Music of Blues Queens to Hit Glen Cove Library

 Blues will be on tap on this Sunday, when Gail Storm brings her distinct vocals and piano playing to , beginning at 2 p.m.

Storm identifies her influences as ranging from Bessie Smith to Ella Fitzgerald, even Fats Waller and Louis Jordan. She has been compared to present day popular performers like Diana Krall and Marcia Ball. Nonetheless, she has created a style all her own, characteristic in strong, rhythmic, heavy left hand-oriented bass lines. 

Storm’s presentation at the library will be a unique multi-media event.

“I do a lot of concerts and library presentations,” she said. “This one is in recognition of Women’s History Month. I call it ‘Women in the Blues,’ and it focuses on the blues queens of the 1920s and ‘30s: Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ma Rainey, among others. I play some of the original recordings made by these women, then show how the music can be updated, using some of my own arrangements. And I end with a film clip of Alberta Hunter, who had a revival when she was in her 80s.”

A native New Yorker, who grew up in New Jersey, Storm began playing piano at an early age. Then in high school, she played recreationally, performed as an accompanist in musical productions and wrote some of her own songs. After entering the University of South Carolina, majoring in art, Storm switched her major to philosophy, graduating cum laude, then received her masters in philosophy from Notre Dame.

Returning to South Carolina, she became the first art therapist in the Greenville Hospital System. 

Determined to pursue her interest in music, Storm headed back to New York, and has lived in Huntington for two decades. In her free time, she worked on the intricacies of the blues. 

She credits the development of her technique to her mentorship with the late blues piano great Bross Townsend. 

Among the accolades for her performances is this from John Platt of WFUV FM and the Huntington Arts Council: “Gail Storm doesn’t just have an appealing voice and piano chops. She’s also got a wonderful band, great taste in material, and a true joy in performing.”