Jackie Jocko's Piano Comes Home

 

Today lounge pianist Jackie Jocko’s piano came home to its old location. It is sitting in the corner of the Hyatt in downtown Buffalo where it used to sit. That corner is in the lounge of the new steakhouse Johnny D’s. When Jocko played there the restaurant was called E.B. Green’s.

I am explaining all this for the benefit of non-Buffalonians. Jocko is special to us in Buffalo still, even though he has been gone for a few years now.

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Howard is going to be playing Jocko’s piano most nights of the week as we go forward. I am going to be playing it the leftover nights. I am guessing I will have the low-rent nights such as Monday and Tuesday. That is fine by me! When I worked for The Buffalo News I used to like it when they ran my columns on those days. I figured they did that to get people to read the paper on a day when they might not otherwise.

The expert piano technician Thomas Miller did the honors of moving and tuning the piano. Here it is in its new/old spot. Before he tuned it, Howard played it. I stood by the piano and listened. I grew nostalgic thinking about how many times I stood on that spot, talking with Jocko.

“Mary!” Jocko used to beckon you over to the piano. And you would stand there.

Sometimes if he had something really juicy to confide, you would sit on the piano bench with him.

Ah, the memories. They light the corners of my mind!

I played for the restaurant owner. Howard told me to do something classical so I played Chopin’s Aeolian Harp Etude. I was happy I got through it from memory! I had not expected to do this. Grand slam! Yay me! After that I played “Over the Rainbow.”

The owner loved “Over the Rainbow.”

“I like songs I know,” he said.

So, I will be playing songs he knows. That is fine by me! I love playing classical music, it’s my thing — however you have to watch what you would play in an atmosphere like this, in a beautiful restaurant. You can’t play anything too loud or, well, anything too deep. The Beethoven “Moonlight” sonata, everyone knows it, however it is just too deep to play in this environment. You don’t want to distract people from their dinners. A lot of Mozart also falls into this category. It’s quiet, it’s simple — but it’s just too deep. Maybe I could do piano treatments of a couple of arias. I do not rule it out. However I aim to please, and I aim to please myself too, and if it’s a toss-up between Chopin and Harold Arlen, I am happy to do the Harold Arlen.

Today is a long story however the adventure ended with me taking the subway and then riding a Reddy Bike down Amherst Street in a long cheetah-print dress and sandals. This killed me — as I was nearing Delaware Park, I passed some parked cars, and this being Buffalo, a voice came out of one of them.

“Mary!” It was a woman, is all I know.

I did not want to know more! It was probably someone I love, however sometimes you cannot, you just cannot. Excuse me, I am riding a Reddy bike in a cheetah print gown and sandals.

Do I look as if my life is normal?

Baby, it's cold outside!

My Christmas tree is not yet up. Yet I have a Christmas song on the brain.

What song, you ask? The same song that is on everyone's brain. "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

The more you hear that it's banned, the more you keep thinking about it!

It kind of bugged me how people are suddenly condemning this song. My sister even told me last week she had always thought it was kind of creepy. All these years, she never told me she thought that song was creepy.

You know what I think the problem is? People aren't taking the melody into account. It is this sweet and flirtatious tune. As I said to Howard the other day, if you are going to go down this road, ignore the music and ban things because words are offensive, there goes half of opera.

Certainly you could kiss this duet goodbye.

We did a little research into "Baby, It's Cold Outside," because it was on our minds.

I did not know it was by Frank Loesser, who wrote the musical "Guys and Dolls." Don't say that too loudly. "Guys and Dolls" will be next on the chopping block, because of the demeaning term "dolls."

I did not know it won the Academy Award.

One more funny thing, if you look up the YouTube clip of the movie "Neptune's Daughter" which featured the song, first you see the guy trying to get the girl to stay, and then you see the girl trying to get the guy to stay.

"Neptune's Daughter" must get its name because it starred Esther Williams, the famous synchronized swimmer. A romance featuring a synchronized swimmer and the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" ...?

I had not known any of this. Well, neither does anyone protesting the song. They're going to be protesting me soon, because now thanks to them I've got the song on my brain, and just like the gal in the picture up above, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

It's in, and it's got to come out.

Baby, it's cold outside!

Howard's new challenge

Yesterday instead of going to the St. Patrick's Day parade like a normal human being I went and heard the tenor David MacAdam sing Schubert. That is a picture of the occasion up above! I took it with my phone. By the way I invite everyone to click on that link. Let's make my nerdy Schubert review the most-read story in The Buffalo News!

Anyway I really enjoyed the concert and I came home and told Howard he would have to sing a Schubert song.

I am married to a tenor, dammit, and it is high time he sang Schubert!

Enough with this Bobby Troup and Tom Jones and whatnot!

Luckily Howard did not put up a fight. And so I printed out the music to "An die Musik" which, I informed him, means "To Music." It is such a moving song. You give thanks to the art of music and, the way I see it, to all the musicians who have gone before you. To all the musicians you love. Bobby Troup is included.

There are a million versions of "An Die Musik" on YouTube because it is so famous. It is usually one of the first songs and singer sings and one of the last. When singers give their farewell concerts at the end of their careers it is traditional they sing "An Die Musik."

I love the old-fashioned, stentorian videos.

The great bass-baritone Hans Hotter. He died in his 90s just a couple of years ago. Herr Hotter was kind of handsome back in the day! I love how he sings the end of the song. Very moving. "Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir" means "you sacred art, I thank you."

 

Last night we watched this clip of a baby-faced Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, with the great Gerald Moore on piano. Gerald Moore always played with the best singers. On the, ahem, Music Critic weblog today you may see Moore accompanying the Irish tenor John McCormack.



"Um, Mary, this is all very nice, but can we hear someone living?" The answer is no.

We like these elegant old-fashioned videos here at the Leonard Pennario desk!

Finally here is Elizabeth Schwarzkopf looking beautiful. Howard said, "Women can sing this song?" The answer is yes. Best of all in this video you can hear Gerald Moore introducing and explaining the song.



So beautiful. Such a great song.

Have at it, Howard!

The songwriters speak

Howard and I celebrated Mardi Gras in kind of low key style. But elegant!

I made a fish gumbo and I had a glass of wine and Howard had peppy cider which he loves. And we listened to this cool record set I bought at one of the estate sales I went to with my mom last summer. It is a three-record set from Book of the Month club where you get to hear three lyricists singing their own songs. The first record is Johnny Mercer and then there is Alan Jay Lerner and finally Sammy Cahn.

Howard could not get over this record set! It is amazing the stuff I walk into the house with as a matter of course that he never sees. And, I mean, they are just sitting there. I do not hide them or anything.

The records were recorded in 1971 at the New York 92nd Street Y. I cannot wait to hear Sammy Cahn but for now all we had time for were the first two. I liked how Alan Jay Lerner, in between his numbers, talked shop. I will go over this record again and share more of his secrets. But for now, there was one song which, he realized it was a strong melody but it needed words all of one syllable. Another song -- this was "I Talk To The Trees"...



... from "Paint Your Wagon," he sweated over writing that song for days before realizing that what it needed was not to rhyme.

He also talked about how some songs are "realization" songs. The hero or heroine comes to a realization. In "Gigi" it is when the hero, whoever he is (I forget), realizes that Gigi has grown up before his very eyes. In "Camelot," King Arthur has his epiphany when he realizes that Camelot will live on in legend. After revealing that, Alan Jay Lerner sang this song.



These are useful things to know in life.

The Johnny Mercer record featured Margaret Whiting who was a friend of Leonard Pennario's. But I liked how Lerner talked shop.

So that was my fun for today! Now tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Lent descends.

Zut alors and son of a gumbo-gobbling sea cook!

And alas.

Flower power

Paul McCartney is trying to compete with Howard with an album of the Great American Songbook. Howard is listening right now to "My One and Only Love."

Paul still sounds like Paul and actually I think he does a decent job with this number. Isn't that a nice picture of him up above? My friend Carl, who lives in Portland or Seattle or wherever he lives, walked the dog on Valentine's Day and wrote on Facebook how wonderful it was that all the restaurants were packed and all the men were carrying flowers. And look, there is Paul carrying flowers.

McCartney made a big deal that he recorded the album at historic Capitol Studios where he was awed by the spirits of the great musicians who have recorded there over the years, such as Nat Cole and Leonard Pennario. Well, he did not mention Pennario specifically but you have to assume he was thinking of him! Because McCartney is a thinking musician.

Last night at Valentine's Day dinner Howard and I listened to Cy Coleman.



Howard got a brand-new Cy Coleman album! He found it on eBay and last night we cracked it open along with a couple of lobsters. Valentine's Day is not Valentine's Day without vinyl! See, if Paul McCartney were really serious about his standards project he would release his album on vinyl. Perhaps he did and I just do not know about that.

The Cy Coleman was a great Valentine's Day touch and also Howard sent me roses at work. Not only that but the roses were shipped all the way from San Diego. This is America, baby!

It is hard to put Valentine's Day and all these wonderful love songs out of your mind and go back to work.

One more for the road.

Anonymous, anon

Last night I went with my mom to the Steer and to see "Anonymous." My friend Lizzie joined us for the show. "Anonymous" is the movie based on the premise that Shakespeare did not write the Shakespeare plays, that Shakespeare was a poor loser and the plays were in fact written by a nobleman, the Earl of Oxford.

I love that premise!

Everyone was telling me how excellent the movie was. My friend Michelle saw it last weekend. She said, "When it is over you are totally convinced that the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare's plays."

That is the truth! I mean that is how you feel.

Plus, she informed me, "The Earl of Oxford is hot." That is the Earl up above.

Or perhaps she means Young Earl of Oxford, here dancing with Queen Elizabeth.

The movie, which seems to be some kind of British/German collaboration, is wonderful to watch just for its scenes of Elizabethan London. That is why we went to the Steer, you know? Before seeing a movie like this you must go to a tavern with a Shakespearean name.

Er... an Earl of Oxford-ian name.

There is a scene I loved when the great poet Ben Jonson finally tells off the Earl of Oxford's wife, who hates that her husband spends all this time writing.

"Madame," he says, "we, our civilization and even our Queen will be remembered only because we lived in the age when he put ink to paper." It was something like that. See the movie.

The elitist in me loves the idea that only a nobleman could have written Shakespeare's plays. It is funny but it is kind of the same premise behind "Amadeus." How could an ordinary guy have come up with such sublime creations? And Mozart and Shakespeare sit together at the pinnacle of Western civilization's achievements. The two are often likened to each other. Mozart had a book of Shakespeare's works, by the way. When he died he did not leave many books but the Shakespeare was one. Also there was a book by the great German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, grandfather of Felix. It is fascinating to snoop through Mozart's library! One day we must do that thoroughly.

For now, back to "Anonymous." In the movie, Mozart's and Shakespeare's paths cross.

While the Earl of Oxford is getting married the soundtrack played Mozart's Requiem.



The music was not actually written until what, 200 years later? So it was kind of a mistake. On the other hand that stark, powerful music fits strangely with any age. It could be a soundtrack to an Elizabethan movie, or it could be futuristic. It is timeless even though it epitomized its age. Sort of like the piano artistry of Leonard Pennario. I gravitate toward greats!

But talking of Mozart reminds me: As far as I could see, there was no mention of him in the credits!

No fair!

Stark, powerful music composed by ....

Anonymous!

It was a very good year

Howard is buying a plane that was made in 1822. A plane for woodworking, that is.

The year 1822! That thrills me!

That was the year Schubert wrote his "Wanderer" Fantasy.

Beethoven began his Ninth Symphony.

Beethoven also wrote his overture "The Consecration of the House."

And his great sonata Op. 111 which Leonard Pennario used to play but, alas, never recorded that I know of. Does anyone have a bootleg out there of Pennario playing Op. 111? If so please let me know.

We give you Claudio Arrau, an able, if pale, substitute.

Felix Mendelssohn was only 13 when Howard's plane was made but already he was writing great music. In 1822 he wrote his "Magnificat."

It was a noble year, 1822.

May the spirit of that year shine in Howard's woodworking.

Join the club

Today I finally got my act together to join the Music Critics Association of North America.

That is a picture of me up above, sitting at the Leonard Pennario desk working on my membership paperwork.

I had to assemble a whole sheaf of stuff including four (4) photocopies of bylined reviews or articles from within the last year, a completed membership form with a professional reference, and -- this was the kicker -- a resume.

A resume! When was the last time I had a resume? I had to write one from scratch. Well, now I have it. In this day and age you never know.

And making copies, that is a big production too. You are used to being able to email people things. I am thinking, this is so primitive! There was the resume, the copies, and also the check to be made out for $100 in case I get accepted. Tasks, tasks, tasks!

Plus you need a professional reference. Which, I put down Jeff Simon, an editor I work with. I have already bugged him into saying he will vouch for me. But zut alors!! I am licking this big envelope, literally, finally, finally ...


... when I happen to glance at my laptop. And the Music Critics Association Web site is telling me that they need Jeff Simon's title and phone number.

What is his title? I did not even know.

And what is his phone number? I had written down his email and figured that was good enough. What is this, 1952? If so, can I go and catch Leonard Pennario's debut recital at London's Wigmore Hall? I am just saying.

So I had to stop licking the envelope and straighten all this out and that took another 10 minutes.

What about Licking County?


That is a county in Ohio where Pennario played once. He told me about that one day and we must have laughed for an hour. Here we should have been talking about Ravel and instead we are making jokes about Licking County. Oh, look! I found Licking County on the Internet. They do not seem to think there is anything funny about it. But we did!

And I wonder why I cannot get this book done.

That is really me in the picture above, licking the envelope. You can tell because the envelope is addressed to Mr. Smith who is Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun, the president of the Music Critics Association.

It feel great to get this done. I am telling you, between everything I was doing and assembling, this big envelope addressed to the Music Critics has been in and out of my car for close to a week, going here and there. And it still has to get weighed and stamped and in the mail. So we are still not out of the woods.

Now watch them turn me down.

Perhaps there is someone on the membership committee who does not like Leonard Pennario. That is a situation I cannot imagine but it could happen.

Perhaps there is someone Pennario took a gig from or a girl from. That would not surprise me, I will tell you that.

Well, I will keep my fingers crossed. So far, I have to say, this Music Critics venture has been quite the adventure. Every once in a while you notice how dependent you have become on the Internet and instant gratification. I cannot believe when I actually have to mail something. Even this agent I have been in touch with, he just says to email him stuff.

I am always amazed when I cannot just push a button and it is done.

In the land of dreams

Lastnight I had the kind of dreams that make you sit down the next morning and say, "OK. What did I eat lastnight?"

You would not believe these nightmares. Attic rooms, sighing ghosts, hobgoblins! Slime oozing out of the bathroom ceiling! On retrospect I can see that I ripped the slime off from Dickens. In "Bleak House," when Mr. Krook spontaneously combusts, they can tell in the room underneath that something terrible was happening by this slime that oozes through the ceiling.

But still. Why am I having dreams like this? Everything in my life is going so well.

Number one, it seems those pale tomatoes are getting ripe on the kitchen counter. Perhaps yesterday I kvetched too soon.

And here is something else. I may have mentioned that Mr. Idaho is valuable to my book especially because he was the only person I have found who coaxed a few piano lessons out of Leonard Pennario? Well, Mr. Idaho will always be valuable to my book. But now we have found one other person who managed to get Pennario to give him a lesson.

Would you believe, it is New York City's Cardinal Edward Egan? Oh, excuse me, Edward Cardinal Egan. I like the medieval word order better.

Cardinal Egan appeared over the weekend on a big New York classical music radio show, in which guests talk about five pieces of music that are important to them. One piece he chose was Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata. He chose the piece in Pennario's honor! He told that to the host, Gilbert Kaplan. Kaplan is a superb interviewer, by the way. He asked great questions.

"Leonard had a marvelous personality, an ebullient, smiling, happy, enthusiastic personality," Cardinal Egan said about Pennario.

And this is a quote I love: "Very few people I know loved to perform as that man did."

I am going to request that Edward Cardinal Egan grant me an interview for my book. I do not think he will mind. He sounds as if he loves to talk about Leonard Pennario the way I do. Well, no one loves to talk about him the way I do. But he comes close.

Cardinal Egan sounds like a brilliant man who knows a lot about music. The music he mentions is the same music I would mention, that I love. The slow movement of the Schubert B flat Piano Trio. The final trio from Strauss' opera "Der Rosenkavalier." Try to find a few minutes to listen to these links. What sheer, unbelievable beauty. That is some of the music I love the most, too!

Have I been Cardinal Egan all these years and just never knew it?

I had better watch it with the surreal thoughts. Now I am back in dream territory! One more thing about my dreams lastnight.

I was calm, even cheerful as I dealt with all those ghosts and hobgoblins. I remember that. I was looking forward to morning because I hoped they would go away, but I was smiling at them and the situation stayed under control. That is an important detail. When you remember your dreams is always important to note how you are feeling and reacting.

All I can think is that means whatever is on my mind will turn out OK.

Either that, or it was something I ate.