Talented Musicians Blog: Meet Denny Jarrett

An Interview with Denny Jarrett

Hi Denny, where do you reside?
I live in Hudson County, NJ.

How long have you been performing?
I've been playing for 40 years. I started right after high school.

What's it like to gig?
My first gig was a high school play. I got to play one of two female leads, Martha Jefferson, in the show "1776". As far as a first band gig, I played with a group called Casino at a small bar in a strip in Union City called the Transfer Station.

What musicians influenced you?
I was very influenced by The Beatles since the day they performed on the Ed Sullivan show. This is what truly made me want to be in a band. My other influences believe it or not were both The Jackson 5 and The Osmond Brothers. Another was the band Heart. Annie Wilson was a major influence for me.

As far as influences on the Jersey circuit, I learned a lot of my stage presence and singing performance from four people who I admired very much in those days, and the very first people I had seen in their bands. The first was Grover Kemble when he had his band, Grover, Margaret, and Zaz Zu Zaz. I was completely enthralled by his rapport and loved the fact that he would get the audience's participation.

My second influence was Paul "Swami" Simeone. His energy and onstage persona was very eye-opening to me, especially since the first time I sang I just froze in front of my microphone with my eyes closed because I was so scared to be out front, believe it or not. Watching him perform "Angry Young Man" by Billy Joel, and becoming Ian Anderson before your very eyes, when he did "Aqualung" and "Cross-eyed Mary" did it for me.

As as far as female stage presence and performance were concerned, my two influences were Jeanie Elkin and Britt Savage. Jeanie was incredibly energetic on stage as well. She was the first female singer I had ever seen on the circuit. Jeanie had a very powerful voice, always had a smile on stage, was very professional and friendly. I put the four of these people together and tried to emulate them all.

How many bands have you been in?
Do you have all night? There are too many to count. I had filled in with so many different bands who needed a female singer after Gerry Tabeek stole me from Prototype. It was an incredible time for me. I even had the opportunity to be in the original "Party Dolls" with Chrissie Sparks when it was supposed to be just two females. The only reason I turned it down was that I didn't want to do costume changes. I regret not working with her, but I wouldn't have had the opportunity to work with so many other great bands as well.

What's it like to gig?
Hmmmmm. I can't explain the feeling inside of me when I'm on stage. It's like fireworks exploding inside of me, and that's what I want to bring out to the audience. I love working and involving all the musicians in a song when I'm on stage with them. That's why I love going to jams. I get to play off of the other musicians. I get so into the music, they're playing and the songs, and all of a sudden all the problems in the world disappear. It's not a job; it's true passion.

Do you practice every day?
When I was doing it full time, I would practice every single day without fail. I can't just get up and sing without warming up my vocal chords at least four hours before singing on stage. I was very disciplined in that sense because I couldn't stand the sound of my voice when I'm not warmed up. I never wanted to sound pitchy or off. When I would learn a song, I wanted to emulate the person as closely as I could. Practice took a lot of my time. It was something I ate, drank and slept.

It's not so much since I'm semi-retired. I've started exercising again, learning new vocal techniques. I'm waiting on Justin Timberlake to show me how to do those vocal runs...LOL!!! I've been djing for private parties, so I practice my mixes here at home. I love doing this as well. Hey, anything that involves music, I'm in.

What's one of your accomplishments as a musician?
Being respected amongst my peers and having the opportunity to play with so many great musicians is an accomplishment. There are so many others that I've not worked with, but I love to have the opportunity to play with them. Two of the things on my bucket list is to sing with Britt Savage and Grover Kemble someday since I've already done a lot of gigs with Jeanie and Swami - and thoroughly enjoyed it.