SarahDeLeoMusic

For the week July 23, 2009, I’m in Heaven Tonight was #38 on the Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Jazz Weekly Radio Chart.

http://www.rootsmusicreport.com/index.php?page=charts&name=jazz

http://www.uelfm.uel.br/arquivo.php?id=541

The track “You’re Getting to be a Habit with Me” along with Jo Flavio’s
comments in Portuguese is available by itself on YouTube:

Yes, it is a random grouping, but that was my Thursday evening.  I would
like to thank Marcus for inviting me to sit in on his gig.  It was a
lot of fun!!  Both Marcus and I have pretty mellow voices, so we blend
well together.  We also share a love of standards and a dedication to
performing, so we have a few things in common.  Earlier in the week we
had been rehearsing at his typically small New York City apartment,
sitting around in jeans huddled around his piano.  The transition from
that to getting dressed up and singing together in a venue with great
sound along with three wonderful musicians was very energizing.  He
also remembered to plug my next gig at the Metropolitan Room.  I would
have totally forgotten!!  Marcus is a fine singer who also writes
excellent material in the style of the classic American tunes that we
both love.  He released a new CD late last year, and will be making
more appearances in Manhattan.  Here is his web site: http://www.marcusgoldhaber.com/

I first heard of Michael Jackson’s
passing while speaking with my husband on the phone as I rushed out of
my building to get to Marcus’ gig.  It took a few days for this
shocking news to sink in.  The person who immediately came to mind on
Thursday night was Judy Garland.  She died prematurely as well – aged
47. 
Both she and Michael Jackson were child prodigies with a domineering
parent/manager.  Both could not overcome their personal problems as
adults.  As a Judy Garland fan, it always bothers me that people
automatically speak the words “pills” or “sad life” or “miserable” when
her name comes up in a conversation, because for me her work is what is
most important and representative of her.  Unfortunately, for many, if
not most, people her personal problems define her more so than her work.

Even before his death, Michael Jackson’s personal problems defined him
more than his work.  Granted, as one tv commentator noted, he was
involved in unhealthy relationships with young
boys.  From the outside, his life looked like a freak show.  The whole
situation with the auction recently was just weird.  God’s gifts don’t come for
free, and for people who are extraordinarily talented like Michael
Jackson and Judy Garland, it’s even more true.  It is sad that
for all the joy and inspiration artists like Michael Jackson and Judy
Garland bring to others, they didn’t experience, or couldn’t find, the same
in their own lives.

I rarely, if ever, go on youtube.  It just doesn’t interest me.  The
more viral a video becomes, the less desire I have to watch it.  For
instance, I’ve never seen Susan Boyle’s video.  I’m sure it’s lovely,
but I could really care less.

A few days ago I was looking at my favorite entertainment industry
blog, Crazy Days and Nights.  He posted a link to youtube of a video of
the PS22 Chorus singing the Lady GaGa song “Just Dance,” and wrote
that it was worth taking the 3 minutes to watch.  Given how much I like
his blog, I thought I’d follow his recommendation to check out the
video. 

To my delight, the kids were just the cutest!!  The soloist was
fantastic.  What a lovely voice!!  She was very poised.  I would have
been petrified at that age.  All of the singers whether soloists or
choristers were so expressive.  It was great to see them singing and
dancing.  There were even a lot of boys!!  At the end of the video it
was just so sweet how the girl who did the brief rhyming part gave the
main soloist a high five and clearly said “Good job!”.  The whole video was a pleasant reminder of what singing is all about.

I was so impressed that I actually watched more of their videos on
youtube.  I wish I had a cool music teacher like that guy when I was in
grammar school!!  I liked “Landslide”, “Don’t Stop Believin'”, and “Let
There be Peace on Earth” best.  I’m clearly late to this party as I
tend to be with any online/social networking type thing as these kids
have been on national television, have had hundreds of thousands of
views of their videos on youtube, and have had various celebrities blog about
them.  They were even in Washington and had their picture taken with
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In any case, I really think it is worth taking a few minutes out of your
day to watch their videos.  Here is the link to their youtube page –
http://www.youtube.com/user/agreggofsociety

I also love Crazy Days and Nights.  It’s like an entertainment industry
insider’s perspective, or as my husband thinks insiders’ perspectives,
with a strong undercurrent of Raymond Chandler and James Elroy.  Here
is the link to that site – http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/

Just this past Saturday, I saw on allaboutjazz.com that my profile was
#20 on the Top 200 Musician Profiles Viewed list.  Obviously, I have no
illusions that I permanently belong near the top of the list along with
Miles Davis and Duke Ellington, but I would like to thank everyone who
took the time to check out my profile and to download “You’re Getting
to be a Habit with Me” during my recent two month promotion on
allaboutjazz.com.  I hope those of you who downloaded “You’re Getting
to be a Habit with Me” are enjoying the track.  Since Saturday, I have
slipped from #20 to #22 to #23, and anticipate a slow, steady decline
now that the promotion has ended.  However, I would like to mention how
much I appreciate the interest in my work.  The more people view my
profile, the higher it climbs or stays on the list, and the more likely
other people are to find me.  Every click thru creates a positive
cycle, which helps increase my visibility.  So thank you, thank you,
thank you.

If you would like to take a look at my profile again or for the first time, here it is:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=18317

To be more precise, it is currently #8 on the Top 25 Jazz Downloads Chart on allaboutjazz.com:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownloads_day.php?day=30 

Thanks to everyone who has downloaded this track.  I hope you are enjoying it!! 

I will be performing “You’re Getting to be a Habit with Me” at my July 15th gig at the Metropolitan Room, so if you are interested in hearing this song live, it will be done there.  I probably will not do it on June 21st as that is an outdoor gig, not conducive to ballads.

Thanks again!!  I appreciate your support.

I’m in Heaven Tonight was featured yesterday (June 4th) on the Brazilian blog, JAZZofilo:

http://jazzofilo.blogspot.com/2009/06/sarah-deleo-youre-getting-to-be-habit.html

Some of you may be familiar with Derek
Sivers, the founder of CD Baby.  Since officially selling CD Baby last
year, he has been active online with his music blog among other
projects.  In the past he and I have had our differences when it comes
to standards.  In spite of this, I find this to be a very sweet story, and since I’m
all about admiration of older performers/artists, I think it is worth
sharing:

http://sivers.org/sammy-cahn

Yes, I know this is a story from last week, but between going away for
the Memorial Day weekend and having a cold, I haven’t gotten around to
posting this comment:

So there will be no JVC Jazz Festival this
year in New York City.  Whatever the reasons – and the NYT article
cited many – it is unfortunate.

Ironically, in a “Take Five” posted recently on allaboutjazz.com, I responded that more younger people need to be involved on the business side of music, when asked “What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?“. 
The JVC Jazz Festival Event organizer is a thirty-something guy, a
Columbia undergrad.  Basically, the kind of person I was talking about
in my response.  I do hope he’ll be able to make a go of it
eventually.  I agree with him that “destination” music events can be a
successful, but they may have to expand their portfolio to include more
events that aren’t specifically jazz events.  I think it would be cool
to do a rock and jazz festival, of course since that basically
encompasses my taste in music.  I’m not talking about these festivals
that are “jazz” in name only, but a festival actually billed as
duo-genre event with acts representing both kinds of music.

The
thought of my ideal rock-jazz festival leads me also to the observation
that in this economy music events targeted towards younger audiences
(rock, hip hop) are doing much better than music events targeted
towards older audiences (classical, jazz).  I don’t know
much about the reasons for this year’s JVC Jazz Festival cancellation
beyond what I read in the NYT article, but you don’t hear anything
negative about South by or Coachella or the upcoming Bonnaroo.  In
fact, when it comes to South by, all you hear about is how the festival
gets bigger every year. 

The
NYT article quoted one person by name and mentioned others on the
business side of jazz concerned that the cancellation of this event
would indicate that jazz is not a marketable music.  To me the
cancellation of this year’s event regardless of its specific reasons
represents decades worth of missteps by the powers that be in jazz,
most notably the marginalization of fusion.  (I know Joe Zawinul is
smiling down on me as I write this.)  It’s just unreasonable to expect
someone who grew up listening to rock or r&b or hip-hop or world
music to readily take to bebop or retro standards.  Then, you get into
the bigger issues – the paucity and haphazardness of cultural education
in this country, the primacy of the tv and the internet as people’s
entertainment choices, the way in which this culture measures
something’s worth by its current monetary value. 

I
really do hope that the JVC Jazz Festival will be back in some form or
another next year.  If it does happen again next year, my guess is that
it will be a smaller festival.  I unfortunately also could see it
coming back as a more straight-ahead festival like Tanglewood’s, a
somewhat reactionary response to this year’s cancellation.  Ultimately,
I think it’s unwise to place too much emphasis or hope on these big
events.  The future health and viability of jazz and standards will
depend on younger, independent musicians who make music that is relevant
to their generation’s experience, and not on these big events, which by
nature represent the status quo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/arts/music/20jazz.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=jvc%20jazz%20festival&st=cse