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Donovan Guy, impresario for the Westchester Jazz Legends Music Series will present the righteous Carmen Leggio and his Quartet for an evening of romantic jazz standards Saturday night, September 22 at the Westchester Arts Council Building as the keynoter in the 2001 Legends lineup.
The Westchester Arts Council building will turn into an old-fashioned jazz club without the smokey blue haze and drinks September 22, when Carmen Leggio, “The Tenor Man from Tarrytown” eases in for a one-night stand.

Guy reports that Leggio’s career headlined the original Birdland night club in the early 50s. He’s best known for his long association with Yonkers resident, Gene Krupa, and Carmen’s jazz career spans six decades.

“The Tenorman from Tarrytown” played with Maynard Ferguson’s All Stars Big Band. He was lead saxophone with Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd, with Benny Goodman’s Sextet, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.

The Tenorman with the Big Bell Sound

Leggio has been playing the same unique big bell tenor Gold Medal SML saxophone since 1961. The instrument, made by Strasser, Marigaux & Lemaire, with a bell over 6 inches in diameter, was given him by Jack Loeb, Manhattan importer of SML saxophones in 1961.

CARMEN LEGGIO as he appeared in the 1960s in a vintage advertisement for SML saxophones, from the SML website.

“I don’t know much about horns and mouthpieces,” Leggio (now in his 70s) explained his affection to writer Fred Cicetti, for his antique saxophone which is almost as old as he is. “A friend of mine (Loeb) got me to the right sax and set-up and I just stayed with it because it worked for me. A sax is like a pair of shoes. If you get a pair that is comfortable, you can learn how to do any kind of dance in them.”

The Willie Mays of Tenormen

Leggio can dance. His body language says “saxman.” Fred Cicetti, the jazz writer describes him as slightly stooped over, and his head bent down a bit. Cicetti writing on the SML website, loves his playing style: “Leggio blows tenor the way Willie Mays ran down a flyball. They both let you know from the get-go that you’ll never be able to do it their way.”

Man of a Thousand Songs

Leggio’s name means “music stand” in Italian, though he never uses one, because as Carmen says, “I have thousands of songs memorized. I can hear a song once and know how to play it. In my whole life, I’ve never bought a piece of sheet music.”

Jazz aficionados and couples looking for a moody evening in White Plains and what great tenor is should snap of a pair of the limited ducats for Carmen and his quartet. Only 200 seats will be sold.

The performance is at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, the Westchester Arts Council Building on Saturday night, September 22. The gig is from 7 to 10 PM. Tickets are $20 in advance,$25 at the door, and may be purchased at the Arts Council Building, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue. Call 328-0671 or 428-4220 for more details.

“The Tenorman from Tarrytown” Today. He’ll be appearing one night only, 7 PM to 10, Septemeber 22 at the Westchester Arts Council first floor rotunda. Tickets are $20 in advance, call328-0671 or 428-4220.

LocalBoy Plays Good

Leggio taught himself to play, first on the clarinet, trying to imitate Artie Shaw playing on the radio. Carmen still plays Artie’s romantic showstoppers: “Stardust,” “Nightmare” and “Begin the Beguine,” but when he does, he plays them on an old King metal clarinet like Artie.

By age 14, the lure of sax overcame him and he switched to tenor sax, and Leggio landed gigs in night clubs in Tarrytown.

His father was not happy: “I quit high school, because I knew I was meant to be a musician,” Leggio told writer Fred Cicetti in a recent interview. “But my father was so angry he didn’t speak to me for years. On his deathbed, he admitted I was right to leave school.” Carmen still lives in Tarrytown where he got his start in jazz, and is still recording.

Recording artist

His last album is “Sax After Midnight for Lovers,” on which he lends is smooth big tenor touch “My Foolish Heart,” “Angel Eyes,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “When Your Lover Has Gone,” and other favorite standards.

Cicetti describes the album stylings this way: “Leggio provides a lot of breath and vibrato to seduce his listeners. He sounds a bit like Ben Webster, but with even softer edges. The tone he gets throughout the range of his tenor will put anyone in the mood for love.”

In the mood for romantic sax

Mr. Leggio will appear at the Arts Council first floor rotunda with Chris Parker on skins, Doug Abrams at the keyboard, and Lou Stelluti on bass, and their stylings will be given an added dimension by Glenda Davenport joining them as vocalist.

What is Leggio’s big bell sound?

He explains why he has played his big bell SML for 41 years: “I loved it, because of the tone the bigger bell gives you. I also liked that it was heavy. I like a heavy horn because it’s like a heavy car—it holds the road better. I was told that Coleman Hawkins played an SML and that influenced me a little, too.”

Cecetti reports that Carmen accidently ran over his beloved saxophone last year and had to have his repairman, Jay Beers, attempt to repair it: “He did an incredible job,” Carmen reports. “Actually it sounds even better now. I have no idea why. It’s darker and mellower.”

White Plains hipsters can hear that “darker, mellower” sound — what tenor sax is all about September 22.

Save Time and Money, Order Tickets for All Concerts now

Coming up in the series after Carmen’s performance:

October 27, the Jazz Legends presents Fred Smith & The Masters of Swing.
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November 24, it’s the Jimmy Hill Quartet with Alto Sax smoothie, Jimmy Hill performing.
A fourth concert is in the process of being booked. Jazz buffs may order a ticket for all 4 concerts for $75, 3 concerts, $55, 2 concerts,$35. Tickets for the Leggio performance are $20 apiece in advance, $25 at the door.

A letter from five Common Councilpersons requesting open space aid from County Executive Andy Spano was faxed to a Journal News Reporter Wednesday without notifying the Mayor and a sixth Councilman before it was apparently leaked to the reporter..
The Mayor’s office was shocked Wednesday when, according to Executive Officer George Gretsas, Journal News City Hall Beat Reporter, Susan Elan, contacted him asking him for City Hall comment on a letter she had received sent Spano by five Councilman.

Ms. Elan, Gretsas said, told him she had received a letter, faxed her by Robert Greer, signed by five Common Council members including Greer, asking County Executive Andy Spano’s office for aid in funding the $1.775 million purchase of the long-sought D’Elia property off the Greenway approved by the Capitol Projects Board Tuesday.

The Council takes over.

Gretsas told WPCNR he had no idea what she was talking about, and he asked her to fax the letter over to him so he could comment on it. She faxed it to him at 2:45 PM.

According to Gretsas it was the first time the Mayor’s office was aware of the maverick Council initiative.

County spokesperson Donna Greene told WPCNR: “It (the letter) came up here in a letter form (I think hand delivered) addressed to the county executive, signed by the 5 council members at about 2 PM. (Precise time not known.)”

She said she did not think the County Executive had examined the letter immediately upon its arrival.This raises the possibility that the reporter may have known about the request before Mr. Spano did.

Letter does not “cc:” Delfino

A copy of the letter obtained by WPCNR has five Councilmen signing the letter which is written on Robert Greer’s City Council stationary. The five are: Robert Greer, Rita Malmud, Benjamin Boykin II, William King and Pauline Oliva. The letter formally calls for the County Executive to step in and supply county aid for the D’Elia property, in effect, (since the Mayor was not carbon copied or informed to Gretsas’ knowlege), behind the Mayor’s back. It also raises the question whether all five councilmembers met privately which is forbidden by the City Charter, to sign the letter.

Friday, Paul Wood, spokesman for the Mayor’s office said, Mayor Delfino had indeed met with County Executive Spano on Wednesday but they had not discussed any open space aid package.

If Spano knew of the letter, it could be assumed he might have mentioned it to Mayor Delfino. This raises the question of whether the reporter knew of the five councilpersons’ request before the County Executive.

The council still has to vote officially to authorize the $1.775 million expenditure on the D’Elia property. It is on the agenda for approval for the September 4 Common Council meeting, along with the Council resolution to establish the Open Space Acquisition Advisory Committee and adapt as city policy the Mayor’s Environmental Protection Initiative.

Can Council Acquire Land working within the Trust for Public Land model?

WPCNR learned from a key city environmental officialwho spoke on condition he not be identified, that the Wednesday letter is the first time since the Open Space Acquisition Advisory Committee was formed last spring), that the Council has raised the question of going to the county for aid to fund the $5 million acquisition fund. They have not done so, even when the Council has voted to approve a Home Rule Request to Albany to release pension fund money to fund partially the $5 million earmarked to spend on open space properties.

Susan Habel at the Tuesday CapitalProjects Board recommendation hearing said the Mayor engaged the New York Trust for Public Land to negotiate for the D’Elia property because it had long been suggested strongly by Open Space advocates that the city use the Trust services.

Now, in the first negotiation the Trust has conducted for the city, successfully, the Council may, in its concern for city expenditures,may be showing it is unable to work within the parameters of the way The Trust for Public Land works: agreeing to a negotiated deal within a tight time frame.

If the council does not have the stomach for a $1.75 million bonding, can they abide with a multi-million dollar purchase down the road?

Council knew Tuesday county, state and federal sources would be explored

The Mayor’s Executive Officer was puzzled by the council need to appeal to the County Executive for aid.

What troubled Gretsas most was that Robert Greer had been explicitly assured by Mayor Delfino at the Tuesday afternoon Capitol Projects Board meeting when the $1.775MM expenditure for the D’Elia piece was agreed upon by all council members in attendance, that aid would be sought from the county, state and federal levels.

WPCNR, covering that meeting, heard Delfino tellGreer explicitly he had a meeting with Spano “in about 10 days” to discuss the possibility of direct county aid.

Gretsas expressed disappointment with the letter the council five wrote to Spano, because, he said, the Mayor said Tuesday that if the city depended on the county to approve some aid, the 90 day contractual period the New York Trust for Public Land has to close the deal with the D’Elia owners might be missed.

City will bond for a year, seek aid which could reduce bonding need

Gretsas said Greer’s fears were unfounded. He pointed out the city financial interest was protected in case aid could be secured. He said in cases like these when federal aid might be anticipated, the city executes a short-term bond in anticipation of future aid.

He said the city was going to bond for the 1.775 million purchase price for just one year:
“This one-year bond gives the city time to apply for grants, seek aid from the county and the federal level, yet by bonding now, the city secures the D’Elia property during this brief window because the New YorkTrust for Public Land only has 90 days in which to close the deal. If we receive aid within one year, we can rebond for a lesser amount, but we lock in the deal, now.” (See WPCNR earlier story).

Ryan to the Rescue

Coincidently, aid could be forthcoming. County Legislator William Ryan, (of District 5), was reported in the Journal News as saying he would introduce a bill in the County Legislature to acquire $500,000 in county aid towards the D’Elia purchase, at the County Board meeting September 10.

Interestingly, this move has Ryan supporting two different positions toward “woodsy” open space within White Plains.

Ryan currently supports a $1.9 million county purchase of wooded, Silver Lake-adjacent land in Woodcrest Heights in White Plains to build low cost affordable housing for lower and middle income persons, an ongoing Andy Spano initiative, while only asking for $500,000 to preserve the D’Elia property.

The $1.9 million funding has not been moved to the Legislative Budget committee yet, its next step.

Corcoran to the neighborhoods: Reynal Parkers for it: Greenway not used much now.

Candyce Canelstein Corcoran, an outspoken advocate for open space, Ryan’s rival for the Legislative post in District 5, reported on her walking tours of the Reynal Park area Thursday and Friday. She and her companion Republican candidates for Common Council, Larry Delgado and Robert Amodio have found the neighborhood eager for the D’Elia purchase.

Corcoran made the walking tour, to get a sense whether the neighborhoods were against the purchase if it were open to county residents. Talking with over thirty persons door-to-door, Corcoran reports:

“They feel it is important for the city to acquire the land.They are not concerned who pays for it, and believe even if the county contributes, that it will not see increased use because no one uses it now. They would prefer it to be owned by the city of White Plains for city use only, but at this point they do not seem to care whether it is a combination of city and county money that acquires it. There were 2 residents who expressed resistance to the county helping pay for the property because of the ramifications of it.”