Robert Silverman
Deep Spirit Productions
Call or FAX: 718.432.7111
Pianist, trumpeter, composer Robert Silverman has been a fixture on the New York Jazz Scene since 1985. After playing in Europe, and with Albert King, Jimmy Heath, George Russell, Cecil McBee and the Ron Levy Bluesman band, Robert went on to form his own ensemble featuring original compositions, the blues, and standards. Mr. Silverman has been featured in New York on NBC TV, WKCR, WBAI, and WNYC Radio's Around New York. He is the recipient of two "Meet the Composer Grants", and has written music for Thomas Stacy, principal English Horn of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Silverman is on the Staff of Hebrew Home for the Aged, playing and teaching jazz to seniors and won grant for this work from Bronx Council on Arts in 2008. His 8th CD - Live in Tarrytown! - soon to be released in 2009, will join Robert's other CDs, including Golden Heart (2007) His 2005 release, light on water, features solo piano pieces. His 2002 release, Whispered Words with Belden Bullock on bass and Sipho Kunene on drums features solo piano and trio compositions. Mr. Silverman performs regularly at The Yale Club of New York City, Louis 649, The National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Boat House Cafe in Central Park, the Savoy Lounge, the Water Club, Birdland, and many other clubs and concert halls. Mr. Silverman is the former director of jazz studies and performance and music director of the Dwight School in New York City.
Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale
February 19, 2009 Nostalgia can be good for you, especially if you sing along by Kevin Deutsh Edith Fiebach was gravely ill, fading away in an intensive care unit, when the music came back to her. In her hospital bed, she hummed the ballads she adored as a teenager in Flatbush. In her imagination, she was right back on her front stoop giggling and singing with her girlfriends. “I was not expected to live,” said Ms. Fieback, 87, who went through the medical crisis a little over a year ago. “It was music — those memories — that brought me back to life.” For seniors like Ms. Fiebach at The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, music has become an integral part of their efforts to improve memory and stay sharp, busy and mentally healthy. Each Wednesday, they’re treated to a jazz for seniors class presented by professional musician and Riverdalian Robert Silverman. The class is a fusion of jazz appreciation, history, and just plain fun, with participants singing along to classic songs many have not heard since their teens or 20s. The sounds of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw flood the hall, taking the seniors back to their glory days. “Jazz makes them feel good,” said Mr. Silverman, who has seven albums to his credit and was formerly the music and jazz director at The Dwight School. “They used to dance to this music, and it brings back all those good memories.” Last Wednesday, Mr. Silverman played recordings of songs by Thelonious Monk and Billie Holliday, then performed his own renditions on piano while the class sang along. For Bella Schupak, 91, the music reminded her of how she would wait in line at Woolworth to buy song sheets — containing lyrics of popular hits — in Brooklyn when she was young. “This is what we lived for,” Ms. Schupak said. She recalled, too, how she and her friends would dance to some of those same songs at the synagogue socials of her girlhood. When Silverman showed footage of couples doing the Lindy Hop and remarked how difficult it looked, Ms. Schupak said she could hop with the best of them. “We were young once,” Ms. Schupak said. “We could really move.” Mr. Silverman, who works for the Hebrew Home and also plays with his band at clubs around New York City, likes to spread knowledge and appreciation of jazz. In a group of jazz-savvy seniors, he’s found the perfect audience. “They have enthusiasm for the music and an appreciation gained from growing up with it,” Mr. Silverman said, adding that his class has a taste for the faster, high-energy jazz they listened to in their youth. “They wanted to move, just like the kids today want to move. Sometimes, Mr. Silverman’s students even educate him. “You can’t play down to this crowd,” he said. “They grooved in their own way.”■
Robert Silverman, a self-taught jazz pianist and classically-trained trumpeter, conducts a weekly jazz course at the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, incorporating activities and singing in each course. Bella Schupa, 91, with lyric sheet in center, and Sylvia Tuchinsky, right, join in singing the 1941 Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. tune “God Bless the Child.” Photo by Karsten Moran
The Critics Corner:
"...back by popular demand..." -The Yale Club News
"...an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer..." -Merkin Concert Hall
"...quality sounds and entertainment..." -The Montauk Pioneer
"...a multi-talented performer..." -Pastor Dale Lind, Saint Peter's Church, NYC
"...does justice to John Coltrane..." -Jazz on the Boulevard
"...tickles the ivories as a virtuoso and blows the trumpet so sweet..." -Viewpoints Magazine
Dear Jazz Fans, In the next two months, Robert Silverman will have two new jazz articles he has written published in these jazz publications: In May, Silverman has written a fond remembrance of the late alto legend Jackie McLean who was his teacher and mentor in Hartford, Ct.. This will be featured in Jazz Improv Magazine. The next story written about master drummer Al Harewood will be published in the June edition of All About Jazz in NYC.