Music for the Ultimate Holiday Spirit

It is weird how time changes and we change along with the time that keeps moving forward.

Years ago, it used to bother me that the Christmas holiday became so materialized that it was being exploited so early.

The music started blaring super early and everywhere you would go, there would be decorations and displays of holidays in your face, way before even Thanksgiving; as like it is now. I walked into my local supermarket and the music over the airwaves had me singing down the aisles like I was the star of the show on a stage on Broadway singing my favorite carols. It put the spirit of the holidays in my heart; super early but here we are watching holiday-themed movies and enjoying it.

I won’t have the holiday heart this year. I am ready to celebrate and even feel like I might be getting into the pomp and circumstance of decorating. So keeping in the spirit of the holiday music that always seems to get me into a great mood, I created a music playlist filled with some of the holiday songs that have caught my heart lately and I wanted to share it with you with hopes that it might get you into the mood and perhaps you will enjoy listening to. Perhaps you will enjoy it so much that you'll feel like playing it at your next holiday party or while you are riding in your automobile or while decorating your tree or throught the season. Here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0OdsBVvfiWvF4NnCqNslL1?si=fdda7baa586e4a77



The following is a list of some ofthe songs that are featured on this Christmas-Themed holiday playlist:

 

1.      “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey is a fun song with great vocals and a wonderful choir singing lyrics that almost dances charismatically to the up-beat music.  It has always been a favorite of mine since it first came out and I think that it still is until this day.

 

2.      “Jingle Bells” by Ella Fitzgerald is a cool, jazzy version of an old popular holiday anthem that is adored by young and old. I like the swinging nature of this tune and her syncopated voicings that make this song come alive in a really awesome way.

 

3.      “Santa Baby” by Taylor Swift is a nice guitar-heavy tune that I like because I can see this song getting a whole dance party on the floor moving their bodies and enjoying the groove on their feet.

 

 

4.      “Last Christmas” by Wham never seems to get old to me. No matter how many times I listen to it, I love it more. It is an enjoyable song to listen to and I love it a lot.

 

5.      “This Christmas” by Destiny’s Child is a nice trio version of this beautiful Christmas tune. I like it because they made it their own and it sounds really nice to listen to with its bop and its pomp.

 

6.      “Snowman” by Sia. I like different songs that are not traditional but are good tunes that are out of the

ordinary and still keep the holiday in the center of it all. Her creativity and voice shines strong int his tune and it rings beautifully.

 

7.      “Jesus is the Reason” by Stephanie Jeannot is a nice tune because of the harmonic value of it and the music is really hot. I also like the singer’s voice. The hook is super catchy and not a regular everyday carol that you hear all the time.

 

 

8.      “Santa Doesn’t Know You Like I Do” by Sabrina Carpenter. I mean, who isn’t loving what Sabrina Carpenter has been doing with her music lately. This song is just all that and definitely a song that will have people singing along like all the other songs that have hit the waves.

 

9.      “Winter Wonderland” by Pentatonix featuring Tori Kelly is just a song that will make you want to listen because of the amazing harmonies and arrangements on this song. Really great version of this lovely holiday tune.

 

10.   “O Holy Night” by Norah Jones. I like the jazzy smoothness of this tune and her scratchy vocals that make it a cool listen. Plus the hits of the music that seem to make this song dramatic and exciting.

 

Other songs featured on this playlist include, “Joy to the World” by Nat King Cole, “Sleigh Ride” by Kelly Clarkson, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” by the Jackson 5, “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano, “Let it Snow” by Luis Fonti and more.

 

Check out the full playlist here:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0OdsBVvfiWvF4NnCqNslL1?si=fdda7baa586e4a77

 

 

Here is to a fantastic holiday season ahead!

POET Tuesday by Stephanie Jeannot

Every day is a day that is good to write poetry; especially if you are a poetess like me. But, today seems like an even more extra special day because it is Tuesday and Tuesday is designated as Poetry Tuesday and so, poetry is the game. Here are a few of the latest poems that have been seeping through my pores. I hope you enjoy. 

I Write

I was born as a poem written in a Fifth grader’s marble notebook

My lines were enhanced by a sword and shield and I turned into an epic

I started this romantic relationship slaying dragons and I was transformed into a song

The main soldier in the story became me when my song became a full-length production

You can watch it at a theatre near you and hear the words to me, the anthem

But wherever I am and whenever life spans, the poetry never dies

I still remain vivid and sonorous within the lines

And the words that breathe through are just fine

Because they are mine

I write

 

Full Hearted

Three pages to get you connected with your own id

Ego surpasses everything that went in

To the scribing times and writing blinds to get to this place

They told me not to read it back or edit, so I cannot erase

All I can do is let it out like a cry when losing face

I thought why not

Seemed like a good idea to give it a taste

And so one day I am there releasing

And other times, not in the mood

But they say to feed the hunger to use my thoughts for food

So I’ve been doing the program to release the artist within

And I’m reaching my hand like a back brush to reach the past of when a kid

And all I know it has rained forty days from when I first had started

Almost more tears than the bubbles of all the times I’ve farted

And I am doing it like a professional trash person; hurts discarded

So I can affirm my truths; I know them full hearted.

Open Book

She said what she felt like she never did before

She let out her muse and it happened more and more

She was open like a book and the test was happening

She was telling all the answers that nobody was asking

She thought it was the thing that was supposed to go on

She spelled out every word to each one of her songs

And never held in anything that could be kept as hush

She probably never considered the fact that she had talked too much

She went from writing her thoughts to a book to sharing them with an ear

She went from using her pencil to release her mind to becoming a mountaineer

She thought using her ropes was the answer to the journey she’d been on

She thought that maybe he had been the clear to her life-long thicket of fog

She never thought that is was wrong because she never had it once

She just started living life and gaining scars and cuts

She knew her wrongs and detours, falls and things that kept her from her climb

These were the things that made her block the world from her reminds

And though she fell into this ditch where she just simply lied

Each knee jerk reaction was another shock to come alive

She stood back up on her two feet again at 7:10

To a new light of inspiration and a melodic beat and it all happened when

She got the thread to gauge his eye to sew up her hem

He was the needle that poked her back to life again

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you so much for reading my poems. If you liked what you read, perhaps you might enjoy one of my poetry collections.  

And Then There Was the Music: Musical Poetry Collection by Stephanie Jeannot

Pulchritudinous: The Poetry Collection

Follow my author page on Amazon here: Stephanie Jeannot: Amazon Author Page

New Song alert: "More than Enough" by Stephanie Jeannot

I heart music and every day is a great day to immerse myself into the sounds of music. I love to listen, perform, sing, and write songs, a lot. 

And so, it brings me great pleasure to invite you to check out my newest song. It is entitled "More Than Enough." 

It is a song written to empower individuals who might need to be reminded about the greatness that God has placed in them. It is soulful and bop worthy. All lyrics and music by Stephanie Jeannot. Mixed by Shawn Keys for Just Awesome Music. 

Hopefully, you will want to bop to it and let the sounds ring through your speakers. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/3J7sUlrzyOM

Thank you for checking out my tune and my blog and for supporting my musical journey. God bless you all.

Stephanie Jeannot's Summer Music Schedule

 It is Summer. Happy summer!

 

At this moment, my heart is fixated on the entire idea of summer. I feel empowered simply because the sun is beaming outside and it gives me vibes that I am on a winning path, which is why I came back to this atmosphere of respect to share my smiles and confidence with you.

The boundless love of God has brought us here to the month of July and there are so many unique stories to share about things that happened in the first half of the year; some that are nothing new under the sun and some that added an entire new palette of colors to my daily hustle and bustle. In a nutshell, 2023 stands out from the pack of years that have leaped into my existence.

I am excited about the summer and started this robust and thoughtful conversation to wish you a happy and safe July, Independence Day, and summer, as well as to share with you some of the upcoming live music events that I will be a part of and hope that you will come to share in the joys of harmonious sound.

 

Friday, July 7, 2023

8PM to 10PM

Stephanie Jeannot with Shawn Keys and Chris Ray

Harlem Nights Bar

2361 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd

New York, NY 10030

Saturday, July 8. 2023

2PM to 3:30PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Queens Central Public Library

 89-11 Merrick Blvd

Jamaica, NY 11432

 

Sunday, July 9, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30 PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Friday, July 14, 2023

10:30PM to 1:30AM

The Empire State Band

Prohibition Restaurant

503 Columbus Avenue

New York, NY 10024

 

 

Sunday, July 16, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30 PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

7PM to 8PM

The Bartlett Contemporaries

Queens College Kupferberg Center for the Arts Presents

Live at the Gantries

Gantry State Plaza Park

48-09 Center Blvd

Long Island City, NY 11109

 

 

Saturday, July 22, 2023

3PM to 8PM

The Bartlett Contemporaries

JCAL Presents

Southeast Queens Jam Fest (Battle of the Bands)

Rufus King Park

150-29 Jamaica Avenue

Queens, NY 11435

 

 

Sunday, July 23, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30 PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Sunday, July 30, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Friday, August 4, 2023

8PM to 10PM

Stephanie Jeannot with Shawn Keys and Chris Ray

Harlem Nights Bar

2361 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd

New York, NY 10030

 

Saturday, August 5, 2023

1:00PM to 1:30PM

Cultural Collab presents the JAMS Festival

The Jamaica Arts & Music Festival

164th Street & Jamaica Avenue

Jamaica, NY 11432

Sunday, August 6, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Sunday, August 13, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Sunday, August 20, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

 

Friday, August 25, 2023

10:30PM to 1:30AM

The Empire State Band

Prohibition Restaurant

503 Columbus Avenue

New York, NY 10024

 

 

Sunday, August 27, 2023

8:30PM to 10:30PM

The Yaacov Mayman Super Jazz Band

Level Restaurant & Bar

2775 Coney Island Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11235

 

Let’s enjoy the scintillation of the summer sun together. I hope your navigations through life directs you to at least one of these events. Would be so lovely to see you there. But until then, Peace, love and sunbeams. <3

 

Tonight, April 29, 2023, The Ed Jackson Quartet featuring Stephanie Jeannot at the Jackson Room

Music adds great value to my life. I love what happens in the unique cultural art spaces where musicians can vibe with each other and enjoy the deep reckonings of jazz music; especially when you can add your own harmonic ideas to it and make it flow. Jazz for me is a powerful driving force and I love it a lot.

And so, as your weekend steamrolls along, I hope that perhaps you will join me for a night of jazz music at the Jackson Room. This evening, April 29, 2023 from 7PM to 10PM at the Jackson Room located at 192-07 Linden Blvd in St Albans, NY, I will be featured with the Ed Jackson Quartet, singing a few songs that capture the joys of vocalizing jazz music. 

It is Jazz Appreciation Month and it’s Duke Ellington’s birthday; a

perfect day to echo some of the best of Ellingtonian jazz pieces and more, in a jazz club located in a place where so many of the jazz greats lived. The night will be part instrumental, and part vocal jazz and it will be awesome.

The evening might dictate that you get engrossed in a song, sing along, dance to the musical grooves, and simply feel the euphoric sense of freedom that the improvisational jazz conversations embody.

I will agree that I find enjoyment in spinning the plethora of jazz 45s in my music collection, but nothing beats the experience of live music because it allows experiential moments that you are bound to remember vividly in your memory.  And so with that in mind, I hope that you will join us for this special night of music happening this evening, April 29^th, 2023, from 7PM to 10PM at the Jackson Room located at 192-07 Linden Blvd in St Albans, NY. 

You will be amongst fellow enthusiasts in the charming, ambient corner.

Hope to see you there. Looking Forward!

Enter in Week 2 of 2023 & Beyond

One week into 2023 and here we are eight days in deep.

The year just started and it seems like an entire year already passed by. Why you may ask?

I experienced a week full of work, a wake, a funeral, and a death all in a week’s time.

 

And as we enter into the second week, I just think about all the good times that I have experienced before this moment that just seemed to add a bit of weight that I did not expect to have to carry into this new year, although no one knows the day nor the hour.

As I step into this brand-new week, I think about all the blessings that seem minor which we often overlook.  It is hard to not acknowledge the gift of oxygen that God breathes into us when we watch a person in a hospital bed with tubes down his/her throat because they cannot breathe on their own. The ability to breathe on your own is something to not take for granted. I think about people who get sick from the effects of a stroke that might cause them to be unable to walk, talk or to even use the bathroom on their own. How often do we thank God for the gift of having a voice that we can use to sing, speak up for ourselves, to talk about things that are important to us or to just simply be in our right minds?

The older I get, the more I realize how short life really is and how blessed I am to see another day and to be surrounded by loved ones. This is the year to tell the people you care about that you love them. Do not ever forsake those moments of care because you never know the day or the hour that someone’s last breath may be. Love your family. Love yourself. Pray and bless the people that you care about and share the joys of life the way that you would want to receive love from others.

Life is short. Tomorrow is not promised or guaranteed. The next moment might be your Last. Live in the moment and appreciate it. May you be blessed today and always. I dedicate my song "Enjoy Life" to you as I make my mantra for each day of 2023: blessed to see another day; because I truthfully am.   https://youtu.be/alV2ULnr9z8

Enjoy life and experience it while you still have time.

My Christmas Traditions & Happy New Year

           We always did our Christmas family reunion in high fashion. It is like walking into the Academy Awards in your best dress. Some have the most beautiful of red dresses draped over their bodies. The men all wearing suits or their cute ugly sweaters. Santa Claus always finds his way here in his big red suit and bag filled with promises and toys to place under the huge pine tree that greets you when you walk in. The walkway is sometimes a carpet of fresh, white snow, and it is usually the most extravagant of parade ways. The hype is so high, it is a celebration from the moment of entry.

I haven’t seen some of the faces of my family members since last year at

this time. We converge with a kiss on the cheek and the request to remove your shoes and to walk with just your socks on your feet over the wooden floors. I think it is fun because when you get into the danceable moments sponsored by my curated Spotify playlists, you can sing along to the Christmas carols, dip, and slide across the floors with a smile bigger than Carlton’s on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

I mask my winter blues like I always do when I see them. It is like a glow of stardust washes my troubles away and brings me sparks of joy. Seeing my family member’s eyes bring a glow over the verge of tears that I’d been facing. The year can sometimes push me to the brink of despair but for this family gathering, I feel like a poem of bubbling brooks and flowers blooming.

And as they walk in the door, the aroma of something savory is wafting from the kitchen. Every burner and rack in the oven is occupied with a food item on its way to being ready to eat. The counters filled with spices, desserts being decorated, and foods still being prepped for cooking.

We cook like this is the last supper with more food than you would probably eat in the 525,600 minutes that measure the year. There is so much deliciousness spread out over the table that your stomach gets filled just by looking at it. My mother put her foot into each and every bit of the meal that is about to be shared. The turkey timer has popped and now I can add my corn souffle into the oven so that it can be ready for the dinner we are about to serve.

I added my two senses into cooking as well and turn my kitchen into a canvas and the ingredients that get added are like my paint. Art is on my mind and the ideas I sketch with the charcoal pencils of my fingertips. The food we eat, a picture-perfect masterpiece like those in MOMA, and all who are exposed to it are getting a piece of my heart.

The dinner call is sounded, like a chapel bell of a 16th-century church and the whole family approaches the table. We gather and we pray over the meal:

“Father God, thank you for the day that you made and for the food that we eat and for the hands that prepared it and for the family that gathered, for those who wanted to come but didn’t find the opportunity, and for those who have become ancestors and rest in your peaceful arms. That you might continue to bless us and to keep us and to protect us with your grace and with your love. You are mighty and everlasting and we love you and bless you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”

It is cute to hear the little ones who can barely talk say, “Bonne Appetit,” but we all do it in our little celebration. Actually, I make sure to make them say it so that they can have knowledge of some of the words from our Haitian culture. Those words are part of it. Some of the foods and drinks found on the table are as well like the Kremas which is like eggnog with rum in it or the Griot which is pork chunks that are one of the many meat items on the table and diri a djondjon which is black rice with dried mushrooms.  

It is more than just the eating that is involved. The stories we share of tradition and exoticism always pique my interest. When you think about all the experiences you face in a year’s time, it is no secret that there is so much to talk about if the right person to talk to sits at your gate. We sip some of the best Apple Cider you can find and chat. Maybe a sibling or cousin is the family that becomes your listening board, or maybe it is a friend who is like family, who intently listens to the ranting of it all without judgment or interruption. This is what makes the conversations interesting. There is always something new being told, something different being shared that you have yet to hear and that you are newly learning for the first time. The laughter is like a weight being lifted off because it surely makes you feel better.

We eat and chat and then we play our annual Taboo game. It is always such a fun experience trying to get our team to guess the words that we are attempting to animate so that we can win the game. I think I laugh the most during these times because it is so much fun just getting lost in these moments that never seem to get old.  While we play, everyone is experimenting with all the different desserts that are on the table; cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream, jello, and candy. These are the yummy moments that are passed until we start to distribute all the different gifts that are under the tree.

Everyone in the place is unwrapping gifts in excitement over what someone thought was a good gift for them. I’ll never forget the time when my next-door neighbor put a Michael Jackson jacket in a box for me and gave it to me. I wonder if that was one of the reasons that I became a performing artist. That was one of my favorites. The other most memorable was an album of Miles Davis recordings, and I love Miles Davis. What a beautiful gift to receive from a kid at that. Seems like Auntie’s baby knows me better than I thought; made me so happy.

The night ends with everyone packing a big foil tray filled with food to take home. Everyone scatters out the door back onto the carpet full of snow and make their exit back to their regularly scheduled programs. It is sad to see them all go and even sadder to know of all the cleaning that needs to be done to bring the art of Christmas back to a blank canvas.  

I think sometimes I count five hours of washing dishes, cleaning pots, and putting glasses and other things back into the china for safe keeping until next year, same time, same celebration. But to think of the reason for continuing on in this tradition for as long as we have, a smile is ignited.

We continue on. The numbers might decrease due to heaven calling some to its gates but it is always a welcome celebration that will always make Christmas one of my favorite times of the year.

And now that the year is coming to a close, I am thankful for all these traditions and for all the good times and bad times, and for being blessed to see this moment of time. I find peace in it knowing that I made it through. God has been so good and it is not a secret.  May your 2023 be the most lovely, prosperous, and powerful year that you have ever seen. I offer to you "Peace on Earth: https://youtu.be/ctlbmq9Rit8

 Good tidings to you and yours and hope to see you in the new year. 

Blessings!