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Amy Lee I was born and raised in a small town - North Adams, Massachusetts. Most of North Adams' citizens weren't financially well off at that time, including my family. Ever since I was a very little girl I knew I wanted to perform artistically. However at age three I wanted to be a ballet dancer. My parents, barely making ends meet, just couldn't afford dance lessons and, well, maybe didn't take me quite seriously. When I was in the fifth grade, the public school system offered children the opportunity to select a band instrument and learn it for free, with the exception of the instrument rental, which too was at a very low cost thanks to government funding available at that time. My siblings all took advantage of the opportunity and my parents thought I too should try it. Eventually I decided on the saxophone. My mom, a homemaker, always listened to adult contemporary radio during the day. I remember hearing this beautiful instrument being played over the airwaves. It told a story, it talked, laughed and cried! The D.J. mentioned the saxophone and I immediately went to the dictionary to look it up. The word had an "x" in it, was invented by a man named Adolph J. Sax... my granddad's first name.... "x" marks the spot... this was the instrument for me! I wound up loving it, living it. I pursued a career in music, studying at the University of Miami, Florida thanks to a music scholarship, financial aid, and a lot of part time jobs I worked to help pay for tuition. At age 16, still in high school, I joined the American Federation of Musicians Union and began playing professionally. After college I moved to Atlanta, Georgia and played whenever and wherever I could - I was freelancing, in over a dozen bands and playing on the streets. Playing the streets, although not a high income producer and certainly not a steady way of making a living, was such a wonderfully visceral experience and a favorite of all my "gigs". Purely for the moment - for the people. The enjoyment I received from entertaining specific requests thrown out and seeing/feeling the response of people was more important than the few measly dollars I collected when all was said and done. However, I found out the hard way that what I was doing, i.e. "busking", was illegal in Atlanta after one day being literally yanked and pulled off the street by a policeman threatening arrest. That incident created a media stir - I even had TIME magazine calling me! Unfortunately, none of the journalists were curious about my talent and TIME in fact, was gathering material for an article on panhandlers, wanting my comments on being a panhandler who'd gotten harassed. I informed TIME's correspondent on the differences between busking and panhandling and left it at that. My career was launched in 1990 after performing with a gospel choir at the Atlanta Civic Center for Martin Luther King, Jr's. birthday celebration. That evening, the talent roster list included the Neville Brothers. I was awaiting behind wing to go do a solo spot after Coretta Scott King finished her speech when Charles Neville walked up and sat next to me. We began exchanging sax talk for a while, then he asked me what I was going to do out there. I told him that this was an impromptu addition that the producer added last minute and how he had basically just informed me, so I didn't know quite yet...but playing the streets, I figured I'd just go out, take a look around collecting the mood and play what I feel. And so I did just that, playing a Thelonius Monk tune titled "Round Midnight". When the gig was over, Charles approached me and asked if I'd like to be in a jazz band named "Diversity" that he was putting together for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival that year. I was in shock from excitement, me in the birthplace of jazz!! I gave him my phone number with zeal. New Orleans became a second home to me in '90 & '91, living there for weeks on end, gigging with Diversity, hanging with Charles and playing the streets of the French Quarter. I played with Diversity, started arranging music for the band, and performed at the Jazz Festival a total of seven years with him. My collaboration with Charles evolved into an everlasting friendship that has changed my world metaphysically and literally. In 1991 while rehearsing with Diversity for Jazz Fest, I'll never forget Charles' delivery - his leaning over, smiling and whispering, "Jimmy Buffett's in town. He's gonna play Wednesday night at Cafe Brasil. I've been telling him about you. Bring your horn. I'll introduce you." Later that evening I remember looking in the paper, thinking Charles must be wrong. The band listing for Wednesday at Cafe Brasil was some group called "Freddie and the Fishsticks." My excitement dwindled. Wednesday night came and sure enough Charles insisted I get my horn to go to Cafe Brasil. We parked nowhere near the club. There was a crowd spilling over into the streets blocks away. There were camera crews filming the frenzy. The doors were closed, the club was full beyond capacity and the doorman was blocking the entrance. But as we approached (Charles, being the famous celebrity from a family defining New Orleans) we were let in. Squirming our way through the overstuffed crowd we made our way to the side of the stage. Jimmy was playing with a small band (Mike Utley, Greg "Fingers" Taylor, Peter Mayer, Jim Mayer and Roger Guth) but eventually looked over at Charles. Charles pointed at me, Jimmy nodded and then Charles said, "get out your horn." At last, Jimmy called me up. I can't even remember the tune they started playing, because the scene was blowing me away. The club was jam packed with bodies and their heat was turning the air into a dense fog. Camera crews were up front, sweat was literally pouring off of me - it was like something I've seen in the movies but had never witnessed first hand in such intense proportions. Fingers soloed, then Peter, then Jimmy turned to me. I blew a solo for about a chorus, looked back at Jimmy giving him the visual cue "I'm through." He was thrashing at his guitar, grinning ear to ear and yelling "No! Keep going!" I remember thinking - cool. I really let it go then. Afterwards, Jimmy came up to me and casually asked if I was doing anything that summer. He said he was about to go on tour and that he'd love to have me join him. Three weeks later I was off to San Diego to begin rehearsing for the OUTPOST Tour. I had no idea how drastically my life and career were about to change. Nine tours later, I'd have to say that I'm officially a Coral Reefer. Since sitting in with Jimmy at Cafe Brasil in '91, I have toured consecutively starting with the OUTPOST tour, leading to this year's BEACH HOUSE ON THE MOON tour. That's nine tours or eight years, but who's counting when you're having fun! With OUTPOST, I was one of Jimmy's classic last minute additions before the start of a tour. Surprise, surprise! The Coral Reefer Band at that time didn't have a horn section but instead a talented keyboard player named Jay Oliver who played sampled horns for the section parts which I accompanied. That same year, we played on the TONIGHT SHOW starring Johnny Carson which absolutely thrilled me! It was Johnny's final week before retiring and I somehow always "knew" as a child, even professing that someday I'd be on his show. My gig with the Coral Reefer band evolved dramatically from that first tour. In my second year, the RECESSION RECESS tour, Jimmy decided to hire horn players instead of a keyboardist to fill the parts. He put me in charge of arranging the charts for the section that year and I've written most of the charts since. In 1993 Jimmy paired Nicky Yarling and myself to write a couple of songs for inclusion on Margaritaville Cafe's LATE NIGHT MENU ALBUM (Margaritaville Records/MCA). I wrote "Sugartown Shakedown" and the Coral Reefers opened that year, the CHAMELEON CARAVAN tour, with selections from that album including my tune. I started collaborating with Jimmy as a songwriter in 1994 and cowrote "Fruitcakes", and "Delaney Talks to Statutes" along with Mac McNally, for the FRUITCAKES (Margaritaville Records/MCA) album. Also for that album I arranged its horn parts. To my complete amazement the tune I cowrote became the title track for the album and that year's summer tour name. "Fruitcakes" entered in BILLBOARD's Top 200 charts at No.5, Jimmy's highest ranking album on a chart career (twenty years prior, LIVING AND DYING IN 3/4 TIME, a Dunhill release reached No. 176). FRUITCAKES was also Jimmy's second Top-10 album, following SON OF A SON OF A SAILOR, a No. 10 LP from 1978. Within months FRUITCAKES was certified a platinum selling album. In 1996 I again collaborated with Jimmy, cowriting "Bob Robert's Society Band" for the BANANA WIND (Margaritaville Records/MCA) album. I still freelance in the clubs and studio when I'm not away on tour with Jimmy. I've played on major albums for gospel recording artists, on rap albums as well as numerous indie album releases. Commercials (a.k.a. jingles) airing nationally on TV and radio I've done also. I've played with such artists as the Temptations, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Ben E. King, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and even alongside President Bill Clinton. I spend my days composing songs of many different musical genres, and, until now, worked towards writing and recording my first solo album, INSIDE THE OUTSIDE. With all of the wonderfully fulfilling experiences I've had as a musician, I must admit I dream, still, of being a ballet dancer. Perhaps my true calling, I wonder. This makes me often contemplate on how this whole career of mine just simply "wouldn't be" had it not been for the government funding behind music education in public schools when I was young. It saddens me to speculate upon the government cutbacks towards music education taking place today... the effects it will have on all the lost talent and unrealized dreams to children who literally can't afford to pursue their ambitions....and the detrimental outcome it will have on our world. Please, help support music education in our schools. Find out what you can do by visiting VH1's Save the Music Campaign.
Jazz saxophonist Amy Lee has released her debut solo CD
"INSIDE the OUTSIDE" (PPM '99) to start a new chapter in her musical career. One might say that Amy Lee's star was launched in 1990 after performing for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday celebration at the Atlanta Civic Center. It was on that evening she met Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers, beginning her association with the New Orleans music scene. Amy became a member of Neville's eclectic jazz ensemble Diversity, formed by Charles that year for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Her collaboration with Neville evolved into arranger for Diversity as well as performer, and her affiliation with the group lasted through 1996, performing annually for the Festival. |
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