Jean DeRosa

“And the crowd was friendly. In fact, I could get them to sing along. That’s the kind of a crowd that you wanted. So about 11:30 at night everybody would sing with you.“

Jean DeRosa

Informal Conversation with jean

I had a wonderful male piano player who played all the more sophisticated songs, and he played them. He could really follow, so that he picked up on every little movement. And he knew when you were going to hesitate– and he could really follow you very well. The other one was a woman, and she was very good, and she did very well. She wasn’t as sophisticated as he was, so she didn’t get some of the nuances that some of the more sophisticated songs did have then. Like cold quarter and stuff. But she was very good, and she could get your key, and nobody could do that. You can’t find piano players who can pick up on your key. I’m sure that people voted, even people who voted at the conservatory, I don’t know how they do as far as being an economist. It’s different than being piano player. But when you have a piano player that’s good, it’s like heaven. It really is because they know when you’re going to switch songs even. I had two piano players that really knew me. I could go from one song into another, and they were with me. And the key and everything. I never sang in the original key. So, they had to get my key and they both could. But then I sang lots of places where you didn’t know who the piano player was going to be.

Were you singing at a different place every day?

Well, I sang at one place steadily. It’s a small bar. It was called the M&G Club. It was not the most sophisticated place in the world, but it had fabulous piano players. And I knew everybody there eventually because they kept me there. I sang there for years. It was actually in Dorchester. I went there because I was singing with agents at the time. And they would send you to some of the most colorful places. I mean you wouldn’t believe where they would send you. And you didn’t know who the piano player was going to be. So, then you just kind of like got into it. And then you forget the place where the crowd was rough. So, when I went to this M&G it was safe. And the crowd was friendly. In fact, I could get them to sing along. That’s the kind of a crowd that you wanted. So about 11:30 at night everybody would sing with you. That was fun. A whole bunch of songs that everybody knew. And they would just sing along songs. I really like different songs. But at the beginning of the evening that’s what I was singing. And at the end, we’d get to the sing-along songs. Everybody was loopy. They were ready to sing.

I didn’t drink. I never drank. I don’t even like soda. I mean nobody doesn’t like soda. I don’t even like ice cream soda. I love ice cream, but I don’t like soda. And I don’t really like to drink. I don’t think about it. I’ll drink wine. That’s about the best I can do. Even though I was always surrounded by people who drank always. For all life. In my family. I don’t know why I never did. I don’t like it. I sang a lot of Billy Holiday songs. And I could do requests and everything. I knew every song written between 1965, and then many more before that. Talking about my repertoire when I was in show business. My songs. How many I knew.

Jean derosa

United States