Tom Manuel, back row in black jacket, and the Jazz Loft Big Band performed at the Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s Sunday Summer Concerts on the Green on July 24. As the sun set over Stony Brook Harbor, the band played many jazz favorites including “Woodchopper’s Ball,” “Satin Doll,” “Jackson County Jubilee” and closed out the night with “One Mint Julep.” Corinne Schaller, a Long Island’s Got Talent finalist opened the show. Photo by Heidi Sutton
From left, Todd Evans, Terri Hall, Gary Settoducatto, Christine Kellar and Henry Diaz in concert at the Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson Photo by Heidi Sutton
Sunset concert
He-Bird, She-Bird (acoustic roots Americana) kicked off the Port Jefferson–Northern Brookhaven Arts Council’s 2016 Sunset Concert series (formerly the Picnic Supper Concert series) on July 6. The event, which took place at the Jeanne Garant Harborfront Park, drew a large, enthusiastic crowd.
The group, featuring Todd Evans, Terri Hall, Christine Kellar and “sidebirds” Gary Settoducatto on drums and bassist Henry Diaz (special guests for the evening), sang tunes from Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Buddy Miller, Adele and Hazel Dickens as well as original songs by Kellar including “Once I Called You Mine.”
Up next for the trio is an appearance at IRIE Therapeutic Riding Program annual fundraiser at Giorgio’s in Baiting Hollow on July 21, Garden of Eve’s Tomato Festival (August) and Garlic Festival (September) in Riverhead. Their debut CD will be released at the end of the summer. For more information, visit www.HeBirdSheBird.com.
Director Robert Ozman leads members of the Harbormen Chorus during a concert at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook in E. Setauket on June 27. Photo by Heidi Sutton
By Rita J. Egan
Current and former members of the Harbormen Chorus are warming up for a special luncheon scheduled on Aug. 13 at Lombardi’s on the Sound in Port Jefferson. The North Brookhaven chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, well known in the area for its four-part harmony chorus and quartet performances, is celebrating its 50th anniversary and decades of musical memories.
Chapter president Fred Conway is looking forward to the celebration commemorating decades of business in the community. “I don’t think there are a lot of organizations in Brookhaven, especially in North Brookhaven, that have achieved that,” he said.
Conway said on hand for the anniversary luncheon will be Chris Moritz and Ray Gape, the chapter’s first musical director and president, respectively, who in 1965 took out an ad looking for men who were interesting in singing. Also, on hand will be Don Van der Kolk who was a member of the Three Village Four Quartet along with Moritz, Gape and the late Bill MacDevitt.
The organization, which officially became a chapter in 1966 of what was then known as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America Inc., held its first meeting in 1965. That meeting drew a handful of potential members, and by their first performance in the fall of 1966, there were approximately two dozen men performing. In early 1967, the group had its first annual show.
Since then the Harbormen’s barbershop quartets have performed at the Good Shepherd Hospice Memorial Service, the Port Jefferson Village Dickens Festival, the annual Brookhaven Town Fair, New York Mets and Long Island Ducks baseball games, as well as offered Singing Valentine quartets to serenade local sweethearts.
The chorus, which meets every Monday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Stony Brook, is open to men of all ages, who are interested in singing a cappella versions of Doo Wop, show tunes, love songs and other old favorites, even if they can’t read music. Conway, who has been a member for 47 years, said his experience with the group is a perfect example of how one doesn’t need to read music.
He was sitting on a crate in his new first house in Rocky Point while watching Super Bowl III when his neighbor knocked on his door and asked if he had seen the announcement in a newspaper. Conway said the ad asked: “Do you like to sing in the shower or in a bar?” “So the two of us went to the chapter meeting, and I stayed there ever since,” Conway said.
He said it took him three years before he could sing in a quartet due to not being a music reader. Since then he has been in nine registered quartets, including his current group Antiquity. Conway, who sings lead, uses a tape recorder to learn. “I form the quartet around myself being a weak link. Those other three guys they all play piano and organ and guitar and they read music, understand music,” he said.
On June 27 the chorus celebrated its first graduating class of “Ready, Set, Sing,” which included 14 men from college to retirement age interested in singing. Conway said the program is a “teaching mechanism.”
“The stipulation was that you have a love of music. You didn’t have to read music or really understand the science involved in it,” Conway said.
Chorus Director Rob Ozman said they don’t turn interested singers away as long as they can carry a tune and like to sing. “It’s nice if someone has a little bit of basic ability, and you just teach them everything they need to know to be able to sing, to work in the chorus,” he said.
The chapter’s director, a music teacher at Mattituck-Cutchogue school district, Ozman started in the chorus in 1980 and in 1981 became music director. He stepped down as director in 1995 to raise his family and was replaced by Antiquity member Gary Wilson as director. He returned a year and a half ago to direct the singers once again.
With over 30 current members as well as former members on hand for the luncheon on Aug. 13, there will be plenty of stories to share. Among Ozman’s favorite memories with the Harbormen is a visit to a local hospital to sing to patients during Christmastime. “There was a young woman who was in a coma and we went into the room, and we were singing for her and she woke up in the middle of the singing. She had been out for quite a while, a number of weeks. And, I’m not saying that we brought her out of it either, we may have just happened to be there at the time, but it’s sure was kind of neat to think well maybe there was just something about it that registered in her brain and woke her up,” Ozman said.
Like Ozman, chapter secretary David Lance, a member for 10 years, has many favorite memories from his years with the chorus. One is a show the group performed in 2012, “Return of the Pirate Chorus.” The chapter secretary said the singers donned pirate costumes while singing parodies such as “Don’t Walk the Gang Plank” to the tune of “Under the Boardwalk.”
He said the Good Shepherd Hospice Memorial Services, where they perform “Irish Blessing” and “I Believe” twice a year, are also special to him. Over the last few years, the Harbormen Chorus has donated part of the proceeds, totaling over $16,000, from their annual show to the health care organization.
“The Good Shepherd Hospice Memorial is the most moving of all because when we sing for them it gives them such encouragement and comfort,” Lance said.
The singer added that anytime the audience responses to the music that “appeals to an older crowd but is not only for them” is a good memory for him. He said they have had many great responses with people singing along, especially at nursing homes. He has witnessed a patient in a wheelchair standing up to direct the chorus and one patient that was practically catatonic perking up upon hearing a song.
Ozman said one of the interesting things about singing in a barbershop quartet for him has been meeting people from all different backgrounds. He said sharing an interest in the four-part harmony genre has brought so many people together.
“You can meet up with people you don’t know, you never sang with them before, but you can sing a song together,” Ozman said.
Among its milestone anniversary activities this year, the chorus will also hold its 50th anniversary annual show at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook in Setauket on Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. For more information about the Harbormen Chorus and its 50th anniversary party at Lombardi’s on the Sound, call 631-476-6558 or visit www.harbormen.org.
By Sue Wahlert
2014 was a fabulous year for 17-year-old Setauket resident Sophie Hintze. After a culmination of artistic sufferings and successes, the Ward Melville High School senior was recently courted and signed as a singer/songwriter by BMG Chrysalis, an international company focusing on the management of music publishing and recording rights.
“Sophie is the youngest person that I have committed to. This girl has it!” said Kris Muñoz, senior director, business & legal affairs for BMG Chrysalis. Muñoz continued, “We need to have folks with drive, energy and work ethic. Sophie has all of this and more!” Through a journey that began at home in Setauket, continued at school, and branched out into the world of theater and jazz performances in New York City, Hintze has reached a place most 17-year- olds only dream of.
With the loving support of her parents, sister and others, she began her job with BMG, a company that will nurture her full potential as a songwriter and singer. Dina LaPolt, of LaPolt Law in Los Angeles, who represents Hintze and artists such as Steven Tyler, Mick Fleetwood and Deadmau5, brought Hintze to the attention of music companies after hearing her song, “Better Off Alone.” LaPolt remarked upon meeting Hintze, “She has a star quality that is not something that comes lightly. It has only happened a few times in my career,” similar to when she met Stacy Ann Ferguson, better known as Fergie.
Lise Hintze, Sophie’s mother, recollects, “Being a singer was her dream since she was a little girl.” Sophie talked about her early beginnings with music, “When I was in elementary school, I would secretly write songs in a book, which I still have. I would sing these songs to my dog, Maybelle and my family. I wouldn’t tell them it was mine, and if they reacted, I knew it was something good. To this day, I still do this. Great songs demand attention.”
With her passion for writing, she was already laying the path for her future successes. However, the beginning did not go smoothly for Hintze. In junior high, she was rejected from a school play and it was devastating, albeit a blessing in disguise. Hintze said, “I felt like a failure, but I believed I had the talent and I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me.”
So with the support of her mom and dad, she turned to theater workshops in New York City to keep her dream alive. Her first stop was Broadway Workshop, a company that develops and produces educational workshops and full-scale productions.
Her first audition with Broadway Workshop, for “Legally Blonde,” was met with immediate success. Hintze recalls, “It was insane. They asked if I was free the next day for a callback!” This encouraged Hintze and she continued with Broadway Workshop into 10th and 11th grades, playing Calliope in the musical comedy “Xanadu” and Miss Gardner in “Carrie.” With a dedicated spirit, Hintze’s mother drove her to New York City every Saturday and Sunday. “Being around the caliber of talent in New York City fueled me. Their support has been overwhelming,” said a grateful Hintze.
During her time with Broadway Workshop, Hintze cemented her desire to become a performer. She also began singing with the Matt Baker Trio at Le Cirque, Somethin’ Jazz Club and the Metropolitan Room, starting at the age of 15. Additionally, she took on the role of Rapunzel in “Into the Woods” at her high school.
Then, in the summer of 2013, she was singing at Frank Melville Memorial Park during one of its Wind Down Sundays concerts, and songwriter/producer Anthony D’Erasmo approached Hintze and asked if she would be interested in recording some of her music. It was during this time she wrote and recorded “Better Off Alone,” a song that became the catalyst for her new career.
This valuable song, which Hintze copyrighted, became the center of a dispute with a music library. The Hintzes reached out to LaPolt for guidance. LaPolt gave them advice, and as an aside, Sophie e-mailed her the recording of “Better Off Alone.” That was the spark that ignited all that was to follow. LaPolt said, “I was like, this is an amazing song!” After sending the song to a few colleagues in the business, it landed in the hands of Kris Muñoz, who said to LaPolt, “Don’t send that song to anyone else!” While LaPolt had other offers for Hintze, a choice was made and Thomas Scherer, executive vice president of writer services at BMG, flew out to the BMG offices in New York City to meet with Hintze.
Scherer echoed the thoughts of both LaPolt and Muñoz, “She has tremendous star quality!” BMG was ready to make a commitment to this young songwriter, to work with her to develop her talents. In August of 2014, Hintze found herself at the offices of BMG in Los Angeles overlooking the Hollywood Hills, where she signed her contract as both a songwriter and an artist.
“We want Sophie to develop into a normal human being,” said Muñoz, referring to Hintze finishing high school and attending college in September at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
BMG’s Muñoz said, “We want to take Sophie’s existing talent and see how she blossoms.” The process involves introducing her to writers and producers to see what kind of music she can produce for other artists. Hintze reiterated BMG’s support, saying, “They are very supportive of me, and I couldn’t ask for a better team.
They are home to some of my biggest inspirations in the industry and I feel honored to be a part of the BMG family. My goal isn’t to be famous — it is to be successful.”
2015 holds great promise for Hintze, with amazing opportunities for learning, creating, and making her mark in the music industry. Check her out at www.sophiehintze.com.
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