Reverend Mary Murray Shelton on stage with Music Director, Sky Nelson (Piano), and band during an event at Global Heart Spiritual Center.

The Nature of Music

Music that accentuates melodic and harmonic development is of special interest to me. My music experience ranges from blues, rock, ballads, folk, jazz, gospel, light opera, and musical theatre...to Chopin, in no particular order.

One element of my musical path that continues to enhance my creativity is a multi-faceted music course I completed some years ago that entailed applied classical theory (with Clara Jean Curzon), composition, performance (with Warren Balfour), and vocal technique (with Nella Girolo). I completed the program while attending college in San Luis Obispo, CA. Thirty students enrolled in the program, and two years later only seven of us graduated.

Upon graduating, I moved to the East Bay Area, San Francisco and continued studying advanced vocal technique and the rudiments of applied jazz piano at Hayward State University. One year later I moved to Santa Cruz where I completed courses in advanced jazz theory/composition with Ray Brown who at one time was the leading arranger/composer for Stan Kenton.

Currently, I am studying jazz saxophone with David Shrader, a Sonoma County based musician who Coltrane, Monk, and Miles Davis would have loved to be on stage with. David performs with several groups in the SF Bay Area, and one of his acts you definitely want to catch is the jazz quartet, Planet B.

My favorite teachers have been Ray Brown with whom I studied advanced jazz composition, and Nella Girolo with whom I studied advanced vocal technique. My favorite composers and theorists have been Nelson Riddle, Duke Ellington, Jerry Coker, Mark Levine, and Thelonius Monk. The old blues singer Jimmy Reed is my all time favorite harmonica player. My favorite master of melodic development is Ella Fitzgerald.

I hope you enjoy my music.

Make it a great day!

-Morton

Of Interest

The Bhagavad-Gita, the sixth Canto of the Mahabharata, the great epic of India, says, “One’s own work done imperfectly is far better than another’s done perfectly.” Each time a new idea filters into your consciousness, test the waters to see if it is “your” work.

Two books of interest are by Don Miguel Ruiz, based on ancient Toltec wisdom. The names of the two books are 'The Four Agreements, Toltec Wisdom' and ‘The Four Agreements, Study Guide’ -

Using the four agreements to master the dream of one’s life is the essence of these books. The focus is to evolve one's dream/life experience/focus so one is living/dreaming a life that is not only wholesome, loving, and considerate, but is a life that truly reflects who one is and what one is. Many of us have, at one time or another, bought into ideas about our lives that don't serve who we really are. There is no better ‘moment’ than now to undo those agreements.