I believe there is something everyone can do, their own unique gift. It is the place we can go where we never grow old. I am very grateful to music. Music reminds me that deep down life is timeless and all about passion. My dream is to create music that can be a friend to others the way music has been a friend to me.
faith, life, music, passion, people, quiet people, people who quietly do the opposite of what everyone else is doing, romance, humility, pizza, dogs, pat metheny group, books, I LOVE BOOKS
Thankyou Grant Thomas, John Hanlon, Tony King, Russell Finch, John Morrison and the musicians on this page for your talent, patience and generosity. Also Bill Risby (who plays piano on Middleman, Waiting, Spring and Stunned) finally has a myspace page and I hope you'll check it out, Bill's music is very beautiful, www.myspace.com/billrisby
ALSO to anyone out there who voted or supported The Dream at IAC song comp in 2009.. THANKYOU xox
13/11/09 Friday afternoon I love, but right when it is turning into evening, the traffic is a bit excited and everyone is heading into the city. There is all this anticipation everywhere, the young girls with the bronzer already limping in the new shoes but at the same time it's colliding worlds because all the exhausted tradesmen, plumbers are heading home and I think they are picturing themselves in front of the TV with a beer, everyone's world is changing over, everyone is happy.
12/11/09 Sometimes it feels like the whole day has been a waste, but that is not true. You are ARRIVING AT THE SOLUTION. Sometimes it is going all the different routes that don't work at all, then the one on the other day where everything falls together , which you call a GOOD day, when actually it is just the final missing piece of what you called the BAD day. The picture is always always greater than what we can see, and I know this right now because it's nearly 3pm and I was on the verge of labelling this a BAD day when something stopped me to write this.
10/11/09 no matter how much I practice, prepare, cover every single base, there are still no guarantees, how do you guarantee the magic will be there when the moment comes? Even being TAPPED into the magic is no guarantee! All these things increase the chances but that is all. Yet if art and music were suddenly certain the magic would be gone. The magic I think is made up of pure raw passion mixed with vulnerability and uncertainty itself.
9/11/09 I am fascinated by the industrial terraces which are those unloved houses which are squeezed between the factories. I want to see in one! The paint is covered in soot from the road and there are bars over the windows, sometimes over the whole front like a bird cage. The garden is only weeds and yet something must go on inside because there is the aluminium window slid open with a dirty curtain blowing. What is so interesting about these houses is nobody loves them and surely there is no love in them but there are always people in them.
6/11/09 maybe chai latte is finding it's feet because they are all still making it differently and this place is using leaves instead of syrup and the result is very trendy hot milky water. I was feeling weird about something, realised I'd put my foot in my mouth; it is so tempting to go home just to reword it, but this time NO. When friends say strange things I am so in tune with who they are, their default, I barely notice. I have to be able to trust that the essence of who we are will carry us sometimes.
1/11/09 all the birds are having their babies at the moment and there was a kookaburra in the park today, fearless, and a baby I think, very fluffy. I was able to get right up close and have to admit I understand why these birds are treated like celebrities. He looked like a teddybear with a beak. The swan has also made a huge nest and she sits on it all the time. I am praying the babies live because it is only the two swans left now, like an old couple. The birds don't seem to mind the noisy horn. And looking at them while I play makes me happy and keeps the music in the right place.
30/10/09 it is the way the light hits between those two buildings, one is the head office of a construction site, one of the forgotten buildings, my favourite kind. It is a forgotten street too, not industrial but very clean, only no-one goes down it, instead they are all here on this one, the street to be. But it is that street I am fascinated with.
THE DREAM and ON PATROL FOR THE JAZZ POLICE (also on iTunes)
Five BIG Stars!! Australia's talented jazz singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Elizabeth Geyer creates a wonderful combination of vocal and instrumental music on her latest CD "On Patrol with the Jazz Police". Her music is fascinating and intriguing based on her soaring emotional singing, her impressionistic lyrics and the extra dimension of her blazing jazz trumpet and flugelhorn work. AMAZON.COM TOP 500 REVIEW
'Stunning. just amazing stuff. I've never heard anything quite like it.'
DON BURROWS
'Elizabeth Geyer sounds like Elizabeth Geyer. There is no greater
compliment. She's got her own sound and it's beautiful.'
JAMES VALENTINE ABC
'There are two sides to Elizabeth Geyer, who writes, sings and plays trumpet, flugelhorn and piano. She is an aspiring adult pop artist with jazz inflections and a jazz artist with pop leanings ... both work here thanks to a lovely voice and some fine playing by her and a band of excellent jazz musicians'
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
'
While much of Geyer's thought provoking poetry is open for personal interpretation, these compositions and arrangements, especially the energetic pieces include qualities of climactic drama and surprise. I didn't want the crescendo of 'A Candle Is Sweeter Than Fire' to end..
ABC LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
FOR MORE REVIEWS OR TO PURCHASE CLICK ON ALBUM COVERS
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NSW: BIRDLAND 02) 9267 6881
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my song of spring knows it's joyful first embrace
and it's fragrant afternoons as the chill of winter's hold gives way
My song of spring knows the kiss of it's sunlight on your face
one flash and I am back to those sweet November days
How I smile for all the times when all we did was laugh and dance for days
one spring
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I love music and beautiful things.. new ideas, revelations, grief, when you lose someone and realise what they meant to you is beautiful. Loners, humour, dogs, vulnerability, humility are beautiful. But romance best of all , not just the Valentine's day kind, but as in ANYthing is possible, melancholy, memories, and strangeness - industrial suburbs on the weekends, tired suburban bowling clubs, forgotten people and places. This is what I live for and love to write songs about.
It is never too late to follow our dreams. When I was eleven, my school offered free trumpet lessons to anyone who would play in the school band. All we had to do to qualify was blow a big raspberry into a mouthpiece and pray for a sound. I was head over heels in love with music by then but hadn't connected music with the trumpet. The instrument was cold and the mouthpiece was strange and stinky. But I blew the biggest raspberry I could and out came a cow sound, a cow in pain, and a few hours later I was riding home with a trumpet on the back of my bike.
If throughout my life music and I have been like soulmates, trumpet and I soldiered on like a miserable married couple. All through school and university I practised and practised, driven by an insane need to please and a stubborn fascination with the sheer difficulty of the instrument. I'm grateful now, but don't know why I didn't just do something I loved.
Instead I went on to study it. Three years into a classical trumpet degree I went to a jazz workshop, run by a cranky fantastic old man, Hal Hall. He introduced us to improvisation and Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan and changed my life. Trumpet was suddenly fun for the first time. Then my teacher tracked down a beautiful flugelhorn which I still play to this day. Finally I had found a way to the trumpet - it was called FLUGELHORN.. . .
..only most gigs wanted trumpet, not flugelhorn. So I kept working at trumpet until I was freelancing for a living. Then my reluctant trumpet and I were travelling and playing all sorts of wonderful gigs with many talented people. Outwardly it was going well but inside I was a mess of nerves every single time I pulled the horn out of it's case. All I had ever wanted to do in life was create music but not by giving myself to an instrument I wasn't passionate about.
After many years depression began to take over and the fallout was beyond my imagination, professionally and personally. Everything unravelled including my trumpet gigs. But in it all was an enormous blessing. There was finally an opportunity to make everything right. In my case it meant taking a leap of faith to create the music I had dreamed about since first playing piano when I was little. And having to live more bravely and honestly than ever before.
I now know that nothing in life is ever a waste of time. Everything is a blessing taking us where we deeply want to go. Late bloomers I have seen can make for the most beautiful flowers sometimes. Trumpet is part of who I am. I have such a soft spot and respect for the trumpetplayers out there.
I love to write songs about the amazing things I see..
some beautiful,
some heartbreaking,
some bizarre,
all hiding in the everyday
Elizabeth Geyer began playing piano at age 4 and trumpet at 12, touring Europe with the school choir. Following a B Mus performance degree (trumpet) at Adelaide University she performed in piano bars and as a freelance trumpetplayer in jazz festivals in Australia, Monterey Jazz Festival (USA ) backing artists on occasion including James Morrison, Gene Pitney, Barbara Morrison (US), Harry Secombe, in the Don Burrows Quintet and Swing City for the 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Inspired by singing teacher Kerrie Biddell, in 2000 Elizabeth recorded an album of jazz standards which led to national and ABC radio airplay and joined John Morrison's Swing City, firstly as trumpet soloist and then feature vocalist. 'The Dream' , a collaboration album with award winning songwriter/multi instrumentalist Tony King led to a top 5 placing in the Australian Songwriting Competition with 'You Carry Me Home', a national tour and unearthed her passion for songwriting. In 2007 Elizabeth travelled the US/ Europe performing at venues including Galli's Bar, Karma Cafe in Los Angeles, Cafe Tirebouchon in Paris and in New York at Yippie Museum, Googie's Lounge over The Livingroom, Cafe Vivaldi and legendary songwriter venue The Bitter End. In October 2009 song The Dream won Best Song category in IAC International song competition. Elizabeth's third album is called 'On Patrol With The Jazz Police'.
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THANKYOU FOR VISITING AND LISTENING..
A HUGE THANKYOU IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED MY MUSIC.. you make my dream possible. I love to visit your space! send a request and I'll get back as soon as I can, Elizabeth
In Year 7 softball, the captains were picking the teams from our class and there were only two of us left, neither team wanted us, they took forever to decide. It felt so bad inside that any kind of exclusion /club thing has made me feel weird ever since . We are all human, kind people can be selfish sometimes and selfish people I have seen do very kind things.
I haven't worked out Top Friends but am so grateful for all the angels (many musical) hiding as humans around the planet and my constantly inspiring friends and family, thankyou x
My dear Liz, thank you for your nice comment. Glad you like that clip by Friedbert Wissmann. And it means a lot to me that a musician as you are likes what I do.
I heard "My Kind Of Angel" a couple of times and was very moved by this again. People like you are my kind of angel.
hey elizabeth! thanks! it's a normal Bb-trumpet (spada bj-1), but custom and heavy! but it's very easy to play! i love it! and by the way your music is really great! cheers, marco
Hey Elizabeth =] how is everything going? Well things are going great for me,we went to FBA competition and did great,alot better then what we expected.the video is in the about me section on my page.the theme show is Billy Joel. also if you cant watch the video the audio of the show from the competition is the first song played on my profile =] and in the about me is a jazz video of last year =] well i hope you can check these out and i hope youre doing well =] love Edwin.
Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for your wonderful comment. I am sooo enjoying all your songs. And, it is an especially nice pleasure that accomplished artist like you, likes my music! Best Wishes, Robby
Thanks to you too! Please be online for your music and news for "Canción a quemarropa" world music radio show ... i'd like to play on my show that trumpet!
Yeah, I've dabbled in the visual arts a bit... I actually had a gallery showing a few years back... seems like a lifetime these days. I've always meant to get back to it, but with music and writing being my main creative focuses... well, ideally I wouldn't have to pick between them, but, I dunno, life keeps getting in the way, I guess. One day I'll get back to it...
All the same, next time you're in Fargo or I'm in Sydney, I'd be happy to take your picture ;).
Well, the show is mainly a webcast, but it does go out over the radio in certain places, so maybe you did hear a somehow familiar voice say your name in the distance somewhere and chalk it up to too much caffeine. Heehee ;). Myspace seemed to be having some issues with playing stuff yesterday, but it seems fine today... remember to look at the Venus In Furs page (first on my top friends), not my personal one... don't worry, even I get confused between the two sometimes :P. We've actually got one recording from the broadcast up there, a cover of "Halloween" by the Misfits... that one's more for the time of year than the quality (though it does sound very good), but some of our set that night did turn out really well, so there might be some more up soon too. -Adam
I hope you have a “purfect” weekend!! Peace and love. Paul X
Paul Weston Arts web link coming soon!!
“My Cat.”
“My cat leaps around the garden fence Pouncing on anything that moves There’s no defence Sleeps for hours and sometimes days Bathing in the summer rays Hibernating in the winter cold Prowling, howelling meowing so bold My cat is quick, sleek, reactions unique If I ever return as a bird or a mouse then I am going to leave my house When I am due to travel away my cat sulks for days Moody before and then turns his back as I return to the door Feeding him food from a tin Is considered by my feline friend a cardinal sin He sits and looks at me in disgust This is not what I want for my breakfast. “Give me lean chicken, salmon or fresh beluga Or I’ll slash the side of your chair like Freddy Kruger My claws are sharp I will reduce your coat To the texture and look of an old Nanny goat I go to sit in my favourite chair In front of the fire and guess whose there! Asleep in my bed I awake with surprise As a purring nose pokes me straight in the eyes! I now understand the word perfection Is all about my cats affection Even when he wreaks the place I live A look from those saucer green eyes makes me forget and forgive. My cat has a spiritual link, a supernatural perception Something that humans have no connection I can only watch look and admire all of that Oh…I forgot to mention. My cat is An Acrobat.”
My dear Liz, thanks a lot for thinking of me. Well, I'm going OK. Of course I'm sad when I've lost a really good friend. But nevertheless I played an art opening yesterday evening and I had fun doing this.
Gerdt Schönfelder was a great drummer and the most important influence on me when I was a student. I remember when I was 19 years young, clarinetist Friwi Sternberg asked me to play in his jazz quartet as a substitute for the sick pianist Manfred Pieper. Later when Manfred was healthy again, I told them that I play vibes too. So Friwi took me for tight as a vibraphonist, and the quartet turned to a quintet. And I was very proud of playing with all the old hyper cracks. Gerdt Schönfelder was the drummer of this band and we became friends very fast.
Maybe I should have done more in the last two years to visit him more than I normally did and make him brave when he was already sick and when he felt blue. But instead of pushing my damn ass to his house, I too often thought that I don't have the time right now, but I'll do it anytime. But in this case there was no "anytime" but only the CONCRETE time that goes and goes. And now it is gone.
Gerdt was never like a teacher to me. But just his kind of drumming had such an incredible intensity that I always set up my instruments directly close to his drum set, because I wanted to feel his maximal energy. Maybe I can give anything back to the music just as Gerdt did.
Gerdt became 80 years old, and he had a filled jazz musician's life. And what perhaps comes after this - nobody really knows it. We can only guess, hope and dream.
Hi Elizabeth. I just saw a status update of yours on here, and it reminded me, I said hi to you during a webcast last weekend. The show was an Australian-American co-production (we were in the American studio, obviously), and I sent out greetings to the Australian musicians that I know :). Well, know as much as I can know people from a continent I've never been to... with the exception of Simon Rowe, who's lived here long enough that's he's more American than Australian, the Australian musicians (or Australians in general) I know have been limited mainly to internet chats.
