BARNEY LESSING –
JAZZ ENTHUSIAST
WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I was born in upstate New York in Little
Falls, which is midway between Syracuse and
Albany. I attended grade school in Manhattan
until the 6th grade when the family moved to
Westport, Connecticut. My father was a shoe
manufacturer. To this day, I can still smell the
leather in the factory. I worked for him during
the summers and graduated from Staples High
School in in 1956. As an only child, I spent most
of my time in the afternoon and evenings playing
tennis and was captain of the tennis team.
I also served as editor of the school newspaper
and started a jazz club.
I graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania as an English major after burying
myself in Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Dreiser. I
completed my teaching credentials two years
later at Columbia.
WHAT CAME NEXT?
I met my wife Linda at Columbia at a Jewish
Graduate Society square dance. Neither of us
knew or liked square dancing, but it didn’t
make any difference. When I went back to the
dorm that night, I put the admission ticket
in my wallet because I knew Linda would
be “the one.” Three months later we were
engaged. The card has stayed in my wallet
ever since.
Linda was a SUNY Farmingdale professor
until retiring in 2003. I became a school counselor
on Long Island for many years and was
elected “Western Suffolk School Counselor of
the Year” in 1989. I later became an adjunct
professor of counseling at CW Post College.
I’ve coached high school Lincoln-Douglas
debates and developed successful peer mediation
programs. We have three sons and eight
grandchildren.
My sons chose occupations quite different
from mine–they are all in finance and live in
the New York area. Sometimes when they
talk among themselves in my presence I don’t
know what they are taking about. I get even
by throwing some “educationalese” at them.
One of the most memorable experiences
of my family life was renting a motor home
and traveling cross-country with my wife and
three sons. The hardest part of the trip was
getting from my house in Huntington and
traversing the Cross Bronx Expressway and
George Washington Bridge. But from there,
the next 2,000 miles were easy. We were on
the road camping and sightseeing for six
weeks.
WHEN DID YOU DEVELOP AN INTEREST
IN JAZZ?
Since I was 12 years old my principal passion
and hobby has been jazz. Over the years
I have spent many hours playing, listening, or
writing about jazz. I’ve been interviewed on
the radio and quoted in the New York Times.
I’ve written liner notes for a jazz album and
I’ve been a frequent contributor on this subject
to Newsday. Some of my happiest days
growing up were spent in Birdland, the Five
Spot, and the Metropole.
During those years I always tried to engage
the musicians in conversation during their
breaks. Many of the jazz musicians from the
50’s were not approachable, but some were
and provided me with wonderful memories
that have stayed with me all these years.
Clark Terry, Milt Hinton, and Benny Carter
were memorable.
Before moving to NST, I fulfilled one of my
lifetime ambitions–to play well enough to join
jam sessions in local jazz clubs. I learned that
the key to being a good jazz musician is to
play for yourself--what you want to hear, not
what you think the audience wants to hear.
Jazz is often the expression of some of the
deepest feelings that reside within a person.
I encourage people to come the NST Jazz
Club who are just curious and join us as
we watch some videos and discuss them.
Everybody has a different perception of what
the word “jazz” means and suggests. It’s part
of our American culture and has influenced
all of us in ways that we may not realize.
WHEN DID YOU MOVE TO NST?
We moved from Huntington three years ago.
At first we rented an apartment here. In a very
short time we realized this is a great place for
us and bought an apartment. We look forward
to the reopening of the Coleridge Lounge and
resuming our Jazz Club meetings. All are
welcome.
While living here a relatively short time,
Barney Lessing has already made a great contribution
to our cultural life - an appreciation
and enhanced understanding of Jazz. He’s
a lifelong student of this American art form
and also a saxophone player in a jazz combo.
His series of illustrated talks in the Coleridge
Lounge were halted by Covid-19. Some of the
artists he brought to life were Count Basie and
Sarah Vaughan, and each month his audience
grew. Hopefully his popular program will
resume soon--new and old jazz fans alike are
anxiously awaiting his return.
Barney’s jammin’ the blues
Barney and his wife, Linda. Barney says, “For
you, for me, forever more.”
4 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ May 2021