<p><strong><em>An ESME Poetry Showcase Award submission</em><br></strong></p><p><br></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br>i.<br>No signs of my beloved<br>on the face of the earth,<br>peace in dreams<br>a promise of worth.<br>A personal reflection<br>of how it should be,<br>not aware of the beauty<br>that still awaits me.<br><br>ii.<br>Along the garden wall<br>weeds tried to take love<br>and destroy the bloom.<br>Sunlight brightened the path<br>Your smile<br>caressing my bruised soul<br>like velvety fingers of mercy.<br>your wondrous blue eyes<br>coaxed me with everlasting<br>calm . . . and serene love.<br><br>iii.<br>I pull back my warm, cozy covers<br>and tiptoe quietly toward the opaque glass portal<br>My eyes are drawn heavenward<br>For there, suspended in the resplendent atmosphere of black cashmere,<br>is a mystical full moon that casts its soft azure light<br>The night shadows seem to gambol upon moonbeams<br>Upward, just past the tree line,<br>I am hypnotized by the ethereal vision<br>and as I gaze upon its foaming lambent beauty,<br>it seems to whisper to me,<br>“Come, my love, gather your thoughts<br>your dreams, your burning desires<br>and meet me here.”<br><br>- To be continued -<br></p><hr><p><strong>Theresa Ford</strong> is a veteran, mom, wife, and lover of all life. She likes to write as if she were sitting right next to a child, an adult, or families.<br></p>
<p><strong><em>An interview with Latin Grammy Award Winner and <a href="https://esme.com/voices/perspectives/whats-a-solo-mom" target="_blank" class="wordlink">Solo Mom</a>, Claudia Brant</em></strong></p><p><strong><em></em></strong></p><p>Argentinean born Claudia Brant is an internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter, and producer, who at 46 has already worked with scores of music greats including Ricky Martin, Josh Groban, and Jennifer Lopez. She, along with cowriters Luis Fonsi and Gen Reuben, won the 2009 Latin Grammy for Song of the Year for “Aqui Estoy Yo,” and she recently won ASCAP’s 2015 Latin Music Award for Songwriter of the Year.</p><p>Proficient in all music genres, Brant got her first record deal at age 19. At 29 she moved to Los Angeles to take her career to the next level. After just three months, she had five offers. Three years later, she got married. Three years after that, she had twins, Nina and Luca, now 11 years old.</p><p>She shared about her life, career, and motherhood with ESME’s Kathleen Laccinole.</p><p><strong><em>How did you become a Solo Mom?</em></strong></p><p>Six years ago I got divorced and my ex-husband moved to Houston. So I thought, <em>What should I do? Should I go back to Argentina? </em>There was a moment I thought I could not handle it. But at the end of the day, I realized it was not going to be such a big change. I was already handling so much, and I like multitasking. </p><p>In the beginning it was hard. If I don’t have a session, then I don’t write songs, and if I don’t write songs, then I don’t get paid. But between my friends and some great babysitters I somehow figured it out. My kids are troopers. They spend a lot of time in the studio with me because they know how much I love my job. I’m happy I decided to stay.</p><p><strong><em>You’re being a good role model.</em></strong></p><p>I hope so. I try to bring them into my world as much as I am in theirs so they can see that I love what I do. I think when they pick a career they will make sure it’s something they really like.</p><p><strong><em>Has having kids full-time posed any detriment to your career?</em></strong></p><p>On the contrary, my career has been great. The only thing that affects my work is if someone wants me to go on a writing trip <em>tomorrow</em>. That won’t work. I tell everyone, “I don’t have a problem going to NY but you need to tell me a month in advance so I can plan for my kids.” </p><p><strong><em>How did you get into the music business?</em></strong></p><p>I started writing songs at a young age. I had a traditional family so my parents sent me to university (for architecture). I tried to follow the mandate for a couple of years, but I quit because it was not for me. I was already singing commercials and writing music. I always had this dream: when I get old, I want to be writing songs. And that dream came true—so that’s what I do every day.</p><p><strong><em>What are you working on now?</em></strong></p><p>Gosh, like twenty-thousand projects: stuff for Interscope, Enrique Iglesias, some Sony stuff. Then in June I’m taking the kids to Europe for a month. In the summer I need time away so I can get the energy up to write more songs. </p><p><strong><em>What are you most proud of as a Solo Mom?</em></strong></p><p>I raise my children in a particular way where they don’t watch TV, they don’t have cell phones or iPads, and we travel a lot. My best investment is on traveling with my kids. They have already been to many countries and have seen a lot of things, and since they are not stuck on a computer, I feel proud that I did a pretty decent job raising them to be interesting characters.</p><p><strong><em>Can you recommend resources for breaking into music?</em></strong></p><p>Get in touch with a writers’ society (<a href="http://www.ascap.com/" target="_blank">ASCAP</a> or <a href="http://www.bmi.com/" target="_blank">BMI</a>). They help connect people to other people. Listen to as much music as possible. It is a matter of being in the right place at the right time and working hard. It took me 17 years to get where I am. Perseverance and effort.</p><p><strong><em>Favorite Solo Mom <a href="https://esme.com/resources/c/parenting" target="_blank" class="wordlink">parenting</a> tip?</em></strong></p><p>My children and I can talk about anything and everything. It makes it easier. They know I’m doing my best, and that’s the best I can do.</p><hr><p><span style="font-size: 11px;">Photo Credit: Omar Guerra</span></p>
<p><strong><i>Charlie Parker called her the singer with a million dollar ears</i></strong></p><p><strong><i><br></i></strong></p><p><strong>Who is Sheila Jordan?</strong></p><p>Born to a teenaged mother and raised in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town, Sheila Jordan grew to become one of the world’s greatest jazz singers—and a living legend.</p><p>Growing up in abject poverty amid familial alcoholism, bouncing from home to home, and facing all forms of abandonment and abuse, Jordan still managed to love those who loved her to the best of their abilities. Her innate optimism and whimsical spirit would carry her through the toughest of times.</p><p><strong>Jordan meets her musical mentor, Charlie Parker</strong></p><p>It was her high-school music teacher who changed Jordan’s life, spying her gift of voice and encouraging her to sing in the school musical. Her newfound confidence served her well after her alcoholic mother whisked her away to Detroit, where Jordan discovered bebop; met her musical mentor, Charlie Parker; and discovered her reason for being: jazz, through which Jordan found the strength and will to survive.</p><p>In her Detroit years, while still a teenager, Jordan lived the “jazz life,” sneaking into clubs, making music, and singing for Charlie Parker whenever he was in town. But as a young white woman with black friends, living in a male-dominated 1940s world, Jordan faced prejudice, scrutiny, and hostility on all fronts. </p><p><strong>A troubled marriage and birth of a daughter</strong></p><p>In the early ’50s, she moved to New York to be closer to Parker and his music. She married his keyboard player, Duke Jordan, and found herself facing the challenges of being in a mixed-race marriage in a still-racist New York City. Her husband was an emotionally abusive heroin addict, who’d be gone for days with other women. </p><p>During that period, Jordan became pregnant with her daughter, Tracey. Duke left for good, and Jordan found emotional support from her mixed bag of friends—mostly artists and musicians—including Charlie Parker, who tragically passed away just a few months before Tracey’s birth.</p><p>On September 27, 1955, Jordan took a taxi to the hospital and had her baby.</p><p><img src="/assets/img/cms/redactor/ZCHZwf9vVIwQUm3G.jpg" alt="" style="display: block; margin: auto;"></p><p><br></p><p><strong>A happy ending</strong></p><p>She managed to take a job two nights a week at Page Three, a bar in Greenwich Village, while keeping her office day job and caring for her daughter. In spite of her ultimate success as a singer, Jordan held on to this office job for 30 years because she feared poverty. But she always aspired to sing full time. So it was a blessing in disguise when, at 58 years old, Jordan was laid off.</p><p>With her daughter grown, and facing financial insecurity, Jordan finally realized her dream of becoming a full-time jazz singer as well as a mentor and an educator. And with this new adventure she found happiness, friendship, a house in the woods, peace of mind, and music—lots of music.</p><p><img src="/assets/img/cms/redactor/E853X7huziUV0kf5.jpg" alt="" style="display: block; margin: auto;"></p><p>----------------</p><p><strong>Q: Do you realize how remarkable your story is?</strong></p><p>A: No, I don’t.</p><p><strong>Q: It’s an important story for Solo Moms because many give up on their creative dreams. You didn’t. The fact that you didn’t hit your stride until your 50s is fantastic.</strong></p><p><em> </em></p><p>A: I never gave up. I always knew I would do music until I die. Whether I was going out and singing sessions, or whatever, I wasn’t thinking in terms of money or being paid or supporting myself. What’s happened since I got laid off from my job at my advertising agency at 58—I’ve done nothing but work. It’s amazing!</p><p><strong>Q: How did you manage day to day when Tracey was a baby?</strong></p><p>A: I had different people babysit. I only had to work half a day. I made enough to pay my rent and buy food. I just got by, but it was OK.</p><p><strong>Q: During that time, you got a job singing.</strong></p><p>A: I worked at the Page Three two nights a week and that kept the need to sing going. I had a lot of emotion and a lot of feelings about a lot of things. I was involved in a lot of very sick relationships. A lot of the men I was with would live with me, and I would be supporting them, too, because <em>they</em> wouldn’t be paying my rent.</p><p><strong>Q: Were they jazz musicians?</strong></p><p>A: The only jazz musician I was involved with was Duke Jordan. But Duke was never there for us. I was legally married, but he was a junkie, and he needed to be anywhere he could get his fix.</p><p>I kept thinking he was going to get better, but he didn’t. He would babysit for me, and one day I came back and Tracey was alone. He’d gone out to get his fix. I realized this guy had been going out all the time and leaving this baby alone! Finally, he just disappeared, and that was it.</p><p><strong>Q: Are you single now?</strong></p><p>A: Oh, God, yes! I had a couple of nice boyfriends, but the problem with me was that I was so used to the sick ones that the nice ones were boring. </p><p>I found a way to do music without losing the respect and love of my daughter. When I worked a couple of nights a week, [but] by the time I paid the babysitter and cab fare home (because we’re talking three in the morning), I had nothing left of the money I made at the gig. But it didn’t matter because I was able to fulfill this musical feeling, to nourish my music. And that was payment. </p><p>What I needed in my life to survive was my daughter, a roof over my head, food to eat, a few good friends, and the music.</p><p><strong>Q: Did your status in your community shift when you became a <a href="https://esme.com/voices/perspectives/whats-a-solo-mom" target="_blank" class="wordlink">Solo Mom</a>?</strong></p><p>A: No. I was always in the jazz community, the art community, so all my friends were painters or dancers or musicians. They were all cool. I grew up in the bohemian age.</p><p><strong>Q: Were you concerned being a Solo Mom would hinder your music career?</strong></p><p>A: I never even thought about it because I was never thinking career. I did the music because I had been doing music since I was born. I [had] a very unhappy childhood, and the only way I got through life was through singing.</p><p>Singing is an extension of my body, my mind, my soul, what I eat, the way I eat, the way I sleep, the way I sing. I never thought about it as a career—never thought about it one way or another. As long as I could sing somewhere, I was cool.</p><p>So I was shocked when I recorded—and now, getting all these incredible awards. I’m shocked! Especially since I never hounded people, “Give me a record date,” “Will you be my agent?” It just happened because I love the music. </p><p><strong>Q: Has music helped you as a Solo Mom? Has being a Solo Mom helped your art?</strong></p><p>A: When I recorded my first album, I did “Dat Dere” because it was so much like my daughter. She was little at the time. Even today there are very few times that I don’t include it in the set because it’s Tracey. My music is all about life; it’s all a part of it, the good and the bad, who I am. Whatever I’m living, however I’m living—sad or happy—it’s all part of it because it’s an extension of my feelings and my life.</p><p><strong>Q: What advice would you give Solo Moms trying to break into music?</strong></p><p>A: Don’t give up. Don’t let anything keep you from doing the one thing you love besides your child—your child and your art. Keeping it in your life is very important. You can express your feelings through your art, and if that’s cut off, then there’s a certain part of your feelings that you aren’t able to let go . . . and that’s “stuff.” </p><p>If it’s music, go find sessions. They’ve got singers’ nights where you can sit in. Even if it means having a little house concert where you can sing and play—keep it alive.</p><p><strong>Q: What’s your favorite single-<a href="https://esme.com/resources/c/parenting" target="_blank" class="wordlink">parenting</a> tip?</strong></p><p>A: Give them a hug, and tell them you love them.</p><p><img src="/assets/img/cms/redactor/Z68dRuDmrt2JKXPp.jpg" alt="" style="display: block; margin: auto;"></p><p>For more information on Sheila Jordan, visit <a href="http://sheilajordanjazz.com/" target="_blank">sheilajordanjazz.com</a> and read Ellen Johnson’s biography <em>Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan</em> (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014).</p>Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SfwPb_m1Cw" target="_blank">Jordan perform</a>, and see why Charlie Parker often introduced her as “the singer with the million dollar ears.”<hr><p><span style="font-size: 12px;">Top Image: Sheila Jordan in San Francisco, 1985; by Brian McMillen</span></p>