Great New Orleans jazz singer Germaine Bazzle’s formal music education began at the Xavier Junior School of Music under the tutelage of the accomplished and very demanding Sister Mary Latitia.
“She is the one, when you hear that little sound that I make, she is the one that demonstrated that to the orchestra when we were playing as she wanted something done,” Bazzle explained. “She wanted to show the trumpets or trombones, the brass people, how to do a certain thing. And when I started doing gigs I found myself doing that.”
Bazzle’s jazz education, though, started at home.
“My brother had a group of friends who were musicians, like Johnny Fernandez, Bill Fischer, you know, those guys. And those guys would come to our house to listen to music. It was the weirdest thing — five or six guys, sitting in the living room and just recording after recording is being played,” she said. “Well — boys! So, I’m sitting in the room with them, you know. I mean, that was nice. I was also interested in the music, but my mom used to come and peep to see if anything was going on, because it was so quiet. Nobody talked.”
They just listened and learned. Especially Germaine Bazzle, who plays Jazz Fest Saturday, April 27.
http://youtu.be/Co9nmTOzRpA