Suezenne Fordham
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Suezenne Marie Fordham, (born 1931, Wichita, Kansas, USA) is an American Jazz pianist.
Fordham was born to well known Kansas band leader Howard Fordham and wife Opal Snyder. She came to New York City in 1949 at the suggestion of her friend, William Kapell, to study classical music with his first teacher, Dorothea Anderson La Follette, and then to the Juilliard to study with Rosina Lhevine (briefly), Beverige Webster, and Josef Raieff, then privately with Ania Dorfman and Robert Goldsand (whose teachers can be traced directly to Franz Liszt. Goldsand passed down Liszt's superb fingering for double thirds to some of his favorite disciples, Fordham included).
To pay her expenses, she joined the Hatcheck Girls Union and worked as such at the Embers in New York, after being hired to work at the famous Birdland on Broadway, named after Charlie Parker.
She was "discovered" by Walter Winchell while practising one afternoon at the Ember. She became famous in the 1950s and 1960s as Suezenne, the "Cinderella Girl," as Winchell, Irv Kupcinet, Dorothy Kilgallen called her. She was written up by Leonard Feather in Downbeat magazine for playing Bach fugues in a prominent Jazz club (Embers). She was signed and toured extensively for Jos Glaser's Associated Booking Corp, the top agency at the time.
She was written about daily in the gossip columns. She played on radio and TV shows such as Jack Paar's show out of New York in the 1950s. She joined the Merchant Marines in order to tour the Caribbean with her group the "Suezenne Fordham Trio" for several years aboard the S.S. Brazil. She studied Jazz piano with Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans, and at times with George Shearing.
At the Embers, she played opposite Dorothy Donegan, Red Norvo, Joey Bushkin, George Shearing (with Cal Tjader, Toots Thielmans, Kenny Clarke, John Levy), Errol Garner, Barbara Carroll, Artie Shaw, Tal Farlow, Alex Kallao, and Johnny Smith at the Embers,and opposite Count Basie and Mort Sahl at the Sahara in Las Vegas, also the Haymarket at the Conrad Hilton in Chicago, the Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale, and Versailles and Fontainbleau in Miami.
She played many years at the Hickory House on 52nd St, NY opposite Marian McPartland, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Juta Hipp, Joe Castro, Billy Taylor and Bobby Scottand. She played piano and was a Chanteuse (singing in English. German, French and Italian) at many Park Avenue Hotels, including the Doral, Tuscany, and the Park Sheraton.
Due to her superior piano technique, she was sought out by Gerry Mulligan, Milt Jackson, Teddy Charles, and Cal Tjader(among others) for coaching. She was friends with many of Jazzdom's greatest. At that time, NY was a tight knit famly of "in" players, and she always encouraged her friends to accomplish more through positive energy and setting examples with her own highest standards, inspiring higher levels of artistic accomplishment in all who knew her.
Under contract to Columbia Records in the 50's with her famous bassist Richard Davis. She unknowingly signed a recording contract which was renewed every year but never recorded due to the recording company wanting to keep her out of competition with their star Dave Grushin. She eventually was able to disencumber herself from Columbia(Epic).
Her drummers included Ray Mosca, Roger Wanderscheid, Bud Neeley and others. She also studied vibes privately with Milt Jackson and Teddy Charles .At times her bassist was Teddy Kotik (Parker's Bassist).
In the late 1960s-early 1970s she formed two new progressive jazz groups, "Third Eye" and "70" with Bill Folwell, Bass; Bob Fritz, Electric Clarinet; and Ray Manning, Drums and percussion.
In Los Angeles in 2002, Fordham created Suezenne Fordham Chamber Jazz in Historic Sites Series "The Art of the Chamber Jazz Piano Trio."
The group plays Jazz Fusion, Avant Garde, with Bartok and Messiaen influences. She plays Steinway Piano, Percussion, Melodian, Chakra Bowls, Singing Bowls and Gongs. (Tibetan Percussion) Drummer is Darren Ross, who is a Jazz virtuoso has been with the Trio since its inception;and Supra talented Noah Garabedian is Contrabassist for their Series. replacing Roberto Miranda.
It is their commitment to evolving new and exciting sounds that propel the Trio into vast new areas, sometimes adding Jazz Tuba player Bill Roper.
Fordham is the recent recipient of the distinguished EIS Award for composing and promoting the Equal Interval System by Spud Murphy, and realised by MXMitacek, and includes compositions by two of her mentors, Bobby Bradford, and MXMITACEK.
The Trio has just been inducted into Chamber Music America, and looks forward to a long and fruitful relationship,involving extensive composing and expanding their number of seasonal concerts.
