"Fixing what might be broke and just embracing what you can't fix"

Originally published in "The North Shoreian," Volume II, Issue 3 - April 2009

Seldom have I been more excited about a musician than the music they perform. I was introduced to Claudia Jacobs through Charlie McKenna and, at that point, knew nothing of her. After our conversation I found myself raving about her to my friends, even though I hadn’t yet heard any of her music. Her personality, warmth and optimism, seems to circumvent social boundaries and personal walls to forge an immediate connection with her audience.

The Claudia Jacobs Band recently released “Makin’ Lemonade”, a 5-track EP that Claudia calls a “surprise” album. The band had intended to release an LP, but a month-and-a-half before its début at the Patchouge arts theater there was a catastrophe and all their tracks were lost. They still wanted to give their fans something, though, so they got right back in the studio and started “Makin’ Lemonade”. “The support and talent of the guys in my band have been very moving and inspiring for me,” Claudia says. Helping with “Makin’ Lemonade” as well as the full-length CD are fellow guitarist Greg Galluccio (who engineered the tracks at his studio, Sound Surfr Studios), the exiting chair of Stonybrook’s music department Dr. Dan Weymouth on keys and organ, well-known Long Island drummer Mark Portugal, and Tristan Eggener, doctoral student at SUNY Stonybrook, who plays upright & electric bass and tuba. Claudia confesses that she’s recently begun a love affair with the tuba. “I don't think even the tuba guy likes the tuba as much as I do,” she laughs.

“My music encompasses a lot of different styles,” she says, “I was raised on a lot different sounds.” Growing up, she heard David Bromberg, Frank Zappa, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Todd Rundgren emanating from her teenage brother’s room, while being raised on her father’s folk LPs and her mother’s original Broadway cast recordings. She later discovered Joni Mitchell on her own. These diverse influences are all evident at different times as Claudia moves freely among styles and genres. Her vocal quality is often described as soulful and bluesy, though I think that’s a limiting classification. Claudia's scratchy, taught alto languidly parades through each of her songs. Her vocal quality malleable, Claudia flirts with folk, rock, blues, funk, and country. Her musical identity undergoes countless mutations. Like a child's blanket that becomes a tent, a pillow, a curtained stage, so Claudia reinvents herself with changing instrumentations and styles. There’s an intuition which guides her musical choices. This is perhaps best illustrated by her decision to include the tuba on the track “Come on Sunshine” from Makin’ Lemonade. The tuba summons up the joyful, bluesy quality of New Orleans Jazz, which suites the lyrics beautifully. Claudia just says that she likes the sound.

Claudia writes, sings, and plays guitar, but doesn’t like being labeled a singer/songwriter. “It sounds so cold, cut and dry,” she says. She’s been writing since she was eleven years old, when, “something crazy happened down my street and I wrote a song about it.” Her creativity “comes like a spark,” with the first verse or line and its music coming together quickly. “Some of my best songs are often the ones that came the quickest to me. They were not necessarily overly crafted from the beginning.” Claudia’s music is often an expression of her thoughts on everyday life and living and the candor of her lyrics reveals a deep honesty in her songwriting. “I'm not a read between the lines kind of person,” she confesses. She is unwilling to categorize herself, but when pressed explains that, “my music is about communication or the lack thereof.” She describes her perspective thus: “Everyone has their issues and their dysfunctions. I wasn't raised to live in a glass house; I'm down in the mud with everyone else.” It’s this essential, human connection that permeates Claudia’s work, and it is what I find so compelling. "I wear my heart on my sleeve. Not that I'm vulnerable; I'm just honest. They used to call me honest Claude.”

After graduating from Stonybrook University, Claudia “made her way directly to Greenwich Village where she passed her days amongst the many talented Fast Folk singers and songwriters, performing at the Clearwater Town House Concert series, Central Park Band Shell, The Speakeasy, and even Folk City near the end of its days with artists such as Christine Lavin, David Massengill, Suzanne Vega, Dave Van Ronk, and Cliff Eberhardt.” She was immersed in the musician’s life through her twenties; until she settled down to raise a family on Long Island. Her thirties brought her three children and it was then that Claudia, “began a parallel career as a natural childbirth instructor and Doula helping women and couples give birth safely, and as comfortably as possible.” Three years ago, a friend asked Claudia to come out to an open mic night to sing a song. She hasn’t stopped performing since. “I can look at my hiatus from heavy music playing and say that I'm a better musician for my life experience.”

As an artist, Claudia radiates feelings of acceptance and wisdom. “[Artists] are the mirror to society. They say things that others aren’t willing to.” Her message is often more social than political and never accusatory. “My music tends to be about the hope and confidence that things change; that things grow and can get better; that things are not static.” That hope and confidence is infectious and listening to her perform is a genuine and uplifting experience. Claudia’s live performances, especially, are a very intimate experience. “[Right now] we really like playing in venues where people really listen. We're all in the second part of our lives and we're kind of treating ourselves.” She has an upcoming performance scheduled on April 18th at the Congregational Church of Huntington in Centerport. It’s part of the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s “Hard Luck Café”. More concert info can be found at her website www.claudiajacobs.com as well as information about ordering her CDs. The Claudia Jacobs Band is also currently working on their next CD, as well as a track for an upcoming tribute CD to The Kinks. It is to be distributed by Paradiddle Records in late spring of 2009.