Re: Howie Leess 1920 - 2003

[SICULAR <SICULAR...>]

Thanks, Pete.  I feel wholeheartedly as you do about Howie.  I believe that 
the Klezmer Plus! notes have some more about Howie's background too.  I miss 
him, and would like to add a story or two, including one I just heard about 
Howie (and Shirley) Leess.

I called Ismail Butera, our Metropolitan Klezmer accordionist, on Saturday 
morning to tell him the news about Howie.  Later that day, Ismail was visiting 
his mother and talking about old times.  Like Howie, whose first music lessons 
were from his immigrant father, Ismail learned early on from his father, Duka 
("Duke") Butera.  Ismail and I had played together with Howie since at least 
1990, and we had all performed and recorded together for years since, but 
somehow it was only this weekend, later on the same day when Howie had just 
died, 
that Ismail's mother picked up on Howie's name and told him that she and 
Ismail's father had known the Leeses for years.  When the Albanian-American 
Buteras 
first met them in the 1940s, Howie and Shirley were newly married, living in a 
one-bedroom house in Coney Island.  Duke and Howie worked together  at New 
York-area music jobs, and Duke (who died many years ago now) always said that 
Howie was the nicest musician he ever met.  "Remember, how Daddy would say 
that?," she told Ismail.

Howie's recordings of his beautiful clarinet doyna and Der Gasn Nigun were 
re-released this spring on our Metropolitan Klezmer "Surprising Finds" CD, and 
I'm happy to say that in our emails he told me he was very pleased with his 
sound there.  Our last live performance with him, in June 2001 at the 92nd 
Street 
Y, was videotaped by the Kaufmann Concert Hall and is in their archives. 
Howie was virtuosic yet never overstated, the unpretentious star of the show; 
audiences adored him.  His evocative, soulful style came right from the heart, 
and 
inspired me to form our group (originally called the Greater Metropolitan 
Klezmer Band) in 1994.  When I first asked him if he would like to make a demo 
together, Howie told me, "I like seeing a woman run the business."  As for 
Howie's legendary ear for improvising inner harmonies, in styles from big band 
to 
small klezmer ensemble, I believe it was Pete Sokolow who said to me that this 
ability to find the hidden musical way through had earned Howie the bandstand 
nickname "the mountain goat," perhaps in the Lester Lanin circles.  He had a 
wonderful smile, a twinkle in his eye, a gentle bubbling giggle, quite 
progressive & knowing worldviews, a consummate professionalism linked with a 
caring 
willingness to serve, an unfailing sense of dignity and style, and a devoted 
sense of friendship.  

Knowing Howie was always a joy and a pleasure, and I am so grateful for all 
the loving guidance and support he shared with us.  May his memory continue as 
a blessing.

Eve Sicular
=================
- e v e  s i c u l a r  -
drummer/bandleader
ISLE OF KLEZBOS & 
METROPOLITAN KLEZMER
151 First Ave #145, NYC 10003
tel:  212.475.4544
fax:  212.677.6304
www.metropolitanklezmer.com

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