All Night Long by Stephanie Jeannot & Derrick Smith

Check out the full length video to my original song for my tune

"All Night Long" 

written by me, Stephanie Jeannot

and

music by Derrick Smith; 

on Youtube. 

https://youtu.be/jC8Y8A6S6Nc

K is for Killing Sounds That I Listen to Most

MamaKat added as one of her writing prompts to list the top most played songs in my playlist and when I took a look at the tunes that made up this list, it made me think of all the musicians and singers that put these songs together, the many times I have listened to them and how I came to love the music and also wondered about the experiences that these artists lived to be able to put all of themselves into these tunes. What wonderful songs! 

My top ten are:

1.       Get Up by Amel Larrieux

·      I just love Amel Larrieux. Her voice is da bomb and I love listening to any song that she has sung; whether it is with Groove Theory or her solo stuff. She sings and I listen to the words she has written; awesome writer. She sings and I sing along and imitate her style. She sings and I exercise my voice. I love what she can do vocally and I like her music a lot.

2.       I’ve Got a Right to Sing the Blues by Billie Holliday

·       Awesome song and awesome spin on it. I like Billie’s style. She was such a unique singer and has a great voice. Out of all the songs I have heard jazz greats sing, she has a different way of putting it and it is really nice to the ears. This song is new to my playlist but somehow is there as number two in my top ten most played list on my ITunes

3.       Bye Bye Blackbird by Carmen McRae

·         I have loved this song for a long time and I love the way that Carmen sings it. I have heard a few different versions of this song but Carmen’s spin on it is my favorite. Great standard from 1926 by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon. I love listening to it and I love singing it as a cover. Carmen’s way of expressing is really great. She is an excellent singer and I love her voice and the way that she carries any tune.

4.       Blue N Boogie by Dizzy Gillespie

·     Dizzy is one of my favorite jazz musicians of all time and I love everything that he plays. This song from 1944 is nice because it is jazz and funky at the same time. I like the rhythm. It is becoming weird to me though that most of the songs that are in my top 10 most played list were created decades before I was even born. But . . .

5.       Alone Together by Ella Fitzgerald

·         The director of the Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble which I am a member of, was playing this song on his trumpet and I fell in love with it. I think since I heard him play it, I have listened to Ella’s version about 150 times. Great tune. Ella is just the quintessential singer and I love her vocal style.

6.       La Vie En Rose by Madeleine Peyroux

·         I love, love, love Madeleine Peyroux and I think this is one of my favorites not only because I appreciate her singing but because I am trying to learn the song and get a better grasp of French and she sings a great version of this song first rendered by Edith Piaf.

7.       He Looked Beyond My Faults by Vanessa Bell Armstrong

·         Vanessa Bell Armstrong has such a powerful gift. I used to hear a choir member sing this song at church and I always loved it but never knew that Vanessa Bell Armstrong sang a rendition of it until the other day when I was asked to sing it for a beautiful couple’s aunt who just recently passed away. Great song to listen to on any day however. Very encouraging and beautiful.  Such an inspiring tune and the way that Vanessa Bell Armstrong sings is refreshing.

  I Wish You Knew by Mariah Carey

·         I have always been a Mariah fan and I think I have every single album she has ever made and can sing every song on each and every one of them word for word. Her songs used to be about 90% of my repertory in the past. I think I have listened to her most over the course of my life.  I love her voice and her music and I love singing along with her material. This song is a great song. I love the way it progresses and the beautiful way that she expressed the lyrics. She is such a great songwriter.

           Bohemia After Dark by Clark Terry

·      Amazing tune. Clark Terry plays the life out of his horn. He is so very talented and this song offers such a beautiful listen.

Ooh by Stephanie Jeannot

·         This is a new song I recently penned and I have been listening to it over and over again because I like it and am trying to see if there is anywhere in the song where I can make improvements.  But when it is complete and up to standard, I cannot wait to share it.  

J is for Jazz on the JNote

Hey everyone!

Recently, I became very interested in jazz and wanted to know more about the music and the culture of it and started studying it and am currently writing my college thesis on Jazz. 

In the process of searching for information, through reading several books, essays and articles on the subject, I became a radio personality and have produced a radio show entitled Jazz on the JNote which can be heard daily in the 24/7 rotation on the Medgar Evers College radio station Wmecradio.com.

Also on Sundays, like for instance, this Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 7:30PM, if you turn your FM radio dial to WNYE 91.5 FM, you can hear my radio show Jazz on the JNote. For those who will not be by a standard radio, no worries; go on your computer to www.theenglishconnectionmedia.com or on your social media device and visit either tunein.com or mixlr.com, search for the english connection media channel and you can hear my show Jazz on the JNote at the same exact time. 

Sidenote: I have a website. Please visit it at www.jnotemusic.com

I is for In the Studio

In the Studio (Poem)

by Stephanie Jeannot

In the Studio

You make fresh beats

And you add that heat

To an empty track

Put the beat in the back

And just ride the cymbals

With a bassline

Generic or organic

The latter the better

Depending on the ear

That receives its free expression

In the studio

You lace on harmonious strings

You let the black and whites sting

And then you sing a lick

Maybe add a slick

Stack of vocals over it

Dance vocally over it

Leading the pack of tamed while untamed

But as natural as

Rain in the April of spring

In the studio

What is written or unwritten

Gets etched into the composed nest

Vibin through foam and somehow everything internets

Into a social web network

From one channel to another

Each being a spun communicant

In its own way

In the studio you then play

It back

Wet the ears

Some panned, some E-cued, warmed and theatered

To make the sound warm, big

You might get a good mix

But you might come back tomorrow and realize

The studio is like a shuffle dance

Because you keep coming back to edit

With additional wetness

And the result is the extent

Of you

In the studio is where you do

Songs with edits to listen back to in the car

As for example this one I wrote, produced, lyrically and musically

Please check out my tune entitled, “Wherever You are.”
Here: https://www.reverbnation.com/stephanayjnote/song/20358451-wherever-you-are

H is for Hope You Can Make it This Saturday, April 16th at Moda Grill in Jamaica. NY

Hello everyone, 

This Saturday evening, April 16, 2016 at 7:30 PM, I will be joining the stage with the All Is Well Band at Moda Grill located at 8914 Parsons Blvd in Jamaica, NY for a night of live music and fun, and I hope that you can make it. 

If you love pop, R&B and soul music, then you will enjoy the mixture of song selections and the collaboration of awesome singers and musicians like drummer Cordell Brown, guitarist Melvin Palmer and singer J David, just to name a few.

The ambiance is really nice and the food and drinks are excellent. Admission is free and there are lots of free street parking all around. So come out if you can. I can honestly say that I think you will enjoy it. 

G is for Grace and Breakthroughs

Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word grace as 

"unmerited divine assistance given humans for their 

regeneration or sanctification" (Grace). 

 For something to be unmerited means that is undeserved. Like for instance, often times 

when someone else makes a mistake or hurts our feelings, we tend to feel that they are 

undeserving of being a part of our lives again and we break away from the ties we had. Or, 

sometimes when we fall and lose our way, we tend to find ourselves unworthy of forgiving 

and live imprisoned by the past because we have yet to break free from punishing our own 

selves. Or, all the mistakes in life that we make that shines ugly within us and often 

disguises the light of God from who we are yet, God loved us so much still, even though we 

are undeserving, that he gave up his only son to take up for our sins that we might live. 

That is something to definitely think about  and take as a serious example of how to move 

forward in our journeys. To be broken because someone 

said something about you, a situation did not go your way or to let the past hurts steal your 

joy and not allow you to freely live without being makes these very things prison bars.

It is important to remember that with God, there are 

breakthroughs and we can lean on him and have faith because God is stronger than all of 

the nonsensical thoughts that can settle in our mind and keep us from faithfully moving 

forward to freedom from them. And then we have breakthroughs to tell people our stories 

and testimonies through writing and art. 




From my experiences came an original 

song I have written about keeping faith through your storms and how the grace of God kept 

me which is entitled “Breakthrough” and is currently streaming on Spotify. 

You can check it out here :

https://open.spotify.com/track/7aLMzUqgpDd9i0xGbByrqR

   

If "Breakthrough" inspired you. Maybe other songs I've penned will as well. 

I also have other songs on Spotify 

like music from my single cd "All Night Long"/“I’ll Be There” : 

https://open.spotify.com/album/77hQHLALYnC0v0GNQYIwx3 

Thank you for gracing me with your attention
and reading by my blog everybody! 

Have a lovely weekend. 

April is for Jazz and Poetry Appreciation

The older I get, the faster life seems to speed by. 

I mean, can you believe it is April already?  It feels like only yesterday that I was on the dance floor at Trattorias in Purchase, NY, singing away 2015 on New Year's Eve, and here we are, four months later holding on with a tight grip, so we don't trip as the days fly by.

Photo Captured by EJ Haughton Photography

April has arrived; the fourth month of the year and also the rainy month, National poetry month and Jazz Appreciation Month. 

On a clear day like today, we have to be thankful that we had bright sunshine, though mother nature seems to be playing an April Fool's trick on us here in New York as she brings yet another chance of winter snow for our well-into-spring weekend. Might seem a bit depressing to think we might be cleaning wintry white from the concrete and the hoods of our cars this weekend but that is okay; nothing that beautiful poetry or jazz can't soothe, like a hot cup of coffee tends to do in the morning when sleep is still combating with wakefulness.

So while we are in the midst of my favorite season, I would like to wish to you, Harmony through it all. This is definitely a great season to allow that internal joy to peacefully uproot within and to blossom towards the light of the amazing sun. 

Happy April!  And to you, I dedicate a song that I wrote which was produced by a good friend of mine named Paul Garrod. The song is entitled "Harmony," and I hope that it brings you just that.  Here is the link: https://soundcloud.com/stephanay-jnote/harmony 

Thank you for reading my blogpost everyone. And as bassist Stanley Clarke would say, "Shanti, Peace, Paz, Shal!"