this simple rotating format. It was conceptualized by one of the performers, and dubbed “Beauties and the Bass” by another.  A lovely group dynamic. After the performance, I spent a few moments talking to another friend. She was part of the audience, but had also assisted a couple of the singers with their choreography (suggesting hand gestures, slight movements to try while singing, and other things like that.) She is a very graceful person, and we spoke about her possibly dancing to one of my original songs sometime in the near future.  As we were talking I was immediately reminded of the following song that I wrote …

Straight to You

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Wherever you are…is home. Straight to You [Written for Leonid Volskiy on his piece “Clearing the Cobwebs Away”] ©2012 Laurie Early This train, rocking me gently, glides on metal rails that will not take me to you and so I ride until I reach the ocean, and a crossing dangerous and blue This train, only goes so far and now that I’m aboard for love I’ll never go back I’ll stay on course for I must hold you though the sea will end this track Now, I’m flying, I’m floating, I’m rising, I’m soaring, my heart’s above the water headed home, love, straight to you I’m flying, I’m floating, I’m rising, I’m soaring, I’m heading home now, straight to you. I know you will be waiting when my loyal heart has crossed this ocean so vast we’ll lie in sunlit fields of tall grass and I’ll hold your face at last Yes, I’m flying, I’m floating, I’m rising, I’m soaring, my heart’s above the water headed home, love, straight to you. I’m flying, I’m floating, I’m …

Crossed Paths

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Crossed Paths (inspired by Caminhos Cruzados ©Tom Jobim) English lyrics ©2012 Laurie Early   Vocals in Portuguese – Maria Creuza (on YouTube) When a heart that’s tired of suffering meets a heart that’s new perhaps that is the moment that will end their suffering too. No time for thinking at all now that love, so gentle, has finally arrived. When a heart is longing for someone who doesn’t care, someone who’s never dreaming of your touch Open up, do not fear new arms, kiss new lips with yours, hold him close, press your cheek against his. I was foolish when I thought I knew my little heart And, when it comes to love I’m always fearful at the start. But, together we can care for this love we share, a sweet love just for us.    

Poems for Billy Strayhorn (II)

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I am in London this week!  So, of course, I am prompted to post a second poem from my series inspired by specific compositions of Billy Strayhorn, Chelsea Bridge, a London landmark. As you read, you may wish to listen to one of the sax solos that inspired me while I was writing–Ben Webster’s sensitive version of “Chelsea Bridge” on YouTube*. Chelsea Bridge ©2009 Laurie Early There’s a footpath under the Chelsea Bridge Darling, meet me there tonight I’ll be there waiting in the moonlight. We’ll go walking down by the River Thames while the boats go by you can steal a kiss memories to cling to for a lifetime. Do you remember that storm, the day we met last April, when we both ran for shelter from the rain? Our romance made London a dreamland where we’ll never be lonely again. As the river sparkles like stars so high up above I will take your hand, I will give my heart “I love you that’s forever,” this I’ll promise. This I’ll promise under the …

Bend to the Light – Lafayette Harris, Jr. Trio

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Lafayette Harris’ new CD “Bend to the Light” makes you feel at home with the very first, captivating, musical phrase of his opening title song. He sets the tone with his light, yet strong and resonant sound, then invites you to join him on a fantastic jazz journey through a selection of a dozen pieces: modern and smooth, nostalgic yet hip, well-loved standards, and internationally inspired originals. I have had this CD about 3 months now, and because I have been enjoying it so much, I couldn’t just say, “Oh wow! Everybody, check out this new CD, it’s swell!” No, I needed to write about it, to touch on all the songs, it is just that wonderful of a recording. (I imagine, if I had a car, that this would be a CD I would play as I drove through the city at night, or at sunset along a coast with an ocean view; the perfect road-trip jazz soundtrack.) After the opening piece, “Bend to the Light“, I found “We in the House” especially engaging, Willie Jones III, …

This Tear

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This Tear ©2013 Laurie Early Yes, it is painful to want something you can’t have but worse not to hunger at all. I can’t live without passion, or my love for you, so if that means tears, let them fall….. This tear, this tear, this tear forming in my eye this tear, this single tear, the first of many I will cry. I tried to hold it back, I tried to keep it in, I tried to keep this tear inside, but oh no, this tear, won’t obey me, and it won’t hide. This tear, this tear, this tear rolling down my cheek this tear, this quiet tear, says all the words that I can’t speak. I want to run away from love I can’t explain, but there is no escape when tears don’t dull the pain, and I fear, after this tear, I’ll never be the same. This tear, this tear, this tear falling into space this tear has left me now, as others rush to take its place. I can’t control my heart, my …