familiar faces
■ by Kim O’Connell | photo by Michael Ventura
Jazz musician Lennie Cujé at home in Arlington
Good Vibes Born in Nazi Germany, Lennie Cujé sought freedom, and found it in jazz. THE WALLS OF Lennie Cujé’s living and dining rooms are covered in memorabilia—photos of the many musicians he’s played with, signed notes from politicians, holiday cards and letters, special citations and more. I’m leaning in to read an autographed photo of Bill Clinton that closes with “You are a true friend,” when Cujé draws my attention to another memento that he seems even
20
prouder to show off. It’s a plaque given to him 20 years ago by students of what was then Washington-Lee High School (now Washington-Liberty), thanking him for sharing his music and his remarkable life with them. Cujé, a renowned jazz musician, was born a few miles north of Frankfurt, Germany, into a musical family (his mother was an opera singer, his father an orchestra conductor) on
Jan. 1, 1933, right before the world changed. “I had 30 days of the old Germany before Hitler took over on January 30th,” he says. “I even got a medallion for being one of the first born in the Third Reich.” Like most German boys of that period, he was conscripted into the Hitler Youth, where he received militaristic training and Nazi indoctrination. To him, the brutal tactics were suspect. “They drive you to the limit of endurance,” he says. “It’s almost sadistic. You get thrown in the mud in your uniform and then you get 30 minutes to get that cleaned up. It’s not a life. I didn’t know jazz then, but it was inside me already. Then I went to this music boarding school, which made it easier.” During World War II, Cujé and his family were separated as the music
January/February 2022 ■ ArlingtonMagazine.com
familiar faces.indd 20
12/1/21 9:24 AM
