Voted 'Musician of the Year' for 2003 by the

Boston Musicians' Association

A CONVERSATION with PAUL BROADNAX

By Barbara Owens

Paul Broadnax, renowned vocalist and pianist, is the Boston Musicians Association’s 2003 Musician of the Year.  Born and raised in Boston, Paul’s musical career began sixty-five years ago during which time he completed his college degree and worked for twenty years as an Electro-Mechanical Engineer.  His musical venues include scores of concert stages, jazz clubs, country clubs, restaurants and private engagements primarily but not exclusively in the New England area.  Two years ago Paul’s Trio played on the Holland-America Line Jazz Cruise.  Presently, and for the last eleven years, Paul has appeared at Bullfinch’s Restaurant, 730 Boston Post Road (Route 20) in Sudbury, MA, Monday evenings with bassist Peter Kontrimas and guitarist Dave Trefethen.  More recently he is ‘almost a regular’ on Saturday nights with his Quartet (his trio and Les Harris Jr. on drums) at the Bay Tower, 60 State Street, Boston.

BTO:  Let’s begin at the beginning, Paul.  How did you get your start in music?

PB:  Probably in-vitro; my Mom and Dad were both classical musicians and were very active in the community.  They both came from large families in which my grandparents and many of my aunts and uncles were professional musicians!  I heard music all the time.  My Dad sang lead tenor with ‘The Lyric Male Quartet’.  Mom was a soprano soloist and voice teacher.  I have two sisters, Lee and Rebecca and one brother Benny.  We all sang in a teenage vocal group (for as long as we were teenagers) named the Cantemus Club, directed by our Mother.  We performed in concerts at the New England Conservatory, John Hancock Hall, many noted function rooms and most of the churches around Greater Boston.

BTO:  Were your parents also your music teachers?

PB:  My father did some voice coaching, but that was merely a sideline.  He did not formally teach.  My mother taught for over fifty years.  Mom did coach my voice.  I had private piano lessons from the age of eight.  My teacher, Ina Payne Braithwaite, was a concert pianist as well as a concert violinist.  My Mother was also a fine seamstress and bartered with her friend, Ina for my lessons in exchange for wonderful evening gowns.

BTO:  Did you study music throughout school?

PB:  Yes I did.  In Junior High School I studied clarinet so I could play in the marching band.  I started my own band during this time.  Some of my players went on to become famous jazz musicians.

BTO:  What other experiences did you have as you were growing up?

PB:  The jazz clubs I frequented in Boston were wonderful – The Savoy, Wally’s Paradise, The Big M, Eddie’s Lounge and the Hi Hat to name a few – all featured name musicians and I had a chance to play with some.  I heard Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, Dizzy, Erroll Garner and so many others.   Also the big theaters featured great movies and live stage music – usually the big swing and jazz bands including Basie, Goodman, Dorsey and Ellington.

BTO:  After high school you served in the Army Air CORPS near the end of the Second World War and were later transferred to Special Services where you met your life long friend, Donn Trenner.  Could you tell me about that experience?

PB:  I have a great story about that.  Before I was drafted in 1944, my band played a lot at the USO in Roxbury, MA.  I was drafted, reported to Fort Devens and in a few days shipped out to Texas.  I was a foot soldier for two days, then was picked up in a staff car, taken to Headquarters and assigned to Special Services as a musician.  I couldn’t understand my good fortune!  In 1980, I was shopping with my Dad and an old gent walked by.  I recognized him as the Director of the USO in Roxbury, MA where we played for the soldiers back in the 40's.  I spoke to him and in the course of conversation he asked me, “What happened in the service?”  I said that I had been assigned to Special Services.  His response was “Good, it worked.”  I was totally unaware until that moment that because of his contacts with the military, his phone call had sent me to Special Services!  It was in Special Services that I met, played and wrote with Donn Trenner who collaborated with me on my CD (1998), Here’s To Joe, a Tribute to Joe Williams and was special guest on my latest CD, Friends.  (During his career, Donn was Music Director for ‘The Steve Allen Show,’ directed Nancy Wilson and Ann Margaret and played piano with Les Brown among many other achievements)  We’ve been friends for 58 years!

BTO:  How did you connect with the band-leader Sabby Lewis?

PB:  Fresh out of the military, I heard his band at The Savoy and wrote a few charts.  He liked them and hired me.  We worked together for five years.

BTO:  You also played with the Tom Kennedy and Buster Daniels Bands.  Were you playing piano?

PB:  I also played with the Gilmore Big Band.  During that time I wrote arrangements, played tenor sax and piano and sang.  In the 60’s and 70’s, I had a trio called ‘The Paul Champ Three.’ Champ Jones on bass and Tony Sarni on drums.  We were quite busy performing for fifteen years.

BTO:  Who influenced your music style?

PB:  I love the ‘American Songbook.’  Some of the musicians who influenced my style were: Nat King Cole, Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman.  I have always stayed true to what I do and never watered down my music in order to be a commercial success.  MUSIC IS MY HEART!

BTO:  How did you meet Joe Williams?

PB:  I loved his voice, style, choice of tunes and the musicians he used.  I’ve been listening to him ever since the Basie days in the 50’s.  Since 1989 I have been a passenger on many jazz cruises where Joe was featured.  It took two or three cruises before I met him and it was well worth the wait!  In 1995, I decided to do a tribute to Joe and sent a rough copy of the CD, Here’s To Joe, for his approval.  The CD included music he made ‘his own.’  We met him at the Regattabar in Cambridge; it was the first time we made contact since he heard the rough copy.  He gave me a bear hug and said, “Go with it, baby.”  He told me he was “passing the torch to me.”  There have been many highlights in my musical career: this was one of them.  His 80^th birthday party was a blow out and his memorial celebration was moving.  I really miss Joe.

BTO:  Tell me about the other CDs you have produced or played on.

PB:  In addition to my Joe Williams tribute CD, I made my first CD, It’s About Time (everybody thought “it was about time”) in 1994; Strike Up The Band (The Paul Broadnax Quartet, 2000); Friends (The Paul Broadnax Quintet, 2002); and Greg Abate/Paul Broadnax, It’s Christmastime.  I performed on Jeanne Lee’s (my cousin) Natural Affinities; Ken Hadley’s, Come Sunday; Monica Hatch’s, If You Never Come To Me and Wendee Glick’s, Baby I’m Fine.  I just finished recording a track “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” on Rebecca Parris’ latest CD.

BTO:  You and your siblings established the ‘Broadnax Scholarship Fund’ to assist students who demonstrated notable academic and/or musical achievement.

PB:  We are proud that, since 1987 when our mother died, the family and our donors have presented more than thirty $500 Achievement Awards to encourage deserving students at Roland Hayes School of Music (RHSM) which is part of Madison Park High School in Boston. The Ellastine Broadnax Scholarship Awards are restricted to music students between 13 and 19 years of age, because that was the age of the students Mrs. Broadnax preferred to teach. There have been over a hundred other cash awards to other competitors.  Our gifts to the School of Music have included a CD player, many musical instruments, a huge library of recorded music, dozens of sets of choral music, and annual subscriptions to several musical publications.  We have also been able to replace the entire (rather obsolete and ineffective) sound system in the Rollins Griffith Auditorium at RHSM.  Not all the awardees go on to musical careers, but music continues to be an important part of their lives.  Some have become professionals in medicine and in the entertainment business, while others are artisans such as piano builders.

BTO:  How can BMA members find out more about the Broadnax Scholarship Fund and its work?

PB:  For more information, contact the Broadnax Scholarship Fund, 12 Bradlee Street, Dorchester, MA 02124-1106.  The phone number is 617-822-1921.  To be placed on the mailing lists, just send your address to: RELPB@aol.com.