Andy Ezrin and Linda Eder

"Andy is an anomaly. He is an incredibly talented artist and comedian who somehow still manages to always be in a good mood. Aren't they supposed to be tortured souls with tormented pasts? Life on the road would not be nearly as much fun without him and his playing is magical. Now his dancing..."

Andy Ezrin is no stranger to Linda's musical family. He first met Linda back in the JEKYLL & HYDE days and played with her band frequently. Recently, Andy has "returned home" and re-joined the band as the permanent Keyboardist, Assistant Musical Director, and resident dancer! It's great to have you back, Andy!

THE VOICE caught-up with Andy this Summer…

VOICE: Were you born into a musical family?

ANDY: We always had piano music in the house. My dad studied piano when he was young, but he really played by ear and did it as a hobby. He would play more of a cocktail style. He'd always come home from shows and play anything he had heard. My brother played a little piano, and when I was ten years old, I was always fighting with him to get on the piano. One day my father asked me if I wanted to take some lessons, and so I took lessons from the same teacher my brother did. And… I just kept going.

VOICE: Did your brother keep up with the piano also?

ANDY: No… I think I hogged all the piano time! He's an interior designer in New York City. Recently he showed me that he had an interest in taking piano lessons again… he actually remembered quite a lot of what he had learned. I found him a piano teacher, and now he's taking lessons and playing and enjoying it. I'm happy because I always felt like I pushed him out of the way when we were growing up.

VOICE: You started playing professionally when you were 12 years old. Do you remember your first gig?

ANDY: When I was in sixth grade, I accompanied the chorus on a song from GREASE. That wasn't a paying job though. My elementary school music teacher recently gave me a cassette of that concert. My first paying job was in New Hampshire. We used to go skiing there, and we stayed in an Alpine style inn. I'd ski, and when I got cold, I would sneak my way into the restaurant, sit at the piano, and improvise. One of the managers saw me and said, "Hey, kid! Come back tonight!" So I did… and I just kept going back. I don't think I got paid for the first night. I probably got stiffed on that one! I had a book of 60s songs and I also was pretty good at sight-reading, so I'd play and people would say "what a cute little kid" and give me tips! One night I came home at about 11 p.m. and told my parents that some people asked me to play for a private Christmas party. They would pay me $100, but I would have to go back that night. My parents have always been really supportive, and they were very excited. So they gave me some coffee and pushed me out the door, and I went into this Christmas party. Here was this Jewish kid, and they asked if I knew any Christmas songs. I didn't know any Christmas songs, so I made up some things and they were very nice to me. Here I was working on Christmas, and I had never worked on Christmas before. Because I'm Jewish, I don't celebrate Christmas. Now I know all the Christmas songs because I've worked every Christmas since I started playing professionally as a kid. I was supposed to play for the season that year (about eight or nine weekends), and I think I made about $60. I played at all my parents' parties also.

VOICE: How did your interest in jazz begin?

ANDY: Through my dad… learning all those songs he played at home. Also, my mom grew up with Fred Taylor, a very famous jazz promoter in the Boston area. He used to run the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, and he owned some very influential jazz clubs back in the 60s. He used to give me records, and I would also listen to what was on the radio. When I started really playing, jazz was what was happening around me. When I had my Bar Mitzvah at age 13, Fred Taylor came over with a big stack of records. He had all the great jazz pianists… Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett. My dad mixed in his own records… Benny Goodman, Ernie Shaw, Oscar Peterson, Art Taylor. So I was surrounded by jazz and I was into jazz fusion.

VOICE: You mentioned your Bar Mitzvah. Is that where your now-famous "Bar Mitzvah Dance" began? Did you actually dance like that at your Bar Mitzvah?

ANDY: You know… I probably did. I grew up in a suburban, reformed, Jewish neighborhood in Newton, Massachusetts. My social life revolved around happenings in the neighborhood, and on the weekends everybody had their Bar Mitzvahs. I must have gone to 50 or 60 of them in one year. It was crazy! I remember that "deer caught in headlights" look that everybody had when they were dancing. Those were the only movements we had… it was always about the feet. It was that awkward slow dance, and you were dancing for the first time with a girl. Then you would realize it was a really cute girl, and you were just looking straight ahead. I remember a lot of the boys had that same little move, and a lot of them did it really badly. Hopefully I am continuing the tradition when I do my "Bar Mitzvah Dance" on stage!

VOICE: Who saw you do this dance for the first time?

ANDY: It started from just goofing around at sound check. Then, once we were on the road doing Christmas shows, and Linda's cellist, Stephanie Cummins (who also happens to be Clint's wife), was with us. We were at a Starbucks along the highway. I told Stephanie that we had to do this dance, and somehow we ended up doing the dance in the middle of Starbucks at a truck stop. Dan Levine had a camera on his phone and he taped it. I'm not sure how it was worked into the show, but we've been doing it on and off for a while. I think Linda is really settling into a groove where she's really enjoying the shows and having fun with them, and I think that reflects itself in the fun we all are having. Linda is such a lovely person, and the thing about her is what you see is what you get. It's great! I probably would not have done the "Bar Mitzvah Dance" a few years ago, but I'm happy to do it now. I'm happy that we're all having a great time!

VOICE: It does show that you are all having a blast! We love the "Bar Mitzvah Dance!" And what a long way you've come since those days! Would you tell us who influenced your interest in classical chamber music at such an early age?

ANDY: I had a female teacher at Boston University who got me into classical music, and I started studying the classics at age 13 or 14.

VOICE: Was it unusual to be able to study at Boston University at such a young age?

ANDY: It was unusual. Somehow I got an interview/audition with a Hungarian pianist by the name of Bela Nagy. I'm not sure how this happened. I was really into jazz at this time. His wife, protege, and assistant, Linda Jiorle, was there during the audition and offered to take me on as a student. So I took the "T" into Boston during high school for my lessons. That's when my interest in the classics began. The beautiful thing about Linda Jiorle was that she would include me in her University Master Classes. She'd squeeze me in for my lesson on Wednesdays, and then at night I would play my pieces in front of all the college students. It was a great experience. Every now and then, my ear for music would get me in trouble with Linda Jiorle. At home, I would always ask my dad to show me how he played certain things, so I was learning by ear as well as by studying music. I remember being at my lesson and I'd be playing a Bach piece. She would tell me that a certain note I played sounded nice, but that it was not the note that Bach wrote. So sometimes my ear for music would get me in trouble. I would be learning how to read the music, but I would play my own thing instead of what was written.

VOICE: How did you come to attend the Tanglewood Music Institute?

ANDY: When I was about 14 years old, I went to the Tanglewood Music Institute in the Berkshires. It was part of the Boston University piano program, and Linda Jiorle was involved. I never really dealt with competition. I was always the kid in junior high who played the Snoopy theme, and I was always fun at parties. After a week, I called my parents up crying. There were these little 6 year-old Russian girls playing Rokmananov, and this really freaked me out! So I went through some soul-searching. I was putting all this pressure on myself at Tanglewood and was wondering then if this was really what I wanted to do. From age 10 to 14, music was total passion, but it was a conscious decision I made at age 14 to pursue music as a career.

VOICE: Can you tell us a little about your college years?

ANDY: For the first two years, I attended Oberlin College, which is a classical conservatory in Ohio. It's a really good conservatory and also a fine liberal art college. I'm sure I would not have gotten into the school if it had not been for the conservatory. I auditioned for it in New York and I made it. There were a few guys at the school I met when we lived in New York City, and I still know them to this day… Ted Baker, who does THE LION KING and plays with Steely Dan, and Allen Farnham. They were wonderful. They were a year ahead of me at Oberlin, but the three of us were the only ones in the conservatory who improvised. The jazz program has since grown, but back in 1983 it was kind of a sideline part of the conservatory. There were some history courses and a few ensembles, but that was it. The guys who were really into jazz were mostly the liberal arts students. One of the teachers I had during this time was Sanford Margolis, a great classical pianist, who was really into jazz also. Sometimes during our lessons we would play a little jazz, and that was nice. Oberlin was a very interesting place where you'd find some really unique people.

VOICE: Did you enter any competitions while at Oberlin?

ANDY: I was always very bad at competitions and shied away from them. There was one competition when there were just three of us… Ted, Allen, and myself. It was a nice little competition where we played in front of the judges and had to improvise… it could be anything. At this time, I started writing my own music. The strange thing about competition with improvisation is it can be very subjective. These guys were playing beautifully then, so it was nice to be in the mix with them.

VOICE: You participated in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition. Please tell us about that experience.

ANDY: The Great American Jazz Competition was in Jacksonville, Florida. I entered it while I was at Miami University. I was on the five-year plan… I did two years at Oberlin and then transferred to Miami and finished up in the jazz program. My teacher told me about this competition. I was up against some professional guys, and it was an honor just being a finalist. It was broadcast on a local television station and was part of the Jacksonville Jazz Fest, which I later got to play as a working adult. It was probably totally terrifying and exciting at the same time, and I probably played way too many notes. It was a good experience, and there were some really great pianists in the competition. It was good for me because it got me out there.

VOICE: What were some of the highlights of your tour with the vocal jazz group, New York Voices?

ANDY: I met the New York Voices in 1989. The group was founded by Darmon Meader in 1987. There were five members at the time… three women and two men. One of them dropped out a year after I joined the group. They are a vocal jazz group similar to The Manhattan Transfer. I have been with them on and off since 1987, and they have become like a second family to me. When my wife and I got married, they moved one of their gigs with the Pops Orchestra so they could come to the wedding. That gig is where I really cut my teeth with regard to performing and traveling. Our first gig was in Switzerland and then Israel. I've been to Japan with them over 20 times. They go all over the world now, and they go as guests with other orchestras. I recently did a gig with them in Racine, Wisconsin. They're great people and they have such a beautiful sound. It's tough to keep something like that going, but the four of them stuck it out.

VOICE: What is it like being a studio session keyboardist in New York?

ANDY: Well, unfortunately I'd have to say I probably missed the golden age of that with the advent of all the technology. A lot of that stuff is dried up because it's all pre-programmed, and it can be done as slow as you want. Because I'm not very good with computers, I've been fortunate to do a lot of work through Dave Finck and the other guys. They are the cream of the crop, and they've actually been very generous in throwing me a lot of calls for things. Just being around New York the past seven or eight years, I've gotten a few calls here and there. A lot of it is just about communicating, calling back, being on time, and making sure you're always ready to go. The guys who think it's all about the musicians and they can show up when they want never last because there's so much more of a dynamic. When you're dealing with clients and advertisers, the clock is ticking. So you just have to make sure that you try to get it right the first time. You get better by doing it and by getting into a situation where it's just thrown at you. We did something recently that was the most difficult reading, but we all got through it. Working with guys like Dave Finck and the other band members is great because they do it all the time. It's like tennis… if you want to get better at it, you play with better tennis players. For me, it's like that. It brings your game up when you play with these guys.

VOICE: We find it wonderful that Linda has surrounded herself with such an incredibly talented group of musicians.

ANDY: Linda has always insisted that "these are my guys" and she's always said, "I want these guys as much as possible." And that's really nice. She's kept the level high. In the past, I used to think that if something's really good, it's going to be harder for you. But it's just the opposite. When something's at a certain level, you can sort of relax. At least that's the way it is for me now. When something is really great, I can just concentrate on my thing… how I'm doing… how I'm performing. And that's great!

VOICE: How did you get involved in the world of cartoons?

ANDY: The husband of Lauren Kinhan, one of the members of New York Voices, does some legal work for film directors and producers and one of his clients was looking for some music. I wrote some library music for a friend… music for background things that goes into a library. You get paid when it gets played. So I teamed up with this friend of mine, Jody Gray. He's a fellow Pisces and the only guy I can sit in a room with for days and days and crank out the music without the two of us killing each other! So we met this wacky director, John Dllworth, and he has become a good friend. He's an illustrator and such a funny guy. We did about six little one-minute shorts for "Sesame Street" that were just all music and I also did a pilot. Later Cartoon Network gave him his own series, so we did 104 episodes, which is a lot of music. Whenever we could, we'd get some "live" players in, but we did it mostly with computers because unfortunately it wasn't in the budget to have the players. We did it mostly late at night, and we'd do some crazy stuff. We'd do anything! We had a lot of technology and a lot of samples, and then we'd have cans that we banged on… whatever was around! Because John was such a creative soul, he embraced that and we taught him. He used to think of music as just sound effects, and he never used to have music in his work. So that was an interesting job.

VOICE: Please tell us about playing and conducting HOT FEET on Broadway.

ANDY: I started subbing in some Broadway shows, namely HAIRSPRAY and MOVIN' OUT, and I got a call to do my own chair in HOT FEET, which is a musical based on the music of Earth, Wind and Fire. My brother and I had all their records and I grew up listening to their music, so that was a great experience. By default, I became the associate conductor, which was another piano chair. The role of associate conductor, in terms of waving and cues, is a little less intense than this gig with Linda and the band. I had the keyboard chair, which was similar to strings… a real groovy chair. Once I learned my part, I had to learn this other chair. I actually conducted about five times. The show closed a few months ago, but it was a great band and a really great experience!

VOICE: Can you tell us about your solo CDs?

ANDY: I have a couple of CDs that I made. One is called SILENT MOVIES and another CD is called ROSEBUD. It really never took off, but then I did a trio CD with David Finck and this wonderful jazz drummer, Louis Nash. I did another trio CD in Japan for a Japanese label a couple of years later. I'd like to do another CD in year or two.

VOICE: Do you have an idea of what direction you'd like to go in for the next CD?

ANDY: I will probably stick with the piano trio format because I feel pretty close to that. Some of it will be kind of 60s, you know, funky jazz, but played with a trio. I always try to do some arrangements with space in them so that people can interact and then go back to the song. I don't like to over-arrange things. I'm writing a couple of new things, and hopefully I'll get in there soon.

VOICE: How did you meet Linda?

ANDY: Peter Calo, a friend of mine, recommended me for this gig with Linda. He played the guitar in the band and Dave Mann was there also, but it was before there was a full horn section. It was a gig for Ted Turner up in the World Trade Center. Billy Stein, who was associated with the band for years and was playing keyboards at the time, was locked into JEKYLL & HYDE. He couldn't do it, so they called me and I played for some time. After that, I was on the road for a while with the 80s pop singer, Joe Jackson. Billy took over the keyboards then for a few years, but he got involved with more writing and gave up the chair. I started playing for Linda again, and Billy often subs for me when I have another commitment. It's a close family. He's a great guy and a great musician.

VOICE: What was your reaction the first time you heard Linda sing?

ANDY: More than anything, it was the power of her instrument, and the beauty of it is that it's so natural to her… so effortless for her, as it should be. I remember working on some music at her house when I had to conduct for the first time. I remember sitting at the piano going through some songs, and that voice was so clear. It is so beautiful, and it's such a signature sound. It just flows. It's not something that's ever calculated. Some people strive to get there, and some people like Linda just have it. She's the most "non-diva" person, and I think that's part of her charm. She's always very generous in acknowledging the band, and that makes it nice. You always feel a sense of belonging. She is so humble and thinks, "Who would've thought that I'd be here!" Like I said before… what you see is what you get. Linda's the same on stage as she is off, and that's nice. I think that's refreshing for people.

VOICE: What have you found most challenging about being Linda's associate musical director?

ANDY: Really for me, it's about the physical waving and really being as accurate as possible. John Oddo is such a master at it, and I don't think I could do it without his help. He's such an amazing guy and amazing musician, and he's been so patient with me. It's been great for me to soak in what he has even though everybody finds their own way in conducting, but he's always very helpful and it's great to be able to learn from him. I think a lot of it is about coordination. Sometimes I'll be playing the chart and I'll mark certain parts of the music where I have to tell the guys in the band what's happening next and how it's happening. The point man is really Clint, but the saving grace is that everybody really knows what to do. Honestly, I'd be hard pressed to go to another state and pick up a group and conduct. John Oddo does it all the time because he's had that experience. There are certain musical directors I try to emulate. I worked with one of John Oddo's friends and studied his style and picked his brain during this time. I also recently worked with a great musician by the name of Jeff Klitz in HOT FEET, and I learned a lot from him. Some musical directors have studied conducting, but I haven't. It's sort of "trial by fire." At a certain point, you have to just go for it… like the "Bar Mitzvah Dance." If I thought about it, I'd be in real trouble!

VOICE: On the other hand, what do you find most rewarding?

ANDY: The band is great, and it feels good to drive the bus once in a while. I'm a pianist first, so it's fun to play the piano with these guys. I remember in particular a concert at Symphony Hall. I'm from the Boston area and I used to go there as a kid, so it was amazing to be on that stage and to conduct the band there. It was about the fourth time I had sat in John's chair, and it started to feel pretty good. My folks were there and everything went off without a hitch. To be there and to be conducting felt like a pretty adult move!

VOICE: Do you have a favorite Linda song?

ANDY: "When I Look In Your Eyes" is my personal favorite. It's a beautiful song. I love John's arrangement, and Linda sings it beautifully. I also like Linda and Michael's version of "Two For The Road" even though we don't play on it. She's been digging into the Great American Songbook, and she and Michael have really found some gems.

VOICE: What do you enjoy most about traveling on the road with Linda and the band?

ANDY: It's really fun! There's a certain camaraderie just hanging out with the band and Linda, and it feels really comfortable. Even if you haven't done a gig for a while, you come in and the jokes are still going. It's like a family.

VOICE: What kind of music would we find in your CD player?

ANDY: You'd find everything! I tend to like old soul music and old R&B. I love Brazilian music and, of course, jazz… I really love jazz. I try to get everything, but I also tend to find things. My brother was nice enough to give me his old car, and in it was a CD that is a compilation of African pop music, so I've been listening to that. It doesn't seem to matter which type of music I'm listening to because it's more the elements of the music that strike me. I try to listen to the way something is arranged to see if it has a different twist on it. For me, it can be any type of music.

VOICE: If you weren't a musician, is there another career you could picture for yourself?

ANDY: If I weren't a musician, I'd really be in trouble! I never had another job with the exception of working in a music store, and I wasn't very good at it! I started playing professionally when I was 12 years old. Because I like so many different styles of music, I jumped around a lot and I'm always looking around to see what I want to do next… but it's always been music for me. If I had to pick another career, I'd probably be doing something in theatre or something with little children. My wife's a schoolteacher, and I really love kids. I really don't want to think about not being a musician though.

VOICE: It's been so much fun chatting with you and seeing how much fun you're having with your career. Thank you!

ANDY: It was my pleasure.

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