Richmond's finer musicians and
he is a pleasure to hear play
live. Cy holds a masters
degree in music and operates a
successful business called
Affordable Audio.
Cy's passion for music has been
driving him since he was a kid
and when you hear him sing, he
takes Jazz, blues, and
Rock to a whole new level.
Was anyone in your family gifted Musically?
down and make good sounds on a piano and could sing really well.
He is also the guy who made me sit and listen to the older stuff that
I am now playing. My parents were older than all my friends
parents, my father was born in 1915, and although he did not fight
he was a world war ii vet. My parents were from that era, they
listened to Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Frank Sinatra, Bing
Crosby, Tony Bennet, that was their thing, they listened to big band
music. My Dad listened to allot of great singers and it really
influenced me.
I played trumpet in band as a kid, started playing guitar in high school and
pretty much self taught. Decided top go to college and study music. I
got involved int he choir program. By the time I was in my senior year, I
was a student conductor for the varsity choir. After I got out of
college with a music degree, I gigged on the Tuxedo circuit, which was
weddings, bat mitzvahs, etc. I really wanted to take all of this stuff
that I learned from school and put it into good use. I was good friends
with the director of the Mount Prospect park district and I told him that
the park district needed a choir and he said "lets get one started". With
that was born the Mount Prospect choir. Thats how i got my choir chops
going.
After a couple of years I got
sick of playing songs like
Celebration, Shout and Proud
Mary every night, and found
myself saying "I have to go work
tonight", like a bad job (laughs).
That was an awakening moment
for me and I decided to go back
to school to get my teaching
certificate. While I was in
school I worked at a
renaissance show lounge called
the Kings Manor. During this
time my mom died and it really
made me take a look at the
direction my life was going
You have been a solo artist and you've been in bands, which do you prefer?
How did you go from being a solo act to being in a band?
I have follow my own philosophy which I came up with right out of high
school, if you want to find a band get a gig. Get a paying gig. Then all of
the sudden you'll get musicians who want to play. I took the philosophy
a step further and started booking my butt off as solo artist and
eventually it might be able to turn into a band and at least i would have
an established group of places I could play. The band started because
some of the places would only hire bands working on the weekend. As an
established solo artist it made it easier to find members.
Who were some of your musical influences?
Everybody likes to list famous people when it comes to musical
influences, the people I am going to mention aren't famous but are
people I've met who have
influenced me Musically. Rich Rice, Dean Baker, Jay Leonpios, who are
friends from high school who helped me get started with guitar.
Lee Burswold for causing me to major in music. Robert Kingsbury and
Jerry Swanson were my choir mentors, both were a major musical
influence not only conducting in choir but with music in general. They
have influenced me not only in the mechanics of conducting and singing,
but also how to rehearse effectively.
Rick Breeden for having the patience to work with me on jazz guitar.
Other guitar influences would be Jimmy Hendrix , Jerry Garcia, Duayne
Allman, Django, Dickie Betts, Santana, Charlie Christian.
What sets your music apart from
other musicians?
The mix of music that we (The
Chicago Cy Band) cover, we play
a wide variety of music spanning
the whole twentieth century.
How would you describe genre
of music you play, is it Jazz,
blues..?
I would describe it as Blues, Jazz, and Rock and Roll. I use rock and roll
because I think to allot of people, rock and roll is like 50's early 60's
pre-hippie. We do newer stuff but I think thats the era that we are best
suited for. Rockabilly to me, is rock and roll. Elvis and Chuck Berry
is rock and roll. Once we get into the mid to late 60's, it starts to
become classic rock to some people. Another thing that I think sets the
band apart is songs I call "uncovers"
if you look on my website at the song list you will see songs listed as
covers and uncovers. The uncovers are songs that I perceive that people
forgot that they liked or songs that just won't get played in a bar in
their original form. For instance the song Let It Be, great song by the
Beatles, its not a tune your going to play in Sine' in its original form, it is
also the same chords as No Woman No Cry, so thats what we do, we play
reggae Let it Be.
You have collaborated with other artists composing songs, whats that
creative process like for you?
My songs are lyric driven, for me the creative process starts with a
lyrical idea or a "hook" , from that point the song flows out. Most of
the songs that are co written, I have written the music and someone else
has written the lyrics. PCNRTYM I co-wrote with Tamara Seraph ,
Jonesin For You was co written with Shann Palmer, dragged through the
ditch of love was written with Mike Barango. For this reason I am
always looking for lyricists to collaborate with If I come across
someone who is a good poet, I always ask if they have ever thought about
doing lyrics.
Just about all of the other original songs, I wrote both the lyrics and
music on. Once I get to the point where the song is playable, then I have
to play it a bunch of times and things will just naturally start to change
and work their way in. At that point its ready to be performed in front of
an audience.
Whats in store for your fans in the near future?
In the near future one goal of mine
is to get a finished Cd of original
material. I want to get in front of a
choir again and would like to lead a
vocal ensemble possibly at the
college level.
Basically I want to keep growing
musically and keep performing and
entertaining people.
