Rachel Levitin Music: A Rock Star Moment

There are very few moments in my life that I've felt like a true rock star ... even if just for a little while.

Those moments include: the first time I ever played a song I wrote in front of an audience of people my own age (at age 14), when I recorded my first album of original music (at age 18), when I played a VIP reception for a D.C. film festival in which Rider Strong aka Shawn Hunter from Boy Meets World was an attendee (at age 21), when I opened for my high school friends Filligar at a D.C. rock club (at age 22), when I played on stage with Big Sam's Funky Nation live on trumpet (at age 23), when I auditioned for American Idol (at age 23), and then tonight ... at age 23.

What happened tonight? Well earlier today I was working on my review of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's concert last Thursday at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. at a Starbucks near my apartment. When I was placing my coffee order I perused the limited C.D.'s for sale at the counter and found the new compilation record of Norah Jones' top collaborations between the years of 2001 and 2010.

Now me and Norah, we go way back. I was once a skeptic of her talents. I didn't like her much. I thought "Don't Know Why" was a boring version of "Yellow" by Coldplay but with a girl singing instead of a guy. Then I wised up and listened to the Grammy's. Jones earned five Grammy Awards in 2003 including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist.

Needless to say, I bought her debut album "Come Away With Me." Upon further review I deemed it worthy of all of the Grammy's love and adoration.

Later that summer I spent eight weeks at the world-renowned Interlochen Center for the Arts studying Jazz Trumpet. Interlochen also hosted multiple touring concert series' throughout the summer with big-name acts like Hootie and the Blow Fish, Josh Groban (an Interlochen summer alumni) and fellow Interlochen summer alumni Ms. Norah Jones.

The summer of 2003 was Jones' stopped at her music alma mater -- she was also a Jazz student there -- to perform during her summer tour. Since she was an alumni, Jones offered to do a question and answer session with a select group of interested students before the evening's public ticketed event (which meant outsiders, not just students and summer faculty could attend).

I, being the big fan and music nerd I was (...by the way, I still am, but that's besides the point), drafted a thoughtful and insightful question asking what it was like as a woman songwriter and performer in a male-dominated genre of the music industry. My question was selected and I got to ask it at the Q&A.

Just hours before that Q&A, I ran into Jones after my rehearsal and her sound check. Lucky for me I had my guitar strap with me. She signed it after answering a question about being a songwriter and making music theory jokes that including talk about mixolydian mode.

Rachel Levitin and Norah Jones - 2003

Long story short -- my appreciation for Norah Jones was born in 2003 and still exists today. When I bought the "...Featuring Norah Jones" compilation album today I did the first thing I always do when I buy a physical C.D. -- open the C.D. jacket and read the song details.

I love knowing who wrote the song, when it was first performed if it's not an original, who's playing what instrument, how many vocalists are there, what sort of instrumentation is being played, and any other detail that's provided. So I read through the listing on this album (see picture below).

Rachel Levitin and Big Sammie Williams of Big Sam's Funky Nation - 2010

That's when I saw Big Sam's name on track six "Ruler Of My Heart." He was the trombone player for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band before starting his own band. He's performed with Norah Jones. I've performed with him. Therefore -- thanks to the transitive property -- I just had a mini-rock star moment.

...Not a bad way to end the weekend.

Jazz Isn't A Genre, It's A Way Of Life

I learned a valuable lesson last night -- Jazz is more than a genre of music, it's a way of life.

Growing up, I took every Jazz history course I possibly could. I would stare as if into oblivion when our grade school music class got to watch a video about the Big Band era. Heck, I even spent four months of my life during high school devoted to studying Jazz and playing Jazz every waking moment at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Traverse City, Michigan.

College was no different. The reason I decided to attend American University is still one of the easiest choices I've ever made -- Jazz Director William E. Smith told me I could play trumpet in his Jazz band. How could I turn down the offer? I couldn't. I didn't. And as they say, the rest is history.

While I don't remember the exact stories, I do know that young players often got their start as one of the big names in the genre by the older players asking the rookies to take the stage. It was never pre-announced. The kids had their horns ready hoping for a shot to cause musical commotion with the players creating a new genre of American music, but the kids also knew that showing up with your horn or axe was no guarantee for playing time.

It's like riding the bench of a major league sport. You suit up, bring all your equipment, and then keep your fingers crossed that you get tapped on the shoulder by the manager to take the field ... or in this case the stage.

It's a right of passage for a Jazz musician to take the stage after being called up, just like when Stephen Strasburg will take the mound for the Washington Nationals next Tuesday for his Major League debut. That's how it's been since the early days of Jazz over a century ago, and lucky for me it hasn't changed.

Jazzer's take care of their own. It's a family within a community based off a sub-culture of American music. I wrote an article for We Love DC last week about Buddy Bolden's (one of the text book originators of Jazz as a genre) great-grandson who is now the leader of a Jazz-Funk-Rock fusion band called Big Sam's Funky Nation.

I interviewed Sam over the phone and instantly felt a connection for two very music related reasons:

1) He's a trombone player. Which means he's a brass player. As a trumpet player, I can dig it.
2) His family might be rooted in Jazz history, but he is definitely the future if he keeps tootin' his horn like he knows how to. I'm all for that.

At the end of our phone conversation, Sam told me to bring my horn to the band's gig in Annapolis, Maryland (which was last night). Of course, I said yes right away but I knew getting there would be a slight problem considering I live in DC without a car and there's no easy way of getting to Annapolis by foot.

The fates were in on this one -- my sorority sister and her fiance drove me to Annapolis out of the kindness of their heart as I toted my trumpet along hoping and wishing to get a big break and jam with some truly talented musicians.

I didn't see it coming, but in the middle of Big Sam's set their manager tapped me on the shoulder. "He's calling you up," he told me as I watched Big Sam gesture at us.

I was shaking (in a good way). I didn't let the nerves get to me. This was it. My big call-up. Now I know how rookies in the bullpen feel before their first big league outing in front of a sell-out crowd.

Was it my finest performance to date? Not by a long shot. I hadn't warmed up, I didn't do a sound check, it was really hard to figure out what key the song was in, but I stepped up to the plate and you better believe I knocked it out of the park.

And yes, it felt amazing.

The following is a video from last night's performance:



It's nice to see that Jazz is a community. We're all looking out for each other. You better believe I'll pay it forward the next time I have a show and a rookie is waiting in the wings. It's my responsibility to do so. After all, we're just one big Jazz-loving family.