Marilynn Seits: News & Events

Marilynn has two new students who come weekly to her home studio to study voice and music ---

Nine year old Osamede has a wonderful voice and loves singing Broadway songs and sings in her Church choir with her parents...

Fourteen year old Jovon has a lovely voice and a lot of musical talent...she is prepping for her auditions to get into one of NYC's special schools for the arts including La Guardia HS...

Marilynn has been teaching Music Together for MT Center Director Jean Young for a year now...This Fall Marilynn has five classes in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Rye, New Rochelle and Mt Vernon. The Mt Vernon class is in an independent living facility called Meadowview and the senior residents participate in this inter-generational class with the children and their families. We have a lot of fun in all of the classes...For more information on Music Along the Sound, go to the links page and click on the link for Jean Young.

Marilynn has been teaching voice and piano at the Riverdale "Y" for the past year now and her students include:

Chana R., a 7 year old piano student;
Bridget Q., a 7 year vocalist with an eye on Broadway;
Emily N., a 14 year old vocalist who hopes to go to La Guardia HS to study music;
Kyra L., a 5 year old singer who loves music, singing & dancing...

Jazz, Braodway & Beyond gave a performance at The Wartburg (Meadowview Independent Living Center) in Mt Vernon on September 18, 2009 --- featured were Marilynn on piano and Geisha Otero, Jean Young and Tom Krawczyk, vocals. The program features songs from favorite composers Duke Ellington, Cold Porter & George Gershwin and ended with a group sing a-long with the whole audience. Everyone had a great time!

Sean came to NY for a visit and we drove down to Newport RI for the 55th Newport Jazz Festival produced by George Wein -- it was a gorgeous sunny day and there were 3 stages of continuous, non-stop wonderful jazz!
The first band we heard on the main stage was the fabulous Esperanza Spalding playing bass, singing and directing her own band which she wrote all the charts for -- what an incredible voice she has and is also a great bass player.
Then Joshua Redman played with a double trio (2 basses, 2 drummers and Joshua) --- The double trio sound was nice and it was really interesting to hear the way the 2 basses & 2 drummers accompanied each other & fed off each other during solos and on the tune itself. Then Brandford Marsalis came out and after the 1st boring song we decided to check out the side stages -- thank god as we found Hiromi, the fabulous Japanese pianist about to start her set with her band, SonicBloom -- She brought down the house with her incredible chops, amazing fusion music and incredible ability to go back & forth between the grand piano & 2 synths without missing a tiny beat -- and then playing right hand solos with her LEFT hand on the grand while playing chords with her RIGHT hand on the synth! She was really amazing and had a great band backing her up -- Hiromi and Esperanza were the highlights of the entire festival for me -- What a great day of incredible jazz!

On Aug 7, we had our first jazz vocal showcase at Meadowview @ The Wartburg in Mt Vernon, NY. The participating vocalists were Geisha Otero of Manhattan; Nancy Parish, also of Manhattan; Jean Young of Larchmont and Rhea Linda of Riverdale. Each vocalists sang 3 or 4 songs as solos accompanied by Marilynn Seits on piano and Sean McAusland on bass. Then the hour and a half set ended with a group jam on "Summertime" and a sing a-long with the audience. Everyone had a good time and we've been invited back for another showcase on Sept. 18. Call Marilynn if you're interested in singing in a showcase...

Summer time is a great time for hearing music --- most towns and cities all over the country have summer concert programs in the parks, in town squares and other outdoor venues. Check your local newspaper for listings...
I will be continuing to teach private lessons, give jazz workshops and perform at several places in the NYC area. Watch my calendar for details...

Marilynn played piano at Decade's Bar and restaurant in downtown Asheville, NC with bassist Sean McAusland and guitarist/leader Dan Keller. Four sets of jazz, views of the fireworks & getting paid for it: what more could you ask for? It was a lot of fun to be playing great jazz in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains...

All Music Guide Editorial review: Threads of Violet Light

Marilynn Seits was quite possibly the most underrated new age composer out there at the time of this release. Her work was some of the finest and most original that the genre had seen in a while, but for some reason her work was often neglected. Marilynn Seits' Threads of Violet Light is just as good as her work that came before it, but it's most reminiscent of Meditations Along the Silk Road, which was not only an excellent recording, it was possibly one of the best recordings that the new age genre yielded. From the perspective of the writer, there's really only one complaint, and it goes across the board, particularly with new age -- and that's that sometimes less is more; the use of a sound group known as General MIDI often plays a large role in new age music, and particularly in Marilynn Seits work. Over the years General MIDI has begun to sound more and more real, but when it's placed in the beauty of her melodies and the beautiful timbre of the piano, which may be General MIDI as well, the novelty of the synthetic sounds somehow cheapens the overall compositional integrity. It's easy to get around, especially to the lay listener, but that's one thing that has made this reviewer's ears perk up. With Threads of Violet Light, Marilynn Seits has created an excellently contemplative recording, one that sounds good and that can endure. Great work!

~ Matt Borghi, All Music Guide

Karmic Tribute: All Music Guide:
Editorial review

Sadly, it is easy for musicians to become pigeonholed. If an artist becomes known for one style of music, some marketing people will do everything they can to discourage him/her from trying anything else. But thankfully, Marilynn Seits doesn't feel the need to shackle herself to one genre 100% of the time. The pianist has done some interesting things in the new age field, but that doesn't prevent her from successfully embracing straight-ahead acoustic jazz on Karmic Tribute. The CD's title might give some people the impression that this is an album of modal or avant-garde jazz with strong Middle Eastern or Indian leanings -- something you would expect from Pharoah Sanders or Yusef Lateef. But in fact, Karmic Tribute is a collection of very inside piano jazz along the lines of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Marian McPartland. Playing unaccompanied solo piano, Seits pays tribute to a variety of fellow pianists, who range from Evans on "Time Remembered," Jarrett on "Coral," and Chick Corea on "Tones for Joan's Bones," to Charles Mingus on "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress," Carla Bley on "Ups and Downs," and Billy Strayhorn on "Lush Life." Not everything on Karmic Tribute was written by a pianist; "Falling Grace" and "Arise Her Eyes," for example, are by bassist Steve Swallow -- someone Bley has worked with extensively. But the compositions of pianists are the main focus of this CD, illustrating Seits' ability to step outside of new age and provide introspective, pensive jazz.
~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Marilynn is teaching an intergenerational Music Together class at Meadowview at The Wartburg in Mt Vernon, NY every Saturday morning. The class of 5 families with small children meets at the Independent Living Center at Meadowview and the senior residents also participate in the class --- there is a lot of interaction between the 3 generations during these classes and everyone has a great time!

Marilynn will be playing the piano for the Pre-School Learning Center Graduation in Eastchester, NY in June. There are 2 groups of 4 years olds moving up to Kindergarten and 2 groups of Kindergarten children going on to first grade.

We have a new addition to the Vibrations Jazz Ensemble: little Declan McAusland was born on Feb 28, 2009...proud Dad, Andy McAusland is the guitarist/vocalist in the band and Declan will probably be holding a guitar as soon as he is able! He's already singing in his crib! And proud Grandmother Marilynn will be introducing him to the music of Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea as soon as possible! We need to shape these musical tastes early!

In April, Marilynn began teaching piano and voice at the Rhoda Grundman School of Music at the Riverdale "Y"... her first student Jenna Solomon is a young vocalist with a big, beautiful voice who is singing in the current "Y" production of "Once Upon This Island".

Bill Meredith of the Palm Beach Post picked RAINED OUT by Marilynn Seits and The Vibrations Jazz Ensemble as the #1 Jazz CD in South Florida for 2008 --

Best jazz CD
"Marilynn Seits Vibrations Jazz Ensemble, Rained Out (CMR). Before she moved to New York City, Wellington pianist Seits (mseitsmusic.com) recorded this ECM Records-influenced set with sons Sean McAusland (bass, now living in North Carolina) and Andy McAusland (guitar, still living locally). The pianist shows touch and humor on her own originals (RMN, Popcorn), plus those by son Andy (Boss Bull, Here Come the Germans). Drummers Rod Parker and Sy Pryweller pace an otherwise highly musical family affair."

Jazz vocalist Katie Kasban, accompanied by Marilynn Seits on piano and Sean McAuland on bass had a wonderful performance at Steak & Wine in Downtown Asheville, NC on New Year's Eve. She has a Billie Holliday quality to her voice and sang a number of songs made famous by Billie as well as a lot of other old jazz standards.

Starting in January, 2009, Marilynn will be teaching Music Together© classes for Jean Young's Music Along the Sound Center. The classes will be held in New Rochelle, Mt Vernon, Mamaroneck & Pelham. For times and details, visit the web site at www.musicalongsound.com or call Jean Young at 914 630 4570 or Marilynn at 347 427 6880.

Sadly, I had to put my beautiful Golden Retriever, Phoenix, down over Thanksgiving weekend. She had advanced cancer and there was nothing more the vet or I could do to make her comfortable. She was an integral part of the studios in New York and W Palm Beach and everyone who came through the doors loved her. She is missed by all.

I spent 3 days in Princeton, NJ at the Music Together headquarters taking their teacher training program. It was a lot of fun, extremely interesting and I learned a lot about how children learn and how to teach them music in a fun and happy way. I am now actively looking for work teaching at a Music Together Center in the NY Metro area.

There will be a jazz vocal workshop in my studio in Riverdale, NY on Sunday from 3 to 6 PM -- everyone brings their music, song list and sings 2 songs to begin with -- feedback from the group is optional but can be very informative -- share & trade ideas w/other voclsts & bring your friend or significant other -- Bring a dish for pot luck, put $10 in the "tip jar" & it will be a lot of fun...

Sixteen year old Leah wants to be a Broadway performer and is studying music and voice with Marilynn. Leah has already sung in school productions of Little Shop of Horrors and West Side Story and is starting to learn some the music from Rent...

Welcome to Geisha, a jazz vocalist who is working on building her song list and arranging songs to put on a demo.

New Age pianist Ken Elkinson of Venice, CA just released a new CD titled "Borrowed tracks". He recorded most of the tracks on this solo piano CD in the CMR studio in Florida, a few more in Marilynn's studio in New York City and one in California. The CD is available from CD Baby.com. Congratulations Ken!

Jazz vocalist Benny Rodriguez starting working with Marilynn in May adding to his repetroire, finding the right keys for his songs and working out vocal arrangements for them.

Guitarist Andy McAusland's South Florida band Black Finger just released a new EP along with a video titled Black Finger Forever. It is available on their MySpace page and through CD Baby.