FEATURES
1. Russia, the KGB and Jazz by Mike Freeman
Nikolay Levinovsky, a jazz pianist and composer, came to New York from Russia seven years ago.
A few years after he arrived in the U.S., he met his vocalist wife, Kathleen Jenkins, when an agency they were both working for recommended Mr. Levinovsky as an accompanist for Ms. Jenkins. They started working together, and out of the working relationship romance began. On Tuesday, September 2nd, Mr. Levinovsky will assemble his seventeen piece big band (mostly made up of American musicians, along with some Russian musicians now living in the U.S.), with Ms. Jenkins-Levinovsky as the featured vocalist, for a CD Release Party at the new Birdland Jazz Club on West 44th St. in Manhattan to showcase his original concert jazz compositions on his latest CD entitled "Listen Up!
Though he did not know English when he arrived, Mr. Levinovsky now speaks with a cheerful intensity and a heavy accent. His English is a little broken at times but he is easily understood. Mr. Levinovsky grew up in a large Russian town called Saratov, in the southeast part of Russia. His parents were professional opera singers, and he was trained as a classical pianist. He describes the city in which he grew up as a highly concentrated art and cultural center for that part of Russia, with a conservatory, university, opera theater, dramatic theater, and philharmonic orchestra. It was "a very intensive cultural life."
Like all Russian children of musical families, explains Mr. Levinovsky, he was accepted into music school when he was six years old and started studying piano, spending seven years there, undergoing a "very tough schedule". He explains, "If they put you in musical school, there is no option: you've got to study. At the same time I was in regular elementary school - two different schools. (A) very strong education.
From there, he went to college for four years, which he describes as a middle ground before going on to the conservatory. He went on to earn a Master of Arts degree from Saratov State Conservatory.
In mid-fifties Russia, jazz according to Mr. Levinovsky , was a "...forbidden music, discouraged music. Nobody forbade it officially by law, but the common attitude towards jazz was very negative. Because it was American art."
Describing how his interest in jazz began he says: "I used to spend my leisure time ice skating.... There was a lot of music being played by local radio stations to entertain the customers...I started hearing some very unusual things....It sounded different from what I heard in opera theater, (or at) my music lessons....It sounded very strange and very exciting and mysterious, like magic....It was like a magnet: I couldn't avoid it. I didn't realize it, but I'd already fallen in love with jazz."
Later, in college, he began talking with fellow musicians and collecting the few jazz recordings that were available. Then one day his father bought a shortwave radio, which Mr. Levinovsky says was not common in Russia at the time. They started tuning in when suddenly he heard music that caught his attention, followed by an announcer saying, "This is Willis Conover of the Voice of America, and that was the Benny Goodman Orchestra." He remembered the dial setting and started tuning in every night to listen, and later record, the jazz broadcasts.
Mr. Levinovsky began to play, as well as arrange and compose jazz. While he was never thrown in prison and never broke any laws, he was discouraged by being labeled by the KGB as bad, and was shunned. At the same time, he says, he was the best student at the college and at the conservatory. Times have changed. The college, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, now mentions his name among the best and most well-known graduates who attended.
Mr. Levinovsky tells of the contradictions of Soviet life. The principal of the college, who did not hide his disdain for the jazz musicians, once called him into the office and asked "Can you put together your guys for tonight?" Fearing a trap, Mr Levinovsky didn't know how to answer. He was requested with his band to play an evening of dance music and was given an address. They arrived at a banquet hall full of nicely dressed people and tables heaped with food. On the back wall was a banner that read, "Welcome, KGB Workers." Laughing, he recalls, "They could forbid jazz (and) at the same time invite you to play for them."
By the time he became a professional, he says, the attitude towards jazz had changed. Jazz became separated from the West. It was accepted as an art form to the point that jazz festivals/competitions were held. Mr. Levinovsky used these competitions to hone his skills, winning many awards in the process. The competitions gave him a name. In the late sixties he was invited to join a jazz orchestra in Moscow, where he spent the next twenty years performing, conducting, arranging, and composing.
Ten years after coming to Moscow, he put together his own band, called Allegro. Mr. Levinovsky says, "This band quickly became famous in Russia. It was the end of the seventies, beginning of the eighties. This band was recorded tremendously in Russia (Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs reissued one of his recordings in the U.S. about five years ago), put on TV and Radio broadcasts. We got a lot of traveling aroung the world, we got huge press - everything."
Says Kathleen of his move to America, "Nick had to start from zero because he really has no name here." Since his arrival, Mr. Levinovsky has been working his way into the New York jazz scene, performing at clubs, restaurants and hotels, and as a musical director for theater. Outside New York, he has performed in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Miami and Puerto Rico. In 1992, he performed in Russia with Ms. Jenkins and other American musicians, and last year Allegro performed a concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, as part of the JVC Jazz Festival.
Ms. Jenkins-Levinovsky is from St. Paul, Minnesota, and started out singing country rock and top-40 music in "bars and dives". She fled that music by joining the U.S. Airforce Band, where she was introduced to jazz. She sang with a thirty-five-piece concert band doing Broadway show tunes and with an eighteen-piece jazz ensemble traveling up and down the East Coast and in Europe. After being discharged from the Airforce, in 1985 she came to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, which she credits for the bulk of her musical theater background and training.
Since then she's worked with nostalgia dance bands, including the Llyn Oliver Orchestra. For the last two-and-a-half years she's concentrated on musical theater. In addition to playing numberous musical theater roles, she was artistic director and producer for a cabaret comedy group called Cast Of Characters. She also founded and owned a theater for a year.
"I guess my forte is combining Broadway and jazz" she says. "I think I'm a show singer with a jazz feel. Although I am learning more about how to improvise and scat, the lyrics are more important to me than making sounds. Which is why I think I went in the musical theater direction.:
Her voice will be featured with Mr. Levinovsky's big band, which has been together for two years. Right now he says, it's "just for art, maybe later for profit." You can pick up The Nick Levinovsky Big Band (featuring Kathy Jenkins) CD "Listen Up!" at any of the New York City music stores such as HMV, Tower, Barnes and Nobles, Virgin and Colony Records.
2. Bringing Back the Big Band Sound by Jill Marks
Big Band. Soft lights. A taffeta dress brushes by you as you sip champagne, waiting for your date to return from the powder room. The tuxedoed orchestra leader dips his baton with smooth assurance, smiling at the crowd. He doesn't have to watch his musicians; they know where they're going.
Your date's back, ready to dance, and you can't resist a turn around the floor. From a new arrangement of "For Heaven's Sake" to the often-requested "In The Mood," these sounds were made more swinging.
Then the spotlight hits center stage, where a beauty in a shimmering gown sings straight for the heart with "Can You Read My Mind?", Love Theme from the movie "Superman," and a swing version of the standard "Birth of the Blues".
The vocalist is Kathleen Jenkins, backed by the music of the Kinslow/Fitzko Big Band. Jenkins, is a vocalist with hundreds of concerts behind her. But she hasn't always performed in such sophisticated surroundings, nor with the kind of lush hairstyle and glamorous gown she'll sport at the show.
In fact, she first became known on the East Coast as "Senior Airman Jenkins," singing with the United States Air Force Tactical Air Command Band. Later, as "Sergeant Kathleen Jenkins," she traveled with the USAF's Band of the East from Plattsburgh to Pennsylvania to Portugal.
Jenkins, born to a musical family in St. Paul, MN, says the four-year military hitch gave her the means to travel, gain singing/performing experience and study voice - all at the Air Force's expense.
It wasn't exactly the lush life, however. Traveling from stateside to the Azores and Portugal in a military transport plane meant sitting for 11 hours in a cotton-webbed sling, not a seat, and using a bucket, not a bathroom.
"One rainy night near Sayer, Pennsylvania, the band's bus skidded and almost went off a cliff," she recalls. "We had to climb out through the windows to escape."
Still the experience was worth it. "When we played at high schools, kids would dance in the aisles and on stage. And in foreign countries, they loved us. Our evening concerts entertained an older audience with Broadway melodies, marches and patriotic hymns."
When her tour of duty was completed, Jenkins spent some time in Germany, then made the move to Manhattan where she attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy studying a full time program of voice, dance, speech, drama and Musical Theater performance. "Spring Fever", a "Dazzling Contemporary New York/Las Vegas Style Big Band Show," marked Kathy's New York debut at The Cat Club on March 21st. Today, with a big voice and energetic personality, she's bent on bringing big band music back to the heights of popularity it enjoyed in days gone by.
Jenkins made her television debut on the Joe Franklin Show, a nationally-syndicated interview program which is seen locally on WOR-TV, channel 9. Television, of course, isn't the only avenue big band enthusiasts plan to pursue. The success of Linda Ronstadt's "What's New" album has not been lost on record executives; and Jenkins thinks the time is ripe for a big band album which doesn't rely exclusively on old standards.
The combination of live, recorded and televised big band performances is designed to bring adult music listeners something they've hungered for in an era dominated by rock 'n roll.
"I've created a unique, quality blend of standards, blues and Broadway in a style that's classy, yet modern," Jenkins asserts. "Knowing my own vocal sound, I believe I have a style that will please an audience that's been neglected."
And for adult music lovers, that could create brand new memories of big band music.
3. Love Theme from Superman, Can You Read My Mind? - Music Video go back to Productions
4. Center For The Media Arts - New York, NY (photos by Joy Iv'ry) go back to Productions
5. SINGER PART OF BIG BAND'S MAGIC by Helen McLeod, Family Life Editor
Sgt. Kathleen Jenkins stepped up to the microphone and introduced the U.S. Air Force Band of the East, directed by Captain H. Bruce Gilkes.
Her voice carried well over the band and the crowd which overflowed the Plattsburgh High School Auditorium for a special concert last week. Little did the crowd know, at that time, the treat that awaited them in the next 90 minutes or so.
From the singing of the National Anthem to the "wild blue yonder" of the Air Force theme, the concert was - well - great! No, start with great and go up from there.
There's something magical about the sounds of a band - whether the music is a Sousa march or the jazz of Glenn Miller. The U.S. Air Force Band of the East, from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, played marches, jazz, rock, classical and more. Several selections were presented by The Ambassadors, a 17-piece jazz band which is a component of the larger concert band.
The second half of the program was a special salute, marking the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. This part of the program, complete with narration, traced the history of flight from the Wright Brothers through the present. The band presented the same tribute the following night at a "Dining In", held at the Plattsburgh Air Force Base Officer's Club.
The tribute was made extra special by the vocal talents of four people - Ssgt. Normia Carter, Sgt. James Brown, Tech Sergeant Vaughn Tanksley and Sgt. Kathleen Jenkins.
After the performance, we talked to Jenkins about what it's like to sing with a big band, and what this time in the Air Force means to her.
Jenkins comes from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. She joined the Air Force almost four years ago to get away from Minnesota, travel and see how other people lived. Prior to enlisting, she sang in the Twin Cities area, mostly doing Top 40 and Country Rock, in addition to doing clerical work.
She joined the Air Force in the transportation pool, where she stayed for exactly four months. After auditioning for the Air Force "Tops in Blue" show - she made it as far as the finals - she was asked to sing with the band at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, where she was stationed at the time.
Jenkins has the kind of a strong voice with a wide range that just soars over the big band. She sang with the band at Langley for a year and a half, then was transferred to McGuire, where she's been for almost two and a half years.
She describes her type of voice as kind of a bluesy big band/Broadway show cross. In a tribute to New York, she was the soloist for two rousing numbers - "N.Y.C." from "Annie" and "New York, New York", from the show of the same name. After the concert, at least one person compared her range to that of Ethel Merman in her prime.
Her voice, indeed, has the power of a Merman or a Lisa Minelli. She says some of that is just natural and that she's wanted to be a singer ever since the age of four. Since she's been at McGuire, she's been studying voice with an opera singer at Temple University, in Philadelphia, about a 40-minute drive from the home base. She's also taken classes in modeling, videotaping, and other fields which she sees as being related to singing and performing.
"I want to get a little bit of all of it under my belt, and to experience everything that comes my way," she said. Some of the experiences have included more than 500 performances a year in schools, concert halls, theaters and military clubs.
Perhaps more than anything else, the Air Force and the work she's done has given Jenkins a feel for where her niche is the music world. She has done Top 40/Country, has played guitar and sung folk music, but none of that appeals of fits her talents like the Broadway/Jazz repertoire.
She still feels there's so much to learn in the field. But because the vocalists do not rehearse all the time with the band, she's gotten a pretty good handle on one aspect of the entertainment business. Besides singing, she's been in charge of public relations for the Band of the East - assembling and distributing press information kits, seeing that tickets and programs are printed properly, and coordinating all of the behind-the-scenes publicity for the band. She's also worked with the Northeast Express, a small rock band which tours separately from the Band of the East and the Ambassadors though also based at McGuire.
"I would like to be in movies, or be a Las Vegas entertainer," she said when asked her dream. I'd like to be as big as a Streisand or a Sinatra. I feel as though I have the talent to go that far. It's a matter of the right breaks and a lot of money behind promotion," she said.
"Entertaining is giving. When I sing a song like 'Believe In Yourself', I really believe in what I'm singing. I actually live those songs. And singing is just sharing your love and your wisdom."
Those who've heard Kathy Jenkins might well take note. With the right breaks, it won't be the last you'll hear of her. With luck, you can someday say "I remember her when she sang with the Air Force Band in Plattsburgh."
6. Kathy Jenkins Presents A
Cast of Characters
COMEDY CABARET TROUPE - AVALON THEATRE - New York, New York
Kathy Jenkins- Founder, Artistic Director
7. Role - Beggar
Woman
Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd - Brooklyn, New York
Directed by Michael Richardone
8. About The "G.I. SWEETHEARTS"
Kathy Jenkins, big-band vocalist created the unique style of the "G.I. Sweethearts". Although fashioned after the Andrews Sisters of the 40's era, the "Sweethearts" have their own contemporary sound. What sets them apart from other female groups is the emphasis on show. Each of the "sweethearts" are entertainers with backgrounds in concert, club, cabaret and stage performance venues. Contemporary vocal arrangements include 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy', 'Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen', 'Rum and Coca Cola', etc.
The GI Sweethearts are available as an opening act, performing a 15 minute warm-up, or as a featured act, performing a 45 minute show. The show itself is cabaret-like in style with characters, dialogue, choreography and song.
PARTIAL PERFORMANCE LIST:
-50 Year WWII Anniversary Reunion - Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ
-Purple Heart Association Gala - T.W. Marriot, Washington D.C.
-100 Year Anniversary of Fort Hancock - Sandy Hook, NJ
-Gateway National Recreation Area Music and Air Fair- Historic Floyd Bennet Field,
NY