An instrumental Jazz group performed well-known songs from the 1930s to the 1960s at the Hicksville Public Library on Sunday May 18.
Paul Effman Trio is made up of clarinet and saxophone player Paul Effman, a Syosset resident. The other two members of the trio are Tom Beckner, a Hicksville resident, on the piano and Roy Sparacino, a Smithtown resident, on the bass guitar.
The band played over a dozen songs including “Blue Skies”, “Our Love is Here to Stay”, “Bye Bye Blackbird”, and “My Way”. Throughout the performance, Effman switched back and forth between playing the saxophone and clarinet.
Members of the audience were clapping their hands and tapping their feet to the music, and they even joined in singing the lyrics to a few songs such as “Pennies from Heaven”.
It has been three years since the start of the Paul Effman Trio. Every Tuesday night, the trio performs at Luce, an Italian restaurant in East Norwich. They also perform at other events including corporate events, parties, weddings, town affairs, church affairs, and libraries. The Paul Effman Trio will play anywhere for anyone who gives them a call.
The three men in the Paul Effman Trio are just a group of guys who have a passion for live music and who love playing it. Effman owns a family music business, while Beckner teaches piano and guitar lessons and has a music studio in his house. Sparacino enjoys playing his bass as a retired engineer.
“We all studied and were interested in popular and jazz from the time we started playing,” said Effman.
One member of the audience is used to listening to live jazz music in her own home. Glen Cove resident, Hildreth Golub, has a son who plays the tenor sax. Her son would play jazz music throughout her house for many years.
Although Golub is not a fan of improvisational jazz, she enjoyed the live jazz music performance by Paul Effman Trio. She said that the music reminded her of New York when she was younger.
She is a fan of classical music, as well as rock and roll and modern music. “I like cheerful, happy music,” said Golub.
Golub travels to libraries throughout Nassau County to watch performances that interest her. As someone who goes to performances all the time, she thought the Paul Effman Trio was excellent.
Paul Effman Trio tries to tailor their performances to the type of audience they get. They change the songs they play to accommodate what they think the audience would like to hear. On Sunday, the trio came to the Hicksville Public Library with the intention of playing a lot of Billy Joel music, but changed the songs when they saw a mainly older audience. “Today looked like they probably wanted to hear more oldies,” said Beckner.
The trio stays they are all constantly thinking of new ideas and new songs to play to keep their performances exciting.
