Short Fuse Podcast #50: The Power of Music — Living With Hope

For years, Jeannine Otis, jazz pianist, vocalist, conductor, and educator, has used music and poetry to bring healing into communities in crisis, including prisons, community centers, and churches. In this episode of the Short Fuse, Jeannine talks with Elizabeth Howard about her musical career and theater piece Living With Hope, developed from a writing workshop based on Otis’s book The Gathering: City Prayers, City Hopes.

Otis was born and raised in Detroit, and now lives in Staten Island. She has been a singular and substantial voice for four decades, drawing equally from jazz, classical, dance, gospel, and pop genres. New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini described Otis as a “show-stopper” in the role of Ella Worker in Downtown Music Production’s staging of The Cradle Will Rock. She is a graduate of Wellesley College (Presser Music Scholar), the only African-American to win that award. She also holds a masters degree from Emerson College in Boston, where she was a teaching fellow.

Jeannine has toured as a vocalist with many distinguished artists, including Donald Byrd, Grover Washington Jr., Vishnu Wood, and Arthur Prysock, among many others. She is the music director of St. Mark’s in the Bowery in New York City. The episode also features a 2020 performance recorded at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery of “All Good Gifts,” performed by Rufus Muller, written by Matthias Claudius; part of the Uniquely St. Mark’s series; music director, Jeannine Otis.