You’re never too old to follow your dreams. Just ask John Lentz.
Last March, at age 76, the jazz vocalist released his first album, “How Strange the Road Should Be So Easy.” The album, a collection of jazz standards and some lesser-known material, was a collaboration with acclaimed pianist Harvey Diamond, who was 82 at the time.
The response to the album has been positive, including a glowing review in Stereophile magazine, and that has set the Turners Falls resident on an exciting new chapter in his musical life.
Lentz recently joined the Franklin County Musicians Cooperative (Coop), a group of local musicians who support one another and present weekly concerts at the Greenfield Energy Park during the summer. Lentz will make his debut as a Coop member at the Annual All COOP’ed Up Concert on Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m. at the Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A in Turners Falls.
He will be accompanied by Wes Brown on contrabass at this show.
The concert aims to offer some musical relief after a long winter indoors and gives a preview of what’s coming at this summer’s Coop concerts. Fourteen acts will perform, covering a wide range of styles, including Pat & Tex, Larry LeBlanc, Austin & Elliot, 133 Skeele and more.
Lentz is the newest member of the Coop. He got involved through Kathy Sylvester, another Coop member performing at the show. They had worked together in health care before, and she encouraged him to join because the group did not have any jazz artists.
“I look forward to playing for a different audience and becoming a little bit better known and I love the Thursday Coop concerts during the summertime,” said Lentz about his decision to apply to the group.
Lentz said music has always played a big role in his life. He started out busking in the Northwest in the 1970s and later moved to Massachusetts. Even while working full-time as a physician’s assistant and raising a family, he made time for music, leading his own jazz trio and singing with the Valley Jazz Choir. He also attended summer workshops at the Vermont Jazz Center, which had a huge impact on his music.
Lentz studied with vocalists Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton at the Vermont Jazz Center and also met Harvey Diamond, a respected jazz pianist known as “one of the unsung heroes of the Boston jazz scene.” Diamond spent more than 10 years with jazz great Lennie Tristano and was one of Tristano’s last students.
“Harvey has played with a number of jazz masters,” Lentz said. “He has recorded as a sideman on a number of albums and has recorded two CDs himself. But when you ask people if they know Harvey, it’s a solid ‘yes’ or a ‘never heard of him.’”
The two became friends during the fall of 2020 when the pandemic had brought live music to a halt. Lentz called to check in on Diamond and invited him to come to Brookline for some outlaw jamming.
“So that began almost weekly sessions with the two of us,” said Lentz. “We didn’t have any agenda other than just to play music with each other. We were not working up a set list for a gig. We didn’t have any particular project in mind. We had a list of maybe 10 songs, and we didn’t work on anything beyond those 10 songs for close to a year and a half.”
These sessions, which Lentz said were highly enjoyable, were about exploring the songs, and creating improvisational music for nobody but themselves.
Lentz formed another connection during COVID-19 that proved just as important as the one with Diamond. Through a connection at the Vermont Jazz Center, Lentz was invited to attend a Zoom jazz workshop led by a Montreal-based group called Orchard of Pomegranates.
“Ayelet Rose Gottlieb was the head of the group, and she was putting together a label called, not surprisingly, Orchard of Pomegranates,” Lentz explained. “When I told her what Harvey and I were doing, she said maybe we should record.”
This led to Lentz, at the age of 76, making his first record.
The notion that COVID-19 jump-started his music career is not lost on Lentz.
“Yes, it was the best of times and the worst of times, but I wouldn’t have met Ayelet if it wasn’t for COVID,” he said.
The album is in many ways a continuation of Lentz and Diamond’s weekly jam sessions.
“When it came time to make the album, we had been playing together so long that we didn’t have any set arrangements,” Lentz said. “We went in knowing what songs we were going to do, but we didn’t know how we were going to do them.”
This approach worked well as the deep musical connection between the artists shines through as they offer fresh takes on classics like “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and others.
“How Strange the Road Should Be So Easy” will celebrate its first anniversary of the album on March 21.
Lentz returned to performing last year and now fronts a trio that also includes Bill Winslow on piano and Genevieve Rose on contrabass. They regularly perform at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton and will be there on May 14 at 7 p.m.
Lentz has found he enjoys performing and is looking forward to broadening his audience through his work with the Coop and in bringing jazz music to the group.
“You gotta keep the dreams alive,” Lentz said. “You know, I’m 77 now and I’m still dreaming, so you gotta spread the word that it’s never too late.”
Admission to the All COOP’ed Up concert is a suggested donation of $5-$15. Children are free. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at Soundslocal@yahoo.com.