Happy New Year, everyone!

A lot has changed since my last post!  The guys and I have a new home at Patrick’s in Chicopee, which is just a fantastic place to make music.  The acoustics are great, the space is open and there’s a nice, big dance floor!  The food is good and I can personally attest to the fact that they’ve got some great beer on tap.  😉  The owners are wonderful and have live music several nights a week.  If you’re looking for a relaxing night out with great entertainment, please check out Patrick’s!

I also finished my Christmas CD, at long last.  It was an engaging project and I’m very pleased with the final results.  You can view the song list on the Music page; and I’ll get some clips up eventually.  There’s something for everyone.  If you didn’t get yours in last month, no worries!  There’s always Christmas 2017!

I hope this is a year of health, prosperity and happiness for all of us!

Jen

It’s been several months now since the JG Quartet played up at The Loft and I am chomping at the bit to find a new spot for us!  (I think most of you are aware that The Loft management stopped weekend music as of 11/1/14.)

The good news is that we’ve got a Demo CD ready to take to other venues.  And I’m going to be adding a page to this Website so you can check out samples of our Live sound!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!  I’m not the best self-marketer in the world but I love what this group does so much that I have to get us a new home.  🙂

Well, we all know by now that I am not the world’s most faithful blogger!  😉  I just noticed that I wrote my last entry in January (!) after that first performance with the incredible John Scherer on sax.  As of last Friday night, John is now a permanent member of the Quartet and I do think that’s a beautiful thing!  🙂

Thank you so much to everyone who came up to The Loft last weekend and made the night so much fun!  I couldn’t ask for a better audience!  You really made our night!

Can’t wait to see you again in August!

Thank you to everyone who came up to The Loft last night in the lousy weather.  It may have been cold outside but it was smokin’ hot inside, thanks to the wonderful John Scherer on saxophone!  There is nothing like making music with incredibly talented people and John just rocked my world last night!

Can’t wait to bring him back!

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

I guess I’m not much of a blogger, huh?!  That last post was Thanksgiving 2012!  (Yeesh!)

For me, 2013 was a pretty good year.  My Trio became a Quartet with the addition of the wonderful Ed Brainerd on trumpet and we’re really enjoying working together up at The Loft.  I think it’s time to expand the horizon a bit and find a second venue.  Wish me luck!

I’m still working on the Christmas CD and hoping to release it by Christmas 2014.  I’ve got several songs completed but still have quite a ways to go.  Now, of course, if I win the lottery…..oh yeah, I’d have to PLAY to do that!  😉

Best wishes for a very happy and healthy 2014 to all of you!

Wow; it’s been far too long since my last post!  Time is flying and the holidays are just about here!

And with all the wonderful celebrations and music coming up, it really is the most wonderful time of the year!  I’ve got my first Christmas Concert of the season with Dan Kane & Friends this Saturday in Enfield which is always a wonderful way to start the season.  We’ve got just 2 more (marathon!) rehearsals with the big singing group before our show at Symphony Hall on 12/7.  It will be so fabulous to be back at that gorgeous theatre!  If memory serves, we haven’t been there since 2003.  Nine years – that’s too long!

So it’ll be a very special night!

And the very next night, I’m thrilled to be able to sit in with the incredible Peter Miles Band for a song or two!  I can’t wait!  For those of you who may not be aware, my very talented Trio-mates, Steve and Sean are both part of the Peter Miles Band.  I’m incredibly lucky to work with such talented musicians – and I KNOW it!!!

We’ve been having a blast up at The Loft – Steve, Sean and I.  Thanks to all of you who came out and got up on the dance floor last Saturday night.  It was a hoot!  Can’t wait to do it again on December 22nd!

I have so much to be thankful for.  Thanks most especially to all of you for your support!  See you soon!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Jen

I hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous holiday weekend!  We are so lucky to have such perfect weather!  Heavenly!

Thanks to everyone who came up to The Loft last Friday night!  It was so great to see you all.  It had really been too long and I’ve been suffering from withdrawal!!   😉

I got a major kick out of Sean’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’!  He’s got a fantastic voice and a killer range and it was fun for me to do back-up vocals for a change.  I hope to be able to persuade him to do lead vocals on at least a couple of songs a night, going forward.

We’ll be back up at The Loft on Saturday, October 6th – sans Sean, unfortunately, but we’ll have the very talented Mickey Benoit on electric drums – which will be a cool change.   And I hope my good friend Ed Mari will sit in with us for a few tunes – especially on a new swing tune that we’re working on – ‘Jump, Jive and Wail’!

Hope to see you then!

Here we are on August 27th with less than a week left until September!  So bittersweet!  Fall is gorgeous and full of its own magic but it’s always hard to say goodbye to Summer, isn’t it?!

But the hummingbirds are still here; they haven’t yet left for their winter home.  And the mums are budding and getting ready to show their gorgeous colors.  The pumpkins are already ripening down at Meadowbrook farm – right next to the late sweet corn.  So I’ll savor these last precious Summer days and try to remember to look around me and take in the beauty of this season.  Hope you enjoy it too!

I’m sitting here on this hot July evening, remembering a couple of fine musicians that we just lost.  Charlie Saloio was a wonderful trumpet player who also wrote beautiful arrangements for brass.  Charlie played lead trumpet on my Sugar & Spice CD and was always both a delight to listen to and to work with.  He also wrote some great arrangements for me, particularly for the 2000 Christmas Show at Symphony Hall – for At Last and Carol of the Bells.  It was such a privilege to have that kind of accompaniment!  I’ll miss you, Charlie.

I’m also remembering Don Senecal tonight.  Don was one of the DKS soloists whose rendition of ‘Margaritaville’  was unmistakably his own!  😉  Don was a strong, brave soul who let nothing phase him.  He had the world on a string and lived it to the absolute fullest.  He had a crazy sense of humor and sometimes drove me crazy (!) but there’s a special place in my heart for Don and watching him face his final challenge made me realize how much I loved him.  Rest in peace, my friend!

I’m so glad our paths crossed!  I know you two guys are rockin’ heaven’s Pearly Gates!  🙂

Well, Summer is here and that’s a beautiful thing!  Such a gorgeous time of year.  I’m really enjoying sitting out on the front porch in my husband’s Adirondak chair in the early morning sunshine with my cocker spaniels, coffee and my Kindle!  🙂  If we keep fairly quiet, we’re treated to a visit from the hummingbirds that favor our feeders!

I’ve even seen a baby hummingbird this year!  From my office window upstairs, I have a perfect view of the top of the weeping cherry where the hummingbirds tend to rest for a bit between trips to the feeder.  It just takes my breath away!  The adult bird was amazing enough but the baby was almost unbelievable!  A tiny bug made the mistake of flying near the baby bird and it zoomed around in fantastic flight patterns until it caught the bug!  Such wonders in Nature!

I hope you are all enjoying the Summer too!