AND ALL THAT JAZZ: LENORE RAPHAEL

Interview by Esther Basha (MGBH)

It took me a while to pick a jazz pianist to interview. Many outstanding artists came to mind, but when I saw a video of Lenore Raphael playing (MGBH) “Miss Jones,” I became convinced that she was the one I was looking for.  And it wasn’t even the sound that fascinated me. It was her hands and fingers.  They had magic. They danced. They had a life of their own. Full of character, strength, and… faith. Unconditional faith.  

PP: Dear Lenore, I have read on Wikipedia that you have decided to become a jazz pianist after you have heard Oscar Peterson play(OBM) . What in his performance inspired you become a jazz pianist?
LR: His technique and virtuosity was amazing. His sound was clean and each note seem to have a “sparkling” quality. Most of all, as a jazz lover, the music “swung” and to me that is the most important thing.

PP: Please, tells us more about the JazzLive series.
LR: The JazzLive series is a concert series I started 5 years ago in Apex, North Carolina. Having been new to the area as a part-time resident, I saw a need for jazz in the area and since I started, we now do a series of 4 concerts a season. I have been able to bring down great artists from all over the USA and we usually sell out every concert.

PP: What did your parents think about your choice of jazz over classical career path?
LR: I didn’t know I was going to be a jazz pianist until I was into my mid-twenties but they were quite supportive even though I think they thought I was a little crazy.

PP: One of the articles about you mentions that you have started playing at the age of 3. What instrument did you start with and at what age did you start learning piano.
LR: I started with piano…just walked up to it and began to play what I heard my brother, who is 6 years older than I am, play. He was studying piano and said that when he heard me, he quit.

PP: You have developed your own method of teaching jazz by tape. Can you, please, elaborate?
LR: In 1989, I had about 30 piano students and realized that in order for many of them to know what the piece sounded like, they would benefit from hearing it. They did. I approached Charles Hansen (OBM) (Hansen Music Publishing) with the idea and he took to it immediately and published a book with companion cassette. The book did very well and is still available from Swingin’ Fox Music, Inc. www.swinginfox.com. It deals with basic jazz theory…chords and chord progressions, and was written with the beginning jazz student in mind.

PP: Please, tell our readers about your jazz tours. How often do you tour? What what’s coming up in 2016?
LR: These days I probably tour almost half the time and keep adding more time because I really enjoy traveling to different parts of the world and seeing how jazz has really reached everywhere. In 2016, April is Jazz appreciation month. I have an upcoming week-long tour in Colorado, a performance in North Carolina, then 3 performances in Chicago. On Thursday, April 21, the radio station WDCB will broadcast its fundraising concert and I will be performing for that. It can be heard live. After that I perform again April 16th at my JazzLive concert in Apex, NC at the Halle Cultural Arts Center www.thehalle.org. I will be performing again in NYC in September and in England in November. Things keep coming in all the time.

PP: Besides being a live jazz performer, you are also a recording artist. Please, tell us more about your latest CD: what inspired your choice of songs and what was it like working in it.
LR: The latest CD is called Strings Attached with a wonderful guitarist, Wayne Wilkinson (MGBH), I met while doing a jazz master class in Colorado. We just clicked musically and Wayne decided to arrange for us to do a live recording at a later date in Colorado. I love “live” recording because the energy is so much greater…no worries about mistakes…at least that is the way I feel. I feel more restricted in a studio. I also love getting the audience feedback immediately. The songs I choose are ones that have lovely or interesting melodies and I am very much into melody and also interesting harmonies.

lenoreraphaelCDs

PP: Do you like to improvise? Is there a chance to hear Lenore Raphael as a composer?
LR: I am always improvising when I play but I do pay homage to the composer by being true first to the original melody. Then I can do whatever I like with that. As a composer, I have written quite a few tunes, which can be heard on my recordings but also a recent one was recorded by a vocalist in California.

PP: What makes you feel connected to jazz?
LR: The freedom to try new things is what drew me to jazz initially and still does. However I also love the rhythm and that “swing” that good jazz has. Perhaps, because I am a Gemini, I can’t be restricted to playing one way…each time must be a little different. Also I love to play with melodies and harmonies and see how they can change the music.

PP: Is there a funny/unexpected story that happened to you during your live performance that you would like to share with our readers?
LR: There are several funny and unexpected things but one stands out. When I was just starting to perform professionally, I was a passenger on a major jazz cruise with the top artists of the day: Oscar Peterson (OBM), Ella Fitzgerald (OBM), etc. I went into the lounge area which was deserted to practice a bit and became aware of someone standing in back of me just listening. When I turned, it was Dizzy Gillespie (OBM) who simply said “Far out” and that was that. Unexpected and really embarrassing was a time when I was attending a jazz workshop under the leadership of the great pianist Barry Harris (MGBH), who I adore to this day. It was during the final concert and I was in the “pianist chair” because Barry singled me out I guess as someone who could play the chart. Anyway it was a tune in the key of D flat with a “Basie-type” ending. I was really playing my heart out that day and my solo was great but when it was time for me to play that “Basie…plink-plink-plink ending and hit the final D flat…I accidentally hit a D!!!!! I wanted to go through the floor but Barry just laughed.

PP: As a professional performer, a woman must learn how to balance her family life with her career. How did you do it having raised two sons and what advice would you give other women who are trying to balance the two?
LR: Ouch. First of all, you have to have a cooperative and understanding other half.  As a dedicated musician I feel I probably sacrificed a lot of family time and also don’t quite know how I did raise two boys and work 5 nights a week until 2AM sometimes but I was very determined. I made sure that I did spend time with them too…gave them music lessons, helped with homework and whatever problems they brought home.

PP: Please, tell our readers about the JazzSpot.
LR: I had always admired Marian McPartland (OBM) both as a performer, and then when she did her Piano Jazz radio show on NPR radio. With the advent of Internet radio, someone mentioned the station Purejazzradio to me about 5 years ago, and I approached the manager about doing my own show in which I would invite well-known jazz artists to be interviewed and perform some tunes with me. He jumped on that and I found that Steinway Hall in Manhattan would allow me to use one of their performance rooms as the place to record the shows. I found a wonderful engineer who would just bring his equipment in and record the show and it all came together. I have had Jon Hendricks(MGBH), Harry Allen(MGBH), Warren Vache(MGBH), Howard Alden (MGBH) and many more guest on the show. We now have about 40 done and I keep recording more whenever I can…even on tour, when possible. The show is now heard on www.purejazzradio.org, www.jazzlondonradio.com and has recently been picked up by Radio Overberg in South Africa.

PP: When and on what occasions were some of your deepest connections with the audience?
LR: I would say that most of the time I try to connect with the audience on some level. Perhaps when I do a beautiful ballad I do feel that connection more.

PP: There are many types of music that serve different needs of a soul. Bach period classics is all about structure and spiritual purification, Mozart era is about lightening up the spirit, Chopin era is about focus on emotions. What, in your opinion, is a function of jazz piano?
LR: It seems to me that jazz piano has always has an emotional aspect. At least that is what I try to convey to my audiences and often do hear from people that it touched them emotionally.  I think every musician should hope to touch his/her audience in some way.

PP: How did being a piano performer affect your character building as a person and you as a woman?
LR: I think perhaps it made me a little more aware of people and their feelings. Audiences are so varied and the responses to the music are often so different I have become a little more open to listening to people’s reactions to things…perhaps a little more accepting. I don’t think often of myself being a “woman” performer so I really don’t know how to answer that. I am always surprised when people say things like “you have such strength for such a slim woman” etc..I just say that I lift weights and go to the gym every day. That seems to satisfy them…don’t know what else to say.

PP: What are your hobbies?
LR:  I am addicted to the Investigation Discovery Channel  (ID addict) and love to see if I can solve the crimes before they show the solution on the show. I am getting pretty good at that.

PP: Do you have pets?
LR: Yes, a pet cockatiel named Spike. He is 16 years old and sweet, cute and says “Gimme a kith”  (birds sometimes lisp…no teeth) His picture is on the cover of my “Winging’ it” CD. We tried not to let it go to his head but he demanded better seeds after that.

PP: What kinds of food do you like?
LR: I am primarily a vegetarian…love all kinds of vegetables but occasionally can’t resist good fish tacos.

PP: Do you have spiritual connection to the music you perform? Can you describe it?
LR: Definitely, On occasion I have done concerts where the music just seems to be coming from an outer source and I am just the vehicle that is allowing it to come to life. It is like being in another space…doesn’t happen all the time though. I also have that feeling when I compose a song. Often it presents itself “finished” in 5 minutes and I get the same feeling…it has come from somewhere else and I am just taking the dictation.

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