JAZZY LADY

from page 63

bop and jams into a new CD called
IM Back in Therapy and It's All Your
Fault (Thirteenth Note Records), with
Cliff Schmitt on electric bass.
Piket composed all 11 works on the
CD. Throughout her career, she has
penned hundreds of compositions,
including 077 tunes for trio, quartet and
quintet; accompaniment for a psalm; and
several big band pieces. She also does
arrangements for various musical groups.
The audience at the Firefly Club
will hear all of the tunes from the new
CD, as well as selections from past
CDs and old standards such as "Up,
Up and Away", "Lost in the Stars" and
"The Man That Got Away."
Composing is a natural for Piket,
whose father, Frederick Piket, wrote
liturgical music used in many syna-
gogues around the country. Born in
Austria, he fled the Nazis before
World War IL to settle in Queens,
N.Y., and become music director at a
local synagogue.
"Our family was fairly observant,
and I had a bat mitzvah and my
brothers had bar mitzvahs," Piket said.
"We've always retained a strong cultur-
al Jewish identity."
Although Piket was bit of a tomboy,
playing Little League baseball and bas-
ketball, her father taught her how to
play the piano, emphasizing the classics.
"But it wasn't too long before I dis-
covered jazz, mainly through the big
band sound," she said.
Piket has played professionally as a
sideman for Lionel Hampton, Dave
Liebman, Rufus Reid, Michael

Formanek, Mickey Roker, Harvey
Wainapel, Eliot Zigmund and the
BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra.
She has twice been a featured guest
on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz
program on National Public Radio.
She also played with McPartland in a
sold-out concert at the Eastman.
School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
Picket's acoustic trio toured Japan,
performing 12 nights at the Blue Note
Club in Fukuoka, and she has
appeared in a number of jazz festivals
around the United States. Many top
college and high school orchestras have
performed her big band arrangements.
Dedicated to helping young musi-
cians reach their full potential, Piket
gives private lessons, teaches master
classes/clinics at colleges and delivers
lectures.
"But the Wurlitzer has brought
about the biggest change in my life,"
she said. "It reminds me of why I got
into music in the first place. It brings
back some of that early feeling of dis-
covery and exploration." ri

Roberta Piket & Alternating
Current play 9 p.m. Saturday,
May 10, at the Firefly Club, 207
S. Ashley St., between Liberty
and Washington, in Ann Arbor.
Admission: $10, plus one bever-
age minimum. (734) 665-9090.
The group will perform live 8-
9:30 p.m. Sunday, May 11, on
WDET-FM Radio (101.9) Detroit.

Gloria Gerber
of Akron, Ohio,
showing her work
at this weekend's
Birmingham
Fine Art Festival,
creates handbags
using industrial
materials.

Shelby Township Art Fair
Aug 9-10
Shelby Township
Municipal Grounds
(586) 731-0300

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Aug. 9-10
Downtown Brighton
(810) 227-5086

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Sept. 1
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Sept. 12-14
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