Behind the Music Part 1
My grandfather, Frank, was pursuing a career as a jazz singer in the 1930’s. He was the MC at the Sprocket Club in Brooklyn, which on the weekends was filled with the bustle of swing dancers and lindy-hoppers, including my Grandmother, Anne. MC’s were like DJ’s but they sang in front of a live band.
In between dance nights, he would make his way into Manhattan for open mics. Then he got called off to WWII, painting camouflage on fighter planes based in India. When he came home, he got a "real" job painting for the City of New York Public Schools and started a family.
As a little girl, I remember him listening to jazz on his tin-foiled-antenna radio in the backyard on their small little patch of land in Queens. “Come listen to the old-timer’s music,” he would say. And he’d sing along. That’s where I was first introduced to jazz standards.
In his later years, I sat with him once a week in his kitchen to help him write an autobiography, because he always had a story to tell about “the good old days.” It was then I learned that his biggest regret in life was not pursuing music further. People always told him he was just as good as Tony Bennet or Frank Sinatra, but he felt like he had to choose between music and family. And family won.
When he died he made me promise to keep singing and keep the old music alive.
Thanks to him, along with all the words of encouragement from people like you, in the last 3 years, I got back on stage with a 7 piece band in speakeasy-style shows, won the Philadelphia Music Award for Jazz as well as the Top 13 Indie Song for 2020 by CFAB radio, which has all encouraged me to keep going even further.
Jessica Magoch & The Upstairs Band is a glam cocktail of swing, hip-hop, blues, and rap.
If you can imagine a mix of Bourbon Street Jazz and Philly Hip Hop - you're on the right track. It's music you can swing to, party to, laugh to, cry to, and not take yourself too seriously to!
It’s a juxtapostiion of dark lyrics with upbeat tempos, a splash of sarcasm, and double entendres so the more you listen, the more interpretations you’ll uncover.
To be continued…