<0005. Fear, But Don’t Retreat>
There was no drummer. Instead, a drum machine was hooked up to a laptop.
The actual audition began on Lydia’s cue.
“One. Two. Three. Four.”
The first tune was a cover of the Oscar Peterson Trio’s version of “Days of Wine and Roses.”
Louise’s piano phrasing came first. The drum machine kept time at barely audible volume. Without a real drummer, the empty space in the rhythm section was impossible to miss.
Cynthia carefully let her own rhythm flow into that space.
There was no showing off from the start.
Louise suddenly accelerated her phrasing, but Cynthia did not answer with flashy picked runs or tapping. She simply supported the tune from below with long, low fretless lines that seemed to glide beneath it.
At first, Lydia listened without expression.
Then, at some point, she began adding vocals, alternating between humming and scat. Louise slipped in a few subtle chord changes of her own.
Cynthia did not fall apart. She kept her flow.
No—rather than insisting on her own flow, she was listening to where the other three were going.
Then Katty deliberately came in crooked with her trumpet.
Cynthia’s eyes widened.
But her hands did not stop. The long fretless line wavered for a moment, then curved naturally back underneath Katty’s trumpet.
It was a short arrangement prepared for the audition. The first test tune ended quickly.
Katty grinned.
“Huh. Kid scares easy, but she doesn’t run.”
Louise spoke quietly.
“That matters more than you might think.”
She looked at Cynthia.
“Cynthia. I deliberately pushed my entrance a little early just now. Did you notice?”
“Yes.”
Cynthia answered without taking her hand from the neck of the bass.
“So I watched where your left hand was moving, Ms. St.Claire.”
Louise’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly.
“Good judgment.”
Katty immediately laughed.
“Yo! You got a compliment from Lou. Guess you’re hired.”
Cynthia shook her head, looking slightly flustered.
“That was only the first tune… I haven’t really shown you what I can do yet.”
For the first time, Lydia smiled.
“I know. That’s why we’re going to make you play a few more.”
Katty tossed aside the dry cloth she had been using to wipe her trumpet mouthpiece and smirked.
“Hon, think you can keep up with us?”
Louise, still seated at the piano, asked with the faintest hint of a smile,
“Shall we go right into the next one?”
Cynthia did not look particularly frightened.
Nor did she look nervous.
But neither did she smile with easy confidence.
Instead, she answered calmly and seriously.
“I’ll keep up.”
Then she plucked a string on her fretless bass.
Dum-dum-dum.
Dum—du-du-dum.
Dum-dum.
The corner of Katty’s eye lifted.
Well, look at this kid.
Louise smiled very slightly.
Young, but she has more nerve than I expected.
The two women exchanged a brief glance.
Lydia raised a hand.
“One, two, three, four.”
<0006. The Audition: Passed>
They finished the second, third, and fourth tunes.
Then the fifth began.
Katty charged out first, tearing into the air with a short, sharp trumpet line.
The smooth standard feel of the earlier tunes was gone.
For just a moment, Cynthia’s entrance came slightly late.
But on the next beat, she came back in—not as though she had fled, but as though she had checked the road before following.
By the next phrase, her bass was springing forward with a bounce of its own.
The fifth tune ended.
So did the audition.
The four women let out long breaths in the rehearsal room.
Katty was the first to speak.
“You stepped out exactly once in that session. Why?”
Cynthia looked slightly startled and lowered her head.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Katty gave her an incredulous laugh.
“Why are you apologizing? I asked why.”
Lydia looked at Cynthia.
“Was that your decision?”
Cynthia lowered her eyes to her own fingers for a moment.
“My… fingers decided.”
The three women stared at her in silence.
Cynthia cautiously added,
“They said that was the moment to step forward.”
Katty burst out laughing.
“Khahahaha! This kid’s got jazz in her bones.”
Lydia nodded.
“Apparently so.”
Louise spoke in her usual calm voice.
“Yes. She knows how to play jazz.”
If Cynthia had done nothing but follow them, the three women would have hesitated.
But she had stepped forward exactly once.
And that one moment had not been excessive.
Lydia said,
“What I liked most was that even when you stepped forward, you didn’t start spraying notes everywhere.”
Katty pointed a finger toward the floor.
“Just enough. But when you did it, you laid the floor down solid.”
Louise quietly continued.
“It felt as though our sound finally had a floor beneath it. Something to keep it from scattering.”
For a moment, Cynthia could not say anything.
Lydia took out a document and set it down.
“Now let’s sign the contract.”
Cynthia blinked.
“The contract?”
“You’re still a student, so a full-time employment agreement would be difficult.”
“Employment agreement?”
Cynthia kept blinking.
Lydia answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“This band is a legal company. An LLC the three of us invested in and own together. Which means you’re going to be our first employee.”
Cynthia slowly repeated the word.
“Employee…”
Lydia nodded.
“Yes. We’re hiring you as the band’s new bassist. Part-time, for now.”
<0007. After Signing the Contract>
[I have a younger sister who plays trumpet in a band. They’re looking for someone to reinforce the rhythm section, and she asked whether I knew any promising students. I recommended you strongly. You have the ability and the potential. My only concern is that the band is based in New Orleans. They said they would cover your airfare and other expenses, so if you’re interested, go and audition.]
Cynthia had hesitated after receiving Professor Greg Wilson’s message and phone call.
But Berklee College of Music encouraged its students to take part in professional performances and recording work, so in the end, she had accepted the invitation.
Maybe it’ll add a line to my résumé. I’ll probably play a few sessions with them and that’ll be it.
Now, however, as Cynthia looked over the dense clauses of the employment agreement, she realized how lightly she had taken the whole thing.
One-year contract.
Minimum number of performances per year.
Mandatory rehearsal hours.
No use of drugs except those recognized as medically necessary?
No creating controversy through social media?
Well, I can understand that one as a professional conduct rule, but… what’s this? Maintain physical fitness and body weight?
Cynthia lifted her eyes from the contract and looked at the three women in front of her.
Come to think of it…
They were all beautiful.
They were dressed casually now, but Cynthia had seen videos online of the three performing in stage costumes designed specifically for the band.
Maintaining physical fitness for performances made sense.
Then Cynthia remembered how closely fitted their stage costumes were.
…Oh. That explains the weight requirement.
“What?”
Cynthia quickly dropped her gaze back to the contract.
“Oh. Nothing. I’ll keep it in mind.”
There were two copies.
Cynthia signed the final page of each one in turn.
Lydia took one copy, checked it, and slipped it into her own file. Then, as she placed Cynthia’s copy inside a thick envelope, she slowly read the name written on the final page.
“Cynthia Esther Lenosky. That’s a nice name. Polish?”
“Yes. I’m a Polish Jew. Though we don’t celebrate Hanukkah.”
“Ah… I wasn’t trying to ask about your religion. Sorry.”
Lydia handed her the envelope.
“It’s early January, so you’re still on winter break. You live with your parents?”
“Yes. They own a bakery… I help out there during breaks.”
“Any other family?”
“I have an older brother. He used to be a nurse, then became a paramedic.”
Lydia gave a faint laugh.
“Nice. I was in nursing school myself. Before I debuted as a pop singer.”
“Oh…?”
“One of my brothers runs a restaurant. The other is in the Coast Guard.”
Lydia leaned back in her chair with a smile.
Some of the tension left Cynthia’s face, and she smiled too.
Louise opened her mouth.
“As for me—”
Katty immediately cut in.
“Lou, save it for later. You start listing your résumé and you’ll scare the kid.”
Cynthia spoke up.
“Ms. St.Claire, I found an article about the competition you placed in when you were at Juilliard.”
She hesitated after saying it.
“Oh. Did I look you up too much?”
“No.”
Louise smiled briefly and set down her cup of water.
Cynthia added,
“I also saw that you’re married to a city councilman.”
Louise blinked.
“My. I don’t think that was ever in an article.”
“It was in a notice for a recent charity event.”
Katty grinned.
“What about me?”
Cynthia hesitated.
“Um… reviews calling you a self-taught trumpet prodigy, and…”
“Oh.”
Katty leaned forward with an amused smile.
“And? What else?”
“Um… well…”
The tips of Cynthia’s ears turned red.
“…that you have a same-sex spouse.”
Katty winked.
“Exactly! My wife is cute.”
Cynthia’s entire face reddened, and she had no idea where to look.
Lydia shook her head and gestured for Katty to back off a little.
“Cynthia. Katty has absolutely no reservations about teasing people. If she ever makes you uncomfortable, tell me.”
Cynthia’s eyes widened.
“…What?”
“If Katty crosses a line, I’ll stop her. It matters that a new member has time to settle in too.”
“N-no, no!”
Cynthia nearly bounced out of her chair, waving both hands.
“That’s not it! Ms. Fisher has been nothing but nice to me!”
Katty shrugged and burst out laughing.
“Good Lord, you’ve known me for what, a few hours, and you’re already defending me? What a sweet kid.”
Louise lowered her head, trying not to laugh.