ENOUGH ABOUT ME.

Misty Morgan, my wife and partner,
has a photographic memory for music.
I call it a “phonographic” memory.

She can play any piece she hears once,
even if it’s just background Muzak in a store, but she does not read music.
She has never sung a single note off key.

Her first underage jobs were with pickup combos
around Tonawanda, New York.
They played standards, dance music, and a little country.
As a piano single, she played and sang mostly standards,
Broadway, and popular songs.

When I met her she was playing with a country band
at The Corral Barbecue in West Hollywood, Florida,
under the name “Mary Male”.

One night, when we had only been together a short time,
we went to a club to hear an all female jazz quintet.
Somebody asked her to sit in on piano, and she accepted.
I was embarrassed. I said, “Honey, you don’t play jazz.”
She just said, “I can do it.”
As she went on-stage, I went to the rest room.
I didn’t want to see it.

Then I heard this great jazz piano,
a mix of Oscar Petersen, Erroll Garner, and Ramsey Lewis.
I went out and looked and it was Misty.
She brought down the house.
I said, “Where the hell did you learn that?”
She just calmly said, “I told you I could do it”

She can play all kinds of music,
and she never plays anything the same twice.

She is the first female entertainer I know of
to play six stacked keyboards onstage.
Sometimes the strings, guitars, fiddles,
and many sounds on our records
are really Misty and her magic keyboards.
She can blend them with Buddy Spicher, Johnny Gimbel,
Vassar Clements, and other musicians,
so that you can’t tell. unless you were there.

Her ear for sound is a valuable tool I use when mixing sessions.
I can write the songs,
and we work out the arrangements together,
but she has the final word on the mixdowns.

When I write a new song I sing it to her first.
She never says it’s bad.
If she says, “That’s really nice” I know it isn’t.
I have go back and work on the song until she gives the right reaction.
It’s sort of an excitement in her eyes… sometimes even tears.
She’s always right. My final editor.

Everybody remarks about her unusual harmony when we sing duets.
I have no idea what she’s doing and I don’t want to know.
It just works.

On top of all this, she is the perfect straight man to my funny stuff.
She folds her arms and gives me a look that says this:
“Whenever you’re through, dummy.
We’re trying to do a serious show here.”

The audiences love her,
and so do I.

Jack Blanchard

Copyright © Jack Blanchard 2015

Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan…
Grammy & CMA Award Finalists.
Billboard Duet of the Year.
Home Page: www.jackandmisty.net
Mastering & restoration studio: ( 352 ) 530 – 2068

 

THE MUSICIAN’S LIFE.

I started playing saloon piano when I was about sixteen…
the only boogie piano guy in the area.
The room would get rockin’ and I might play one song for a half hour non-stop.
I got a lot of attention, especially from the girls.
I like attention. Isn’t that why we go into the music business?
It can’t be the financial security.

ON THE ROAD…
It was getting dark and the exit sign said Casper, Wyoming.
The Holiday Inn was full,
so we started cruising around town looking for someplace to stay.
I went into one motel and heard cowboys yipping and yelling in the lounge.
The clerk said, “I can rent you a room,
but you wouldn’t want to bring your wife in here. It’s rough on Saturday nights”
We finally found a place and then drove back to the Holiday Inn for dinner,
and had Cherries Jubilee for dessert.

My grandfather was an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
My grandmother was a telephone operator.
They met over the telephone,
which indirectly resulted in my being here.

TWO HIGH SPOTS IN MY MUSIC LIFE…
1. Roger Miller visiting our recording session.
I walked over to say I was a fan of his,
and he offered his hand and said, “Hi, I’m a fan of yours.”
2. I was talking to some songwriters on 16th Avenue, South,
and Harlan Howard said to me, “You’re my favorite songwriter.”
I bring these up every chance I get.

THE MUSIC CAREER…
There are factors at work we can’t control.
Besides change, there are chaos and luck, all wild cards.
If you are really good at what you do,
work hard, and are lucky, you’ve got a chance.
A chance has always been enough to keep me going.
A ticket in the race.

The Leesburg riots have been cancelled due to a lack of interest.

Misty is proud of her spaghetti sauce and I like it a lot.
I brought home a jar of Paul Newman’s sauce a couple of weeks ago,
but she hasn’t served it.
I think she’s jealous of Paul Newman.
I feel like I’m cheating on her… with Paul Newman.

Groucho Marx sent me an autographed picture, saying “Keep trying, Jack”.
I was a big fan of his, and had sent him a humorous little book I’d written.
Groucho was wheelchair bound and I was Alabammy bound.
I know that’s cruel but Groucho would have liked it.

Orlando is building a $155 million soccer stadium
in an area where many children are going hungry.

Misty just came from Publix.
She told me a guy said this to her:
“I saw you over there giving the bananas a dirty look.’
She said, “They started it.”

Jack Blanchard

Copyright © Jack Blanchard 2015

Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan…
Grammy & CMA Award Finalists.
Billboard Duet of the Year.
Home Page: www.jackandmisty.net
Mastering & restoration studio: ( 352 ) 530 – 2068