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Meet Nora Sheehan Schaaf
We have about 30 musicians we actively follow. Concerts are a major budget line for us. We like hosting young people in jazz clubs. Most recall who they heard, the club, the night. All share a commitment to justice, fairness.
—Nora Schaaf
Nora Sheehan Schaaf, along with her husband, Homer, has been going out to hear live jazz several times a week for sixty years. And while she may have visited jazz clubs from Havana to Krakow, when it comes to live jazz there's no place like home. From the couple's early days stealing kisses on the banquettes at the Village Vanguard, to introducing young people to New York's jazz scene in the present day, Nora is a true jazz advocate.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
An only child, I was born in Washington, D.C. during WWII in 1941. My birth allowed my father to be discharged from the U.S. Army. He shared with me his love of jazz, politics, and the Boston Celtics. My mother shared her love of Broadway theater and classical music. Both my parents were avid readers and community volunteers. We lived with my maternal grandmother in the South Bronx for several years while my parents saved to buy a small house in 1948 in Dumont, N.J.
I met Homer on a chilly September 30 in 1962, on a blind date in Boston. We have been married for fifty-four years. Jazz, opera, classical music, chamber music, good restaurants and wine have been part of our lives from the beginning. In the early years we only could afford rehearsal tickets for the Boston Symphony and later the New York Philharmonic. That remains a great way to hear outstanding orchestras. We have fond memories of Sunday matinees at the Village Vanguard, when they served burgers and rum cokes, and we listened to
Gerry Mulligan
saxophone, baritone1927 - 1996
I led New York City child welfare programs and served on not-for-profit boards for thirty-five years. For the past fifteen years I have been an enthusiastic volunteer helping children learn the joys of reading in the Summer Freedom School and After School Program at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in the South Bronx. Some of the children are strong drummers, dancers, singers. All are helped to enjoy good books.
What's your earliest memory of music?
The radio was always on. WPAT for music, WOR for news and talk shows, WCBS for fifteen-minute, and later thirty-minute, midday soap operas. I forget what station had Sunday afternoon thrillers like Suspense and The Shadow. I happily started singing in the children's choir at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement in Tenafly, New Jersey, at age seven. I still like church hymns, particularly with improvisation. I like almost anything by Bach and strong organ pieces. I have heard some of the world's finest organists: Marcel Dupre, Frederick Swan, E Power Biggs, Diane Bish. New York City has a wealth of great organs. I like the beauty of jazz renditions of church music and always attend trombonist
Wycliffe Gordon
tromboneb.1967
And I can still see my mother's glowing face when she told me she had gotten my father the just-released 1950s LPs of Benny Goodman's The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. To top it off she saved up and bought him a turntable that flipped the record over so you could hear both sides. A few years later she got me a portable phonograph for my small bedroom. I went on to learn about diamond and sapphire needles, speakers, KLH radios. Headphones came later.
How old were you when you got your first record?
It was a 45 record of Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in 1955, when I was thirteen. My dad gave me Dave Brubeck's Jazz Goes to College in 1960. He also gave me a stuffed Democratic Donkey for my door. My Massachusetts college roommate of four years studied organ and still plays—and votes Republican.
What was the first concert you ever attended?
It wasn't a concert, but I saw Mary Martin in Peter Pan in 1954, when I was twelve. I was mesmerized by Peter and the children flying, Tinker Bell needing the audience to help save her, Nana the dog, the music. Our grandson Christopher saw The Lion King this year. He wasn't as bowled over. My first jazz concert was
Ahmad Jamal
piano1930 - 2023
How long have you been going out to hear live music?
Sixty years. Homer and I have easily attended more than 2,000 jazz concerts.
How often do you go out to hear live music?
Three or four nights a week, sometimes more during the academic year. We sometimes go to Carnegie Hall or to Lincoln Center for classical music or opera, and then go to a late jazz set.
What is it about live music that makes it so special for you?
The richness of the sound. Watching musicians' absorption in what they are playing. Hearing the leaders talk about the music, the composer, predecessors who made the music their own. I especially like the commentary of pianists
George Cables
pianob.1944
Bill Charlap
pianob.1966
Harold Mabern
piano1936 - 2019
Renee Rosnes
pianob.1962
Maria Schneider
composer / conductorWhat are the elements of an amazing concert?
A program which includes new compositions, and at least one and, better yet, two well-known standards. My night is made when I hear Renee Rosnes' first notes of
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Tommy Flanagan
piano1930 - 2001
Peter Washington
bassb.1964
George Mraz
bass1944 - 2021
Lewis Nash
drumsb.1958
Abdullah Ibrahim
pianob.1934
Steve Wilson
saxophoneb.1961
Leny Andrade
b.1943What is the farthest you've traveled for a jazz performance?
New York City is the jazz capital of the world. There's no need to travel. We have dozens of clubs. We also have the
Louis Armstrong
trumpet and vocals1901 - 1971
If you could go back in time and hear one of the jazz legends perform live, who would it be?
Ella Fitzgerald
vocals1917 - 1996
What makes a great jazz club?
Strong owners and managers who know what they want their club to be. They respect the musicians and insist that guests and staff respect them, too, by being quiet while they play. In the early days of Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in 2002, the thought was that it would be relaxed and some conversation would be okay. Within a year, original host
Todd Barkan
producerWhich club(s) are you most regularly to be found at?
Homer and I are often at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, the Jazz Standard, JJazz at Kitano, Birdland, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, the Village Vanguard. We have about thirty musicians we actively follow and see when they are in the City. Some weeks there are so many that we have to pick and choose. Our children are successful adults on their own, we do not own a car or second home: concerts are a major budget line for us. We like hosting young people in jazz clubs. Most recall who they heard, the club, the night. All share a commitment to justice, fairness.
Is there a club that's no longer around that you miss the most?
The Chestnut Room in the old Tavern on the Green, where stride pianist
Dorothy Donegan
piano1924 - 1998
The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band of the 1990s led by
Jon Faddis
trumpetb.1953
Wynton Marsalis
trumpetb.1961
Do you have a favorite jazz anecdote?
Summer 1981 or 1982, drummer
Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2001, second set at the Village Vanguard: an ailing Tommy Flanagan, who rarely spoke much, fervently spoke of being an American, of growing up in Detroit, of his early jazz heroes, of being able to play around the world. We knew we would recover from 9/11 because of Tommy. He died of an aneurism two months later on November 16 at a much too young seventy-one.
How do you discover new artists?
From musicians, club owners and staff, friends, jazz publications and radio programs. We thoroughly enjoyed the July and early August Mondays this year when pianist
Harold Mabern
piano1936 - 2019
Vincent Dupont
bass
Joe Strasser
drumsVinyl, CDs, MP3s?, streaming?
No to MP3. I like the return to vinyl. We have several large walls of LPs and CDs. New ones arrive weekly.
If you were a professional musician, which instrument would you play?
Clarinet. I can't hear enough of it. Gorgeous sound. My love for the instrument goes back to the 1950s
Benny Goodman
clarinet1909 - 1986
Anat Cohen
clarinetb.1975
What do you think keeps jazz alive and thriving?
Shared memories of the people who are eager to listen, slow to judge, willing to share the joys of the music, and believe in and work for freedom and justice for all.
Finish this sentence: Life without music would be...
Life without hope.
Tags
Out and About: The Super Fans
Tessa Souter and Andrea Wolper
Gerry Mulligan
Marcel Dupre
Frederick Swann
E Power Biggs
Diane Bish
Wycliffe Gordon
Ahmad Jamal
George Cables
Bill Charlap
Harold Mabern
Renee Rosnes
Maria Schneider
Dizzy Gillespie
Tommy Flanagan
Peter Washington
George Mraz
Lewis Nash
Jazz Standard
Leny Andrade
Birdland
Louis Armstrong
Ella Fitzgerald
Dizzy's Club Coca Cola
Todd Barkan
Tavern on the Green
Dorothy Donegan
Jon Faddis
wynton marsalis
Max Roach
Vincent Dupont
Joe Strasser
Benny Goodman
Gervase de Peyer
Anat Cohen
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