Issue Seven- May 2020:

By Mercedes Barreto

Jan Leder is a jazz flutist, songwriter, and lyricist as well as a retired music wellness professional, having spent 25 years entertaining in healthcare facilities. Her two CDs, “Passage to Freedom” and “Nonchalant” are available on YouTube, and she also recorded with Art Lillard’s Heavenly Band, with whom she performed for many years, on his CD “Reasons to Be Thankful.”

Two of her original tunes were recorded by vocalist Diane Hubka on her CD “Haven’t We Met?” and she has written several dozen unpublished songs including jazz, pop, and r&b originals.

What does flute music mean to you, every day when you practice to perfection, if so?

“I stopped practicing a long time ago – I play!

Playing is more fun, which music should be in my opinion. And for me, jazz is more fun because it’s unpredictable, which is the very nature of play, and there’s so much potential beauty that’s never been heard before and – unless it’s being recorded – won’t be heard again. That makes it more precious to me.

As for perfection, that’s not a word I use or even contemplate. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder~ The best that can be is very personal and different for every artist. To me, it means to be completely in the moment. I just finished reading a book called “Meditation and Mindfulness” by Andy Puddicombe that discusses that very thing, and I believe that’s a great way to be. Jazz trained me to be able to let go of difficult and negative feelings, which these days are a very good skill to have!

I also don’t think in terms of “flute music” but rather music, that happens to be played sometimes on a flute. The flute has played a very tiny role in jazz history.

Because it uses very similar fingering to the saxophone it’s usually an instrument that’s on the bandstand but only used occasionally by the sax player for certain tunes or if there’s a chart that specifically calls for it. For years I played in the flute section – another rare thing in jazz – in Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band, and I did have to sometimes practice for that. Classical music has much more “flute music” than jazz.

When I studied with Lennie Tristano and asked him about doubling on the sax to get more work he said, “Do you want to be a great flute player or do you want to be a great sax player? You can’t be both.” And I had already spent years on my classical flute technique – yes, practicing!

But I listened to him and never played sax, and I’m glad I didn’t because he was right. I think I’m a better flute player because I didn’t spend time practicing the saxophone. I did learn vibrato for classical music and had to unlearn it, which was difficult, to play jazz. That took practice.”

If you could play flute music to any three people in the world, who would you play it too, and would they all enjoy the music for what it is?

“That’s an interesting question.

Again, I’m playing music, and it just happens to be on the flute. I call it jazz because it’s mostly improvised, although jazz artists play melodies without improvising and it’s still essential to make it our own, and never play a melody the same way twice. As far as choosing my audience, that’s not something I even think about. I’ve enjoyed many types of performances over the course of my career, including some very nice restaurants and some jazz clubs, although not as many as I would have liked. Jazz is still very much a man’s world and women still make up only a very small percentage of instrumentalists – I’m often expected to sing just because I’m a woman – and so club work was always a struggle for me, and I did more private work, playing private parties and many more restaurants than jazz clubs.

I did spend many years playing in healthcare facilities playing what I call “music wellness” programs and was able to provide some real relief for folks who are not very strong or healthy. Once a woman said to me, “You make me happy I live here” and that was quite a surprise because no one really wants to live in a nursing home. I played mostly solo “strolls” and duo concerts. Once I played bedside in a hospital for someone the healthcare workers couldn’t rouse and were able to do so with a song, which blew everyone’s minds. I think I played “Amazing Grace.”

Wellness work also paid much better than the clubs, and so I was able to actually make a living at it after many years, and for many years. I was so busy at one point I was averaging over 30 one-hour gigs a month and offered a consultation to other artists called “Making a Living in Music Wellness”. The work was very gratifying.”

Why did you pick flute music in the first place, or did flute music pick you, so to speak? Is it natural selection, or years and years of practice?

“My mom was the neighborhood piano teacher and I did play classical piano from a very young age. When I was going into 7th grade I was signed up for the band and we were asked which instrument we wanted to play and I had no particular instrument in mind. My mom said, “How about the flute – it’s easy to carry”! Little did I know I’d be lugging around a heavy amp on a luggage rack to get to work. But I took to it rather quickly and was happy not to be taking piano lessons anymore.

And I did practice classical flute for many years, to learn good techniques which are important especially when it comes to posture and fingering and breathing. But when I started jazz I had to unlearn vibrato which had taken a long time to learn, and a long time to unlearn! Being able to use it or not became very important in my playing.”

What kind of practice have you had with flute playing, whether it be educational, or performance experience?

“There’s that word practice again. I’ve done some teaching, mostly one-on-one, and pretty much teach the way I was taught by the great Lennie Tristano, and then after he passed by Connie Crothers. I even got college credit from SUNY Purchase for studying with Lennie. And each week at the end of each lesson, I would play with them, which is invaluable. They were both great artists, and I was truly fortunate to study and play with them both, as well as some fine New York musicians, including pianists Hiroshi Yamazaki, Jon Davis, and Katie Cosco, and guitarists Mark McCarron and Rick Stone. There is one performance I did with Connie that’s online – a rather long performance with a lot of free jazz as opposed to playing on tunes, which I think is up on my YouTube channel.”

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