Susan Scherman will lead The Robert Lawrence Orchestra in a performance on Aug. 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hamilton Park, as part of Weehawken’s free Summer Concert Series overlooking the New York skyline at Boulevard East and Duer Place. Multi-talented vocalist and Union City Commissioner of Public Affairs Lucio “The Cuban Kid” Fernandez will perform several Latin tunes and will be accompanied by master guitar player and composer Edgar Gonzalez, and brass and percussion instrumentalist Premik Russell Tubbs. Although originally slated to perform with the group at the event, Lisette Santiago will not be available and the group may name a substitute. WBGO Jazz Radio will also be in attendance, and the event will be filmed by Action Productions.
The musicians will perform jazz and classical music, and Brazilian and Latin rhythms and fusions with cungas, maracas, electric flutes and guitars. In rehearsals scheduled the previous month, the orchestra may veer away from some of the swing music to offer audiences a more relaxing atmosphere as they will be seated in the grass and enjoy something calmer and more meditative, said Scherman.
“It’s a serene setting at Hamilton Park… It overlooks the whole tip of the Hudson River… Edgar likes to play in that kind of a setting, because it involves a whole spiritual side,” said Scherman.
“We don’t have to go anywhere else like Broadway to find world-class musicians.” – Susan Scherman
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Scherman, a school nurse with the Union City school district, is one of the few female conductors in the business, and has held a number of concerts at the waterfront. She started the orchestra in 1994 and has been a professional involved in the music industry for more than three decades, spending 18 years on the road, performing with famous musicians, and incorporating much of the 1940s big band leaders’ arrangements into her repertoire. She has performed with Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich, the new Xavier Cugat Orchestra, Bob Crosby, Steve and Edie Lawrence, Cab Calloway, Peter Allen, Barbara Rosene, Keaton Douglas and Lilias White. The orchestra has performed at The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, The United Nations Vigil for International Peace, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Grand Central Partnership, Brooklyn Downtown Parnership, The Tenafly Chamber of Commerce, Weehawken Township events, and The Gala to Restore Hoboken, among others.
She is certified as a New York City, Empire State and Port Authority minority woman-owned business enterprise, owns 500 songs, her own instruments, and equipment.
“I believe in using talent around us – the ones that live here and work here. We don’t have to go anywhere else like Broadway to find world-class musicians,” she said.
She has known Fernandez since 2012, and they met while discussing film projects. Since then, she and her fiancé Mauro DeTrizio, a master editor and owner of Action Productions, have worked with Fernandez on films, aside from musical performances.
Gonzalez is also a well-known guitar player who has composed various pieces. He recently performed at Union City’s William V. Musto Cultural Center along with Tubbs. The two have performed and recorded music with well-known acts in the industry for decades.
The orchestra will also perform on Aug. 12 as a jazz trio featuring Angelina Martinetti, the daughter of Union City Commissioner Maryury Martinetti, at a free wine and cheese party concert for the public at Troy Towers at 380 Mountain Rd. in Union City from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The free, high-style event will include complimentary beverages.
The Susan Scherman Swing Band will perform on Sept. 16 for a second cocktail party concert, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the War Memorial Plaza at 46th Street and Broadway on the triangle. It will be free to the public with refreshments in a supper club style event.
The Aug. 9 concert is a part of a number of acts that appear on Sunday evenings, and is sponsored by Mayor Richard Turner and council. Attendees are invited to bring lawn chairs, blankets, cameras, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages. A rain date for the event is pending in September.