E is for Everybody

E is for “Everybody screws up, including me” (Ken Burns)

But 

Everybody is given 24 hours in a day and 525600 minutes in a year. 

Everybody has access to oxygen to keep them going. 

Everybody decides for themselves if they forgive themselves for their past, love themselves where they are and if they can hold on to the mustard seed of faith.

And so, everybody needs a word of encouragement sometimes.  

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence” (Helen Keller).

Even though we fall and make mistakes, God is such a gentleman and still opens doors for us and loves us with a love that has no borders. We never have to labor too hard for God to gain the result of love because God is love and everything that comes from him is love.

If that is true, then we know that we can go to him and have dialogue with him and lay your burdens in his ear and know that there is nothing too hard for God to handle. And so while we are here within the confines of the melting pot of people of this earth, let us remember the cries from the sea in the face of their struggles. 

I am moved by the force of their fight. I get lit up when I see people in hopeless situations walking around with more faith in God’s grace. I am encouraged by my culture. I get moved by all the many vision of the sun sinking and the plethora of sunrises that God kept me. And I feel bittersweet happiness because I can paint a better picture of what I am talking about. So even though I may screw up, there is hope for tomorrow. 

A family member of mine always says, “I am better than the day before, and worse than the day tomorrow.” Makes sense to have faith in every step of the way. And I am definitely ready for my Breakthrough that is on the way! I hope this song lends some positive energy into your day. 

Check out the official video for the Breakthrough Remix by Stephanie Jeannot (featuring Jazz E Matt). Here: https://youtu.be/XMd1prZUHrU

Lyrics by Stephanie Jeannot

Produced by Prrrl

Co-produced by Stephanie Jeannot & Jazz E Matt

Charles Bartlett . . . Trumpet

Clyde Bermingham . . . Guitar

Jazz e Matt . . . Vocals

Stephanie Jeannot . . . Vocals

Richie Johnson . . . Drums

Herb Lewis . . Saxophone

Mark Payne . . . Bass

Who knew that trying to write on a daily basis would lead to video editing projects like this one. A Melodiaz Creation. Check out more of my Melodiaz Creations here: https://melodstephie.wixsite.com/melodiazcreations/home

And Then There Were The Ladies of Jazz

March is Women’s History Month which is a month to celebrate the remarkable women in history who have used the utmost limits of their naturally remarkable power to showcase their extraordinary talents.

On March 10, 2018 from 2PM to 3:30PM at the Roosevelt Public Library located at 27 W Fulton Avenue in Roosevelt, NY, I am excited to bring to you, “And Then There Were the Ladies of Jazz” which is a jazz show dedicated to some of the greatest women of jazz to ever share their talents with the world. This show will celebrate the lives of the first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald, the pathos and tone of Billie Holiday, the operatic voice of the Divine One, Sarah Vaughan and the amazingly talented, Carmen McRae with music hosted by Stephanie Jeannot and her Jazz Quartet with special guest performances by JAzz E Matt, Dalthannette Munlin and Stacey Haughton, just to name a few.

These phenomenal women of jazz were newsmakers of their day. They tokenized the genre of vocal jazz with their memorable voices that just simply melted into the masses. They had global influence with their contributions to the culture.

For me, every time I listen to them strike a note, their voices generate happiness and heal my heart in scission, every time I listen to them sing. They embody the actual skill of what jazz singing is all about.

And while the tremendous struggle for equality was being fought, they were making progress by forcing a shift of mindset and helping to change legal, unjust and immoral Jim Crow establishments; many of which integrated so that these women would be allowed to showcase their talents at these establishments, becoming ambassadors of acceptance of people of color as human beings and creating a sense of belonging in places where blacks originally were not before.

Each, in their own way, showcased virtuosic musicianship and impacted the future with their influence that seemed to resonate in the hearts and spirits of multitudes of people across cultures. With this is mind, "And Then There Were the Ladies of Jazz" will feature meaningful moments in celebration of these women who transformed the world with their technical prowess. This show will focus on the profiles of these remarkable innovators who showed their strengths to the world not only as people of color but as women.

I'll Be There by Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, Stephanie Jeannot & Fred Simmons

Please check out original tune 

by

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Stephanie Jeannot 

&

composer and pianist Fred Simmons 

entitled 

"I'll Be There." 

Video features a live clip of the tune as

performed at Cafe Oasis in Baldwin, NY

featuring

Joe Fry on guitar

Thomas Gooding on bass

Stephanie Jeannot on vocals

Richie Johnson on drums

Jazz E Matt on background vocals

Fred Simmons on keys and background vocals

If you enjoyed the song, I wanted to let you know that the full length tune is available for download on CDbaby 

Thank you so much for checking out my blogpost
and
for supporting indie artists and singer/songwriters, like me.

It means more than a warm piece of pecan pie at Thanksgiving dinner, and I love pecan pie.

I love you with my whole heart.

Peace and blessings to you! <3 

My Dad Two Thumbs Upped MY Song

I am a singer and songwriter who loves in Brooklyn, NY. I have been writing songs for a very long time. My writing journey started with poetry and since then, I have found myself dabbling in other genres of writing and songwriting seems to have become one of those things I fully immerse myself into the most.

My father surprised me the other day by telling me that he had been enjoying watching my YouTube Channel and that my original song that I penned, "Wherever You Are" is superb.

http://www.youtube.com/sj1and0

"Wherever You Are" is track number 5 off of my first ever musical release entitled Finally JNote. All lyrics, music, and vocals on the original tune are by Stephanie Jeannot and can be found on CDbaby if you are interested! 

It was so unexpected to hear such a warm compliment that just inspired me in so many ways; especially coming from my dad. What a blessing to have heard it! It is weird but compliments coming from my parents when my music or anything that comes out of my spirit is concerned, still makes me feel like that was the one word of confidence I was waiting to hear to know that I am doing alright! 

As I think about that, I wonder about my younger cousin who a few days after Christmas committed suicide and left us in mourning. Maybe all he needed was a good word of confidence to feel like he was okay. But, one never knows and yet, it is still hard to comprehend what he might have been going through. Wherever you Are cuz, I hope that you have found peace with yourself.

I did not expect people to enjoy "Wherever You Are" as much. This is the first song I have ever performed internationally and wherever I was singing it, I noticed people were singing along and it is always a pleasure to see people reacting to these lyrics. If you are interested in knowing the lyrics, you can check them out here: http://www.songlyrics.com/stephanie-jeannot/wherever-you-are-lyrics/#disqus_thread

I recently had the opportunity to perform this song with my band, The JNote Band, and as usual when performing with them, it was bursting with energy, great sound and a whole lot of fun. 

On bass was my twin brother, Mark Payne; I call him twin because we celebrate our birthdays on the same day. And on drums was Richie Johnson. On keys was Prrrl. On vocals we had Jazz E Matt, Chynnah Doll, Nico and me singing my lyrics to the song. The live music photograph from this performance was taken by Laurence Sparks. Our performance was at Shrine World Music Venue which is located in Harlem, NY.  


I invite you to please check out out this performance. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/OCw3KDKnguU 

I would love to hear what you think! Please leave me a comment, a good word, or even a song that you think might suit my voice that you think I should try. I always appreciate the idea of enhancing my awareness and knowledge about music. It was a pleasure convening with you today. Hope that we can do it again soon. God bless and thank you for stopping by my blog!