LauRha Frankfort, the real Myagi
I really should have written this one a long time ago, but, better late than never...
Every musician that I can think of has someone somewhere in their past who just helped to inspire them. Here is the story of my person of inspiration.
LauRha Frankfort is a saxophonist, a multi instrumentalist, a visual artist, and putting it very candidly my biggest inspiration.
For those of you who see me now in performance and wonder where does he get all of that energy from, well this lady is at least 98% of how I came to be.
I met LauRha in the 80's in New York where I was struggling at best. At the time of our meeting I had been in band after band, played with person after person and was going nowhere fast. Although I knew where I wanted to go (...and I still do), I just seemed to be hitting the same brick wall.
She and I actually met at a party that someone was having and she was the the musical end of that deal.
Ms. Frankfort was absolutely the most confident person that I think I've ever met, and as I listened to her work her way through her sets, she had the entire room transfixed on her and the band. They ripped off some jazz standards and some pop stuff with equal amazement. Everyone in the room had their heads boppin' to that beat.
I hadn't gotten high, or even had a drink, but I felt so mellowed by this music that you may have thought that I was on something..
When the band took a break, one may have thought that I was a magnet as I flew to the stage and and stuck my hand out to her and said hi. I'm sure at first LauRha must have imagined that I was some lovesick old guy. Well, truth is I WAS !!! That meeting turned into LauRha becoming my saxophone teacher for a number of years.
I explained that I played, but I wanted to get better; she explained if I wanted to get better then I needed to look inside of myself and bring out my personality.
Here's the Myagi: In the Karate Kid movies, starring the late Pat Morita, he explained to Daniel (played aptly by Ralph Macchio) that his karate is not going to come from some mindless thing you learn in a book, but moreover what you learn from living in life. That's why when Daniel was trimming the Bonsai trees Mr Myagi told him to "just trust the picture." LauRha did that same exact thing to me. When I would go to her house for a lesson, she would first talk to me about the things going in the world, and then relate them to music. What I came to realize was that everything is inter-connected, and that it is all relavant to my music.
As a visual artist LauRha would paint and her work was so simple that it had depth. Even when she did line drawings there is just a weight to them that makes them stand out in the exact same way that when I heard her play for the first time, it stood out.
LauRha turned me into a force of nature, and for every compliment that I get today on my music, I have to reach back and say thank you LauRha for changing my life.
I haven't seen her in almost 20 years, but she is forever etched in my memory as the real Myagi.
If you're out toward the Arizona area be sure to check out my teacher and my friend, you'll be glad you did.
You can follow all of her endeavors on Facebook.com, Twitter.com and also on the web at http://www.laurhacreativeartist.com/.
Support Live music today tomorrow and always.
Every musician that I can think of has someone somewhere in their past who just helped to inspire them. Here is the story of my person of inspiration.
LauRha Frankfort is a saxophonist, a multi instrumentalist, a visual artist, and putting it very candidly my biggest inspiration.
For those of you who see me now in performance and wonder where does he get all of that energy from, well this lady is at least 98% of how I came to be.
I met LauRha in the 80's in New York where I was struggling at best. At the time of our meeting I had been in band after band, played with person after person and was going nowhere fast. Although I knew where I wanted to go (...and I still do), I just seemed to be hitting the same brick wall.
She and I actually met at a party that someone was having and she was the the musical end of that deal.
Ms. Frankfort was absolutely the most confident person that I think I've ever met, and as I listened to her work her way through her sets, she had the entire room transfixed on her and the band. They ripped off some jazz standards and some pop stuff with equal amazement. Everyone in the room had their heads boppin' to that beat.
I hadn't gotten high, or even had a drink, but I felt so mellowed by this music that you may have thought that I was on something..
When the band took a break, one may have thought that I was a magnet as I flew to the stage and and stuck my hand out to her and said hi. I'm sure at first LauRha must have imagined that I was some lovesick old guy. Well, truth is I WAS !!! That meeting turned into LauRha becoming my saxophone teacher for a number of years.
I explained that I played, but I wanted to get better; she explained if I wanted to get better then I needed to look inside of myself and bring out my personality.
Here's the Myagi: In the Karate Kid movies, starring the late Pat Morita, he explained to Daniel (played aptly by Ralph Macchio) that his karate is not going to come from some mindless thing you learn in a book, but moreover what you learn from living in life. That's why when Daniel was trimming the Bonsai trees Mr Myagi told him to "just trust the picture." LauRha did that same exact thing to me. When I would go to her house for a lesson, she would first talk to me about the things going in the world, and then relate them to music. What I came to realize was that everything is inter-connected, and that it is all relavant to my music.
As a visual artist LauRha would paint and her work was so simple that it had depth. Even when she did line drawings there is just a weight to them that makes them stand out in the exact same way that when I heard her play for the first time, it stood out.
LauRha turned me into a force of nature, and for every compliment that I get today on my music, I have to reach back and say thank you LauRha for changing my life.
I haven't seen her in almost 20 years, but she is forever etched in my memory as the real Myagi.
If you're out toward the Arizona area be sure to check out my teacher and my friend, you'll be glad you did.
You can follow all of her endeavors on Facebook.com, Twitter.com and also on the web at http://www.laurhacreativeartist.com/.
Support Live music today tomorrow and always.
posted by Charlie Tee at 12:44 PM
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