Steve Kramer: “No Greater Gig Than Teaching” — at Littlebrook and Riverside
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he resume of Steve Kramer, music teacher and band director at Littlebrook and Riverside Elementary Schools, goes on and on, with jobs in schools, colleges, multiple facets of the music industry, and the bakery business too. The list of celebrities he’s played with, pictured in photos with him on his website, skramer.com, looks like a list of Who’s Who in the world of
popular music over the past 30 years. If you didn’t run into Steve at his family bakery in Trenton, where he worked at different times earlier in his career, you might have encountered him, and been influenced by his virtuoso musicianship and love of music, as keyboardist in the “New Artie Shaw Band” in the 1980s; as a performer in the 2014 film Whiplash, di-
rected by a former student; as a musician, conductor, and composer with the National Dance Institute under the direction of Jacques D’Amboise; as music director at Foundation Theater in Burlington; as pianist for the summer arts program at the Peddie School; as conductor and keyboardist for the Ice Capades; leading his band at a wedding; at the Nassau Inn where he was house pianist for eight years; at any one of dozens of clubs, restaurants and hotels, jazz concerts and parties in the New Jersey-New York-Pennsylvania area where he has performed or in the classrooms and rehearsal and performance halls where he has taught at Phillip’s Academy (Andover, Massachusetts), Westminster Conservatory, the Peddie School, Mercer County Community College, and throughout the Princeton Public Schools (PPS). “There’s no greater gig than teaching kids,” said Steve, now working with third, fourth and fifth graders at Littlebrook and Riverside. “It’s not a job. It’s a calling. It’s the greatest thing to introduce young kids to music. I find that I have the heart of a ten-year-old. This work keeps me young — and having my type of personality really helps with the job that I do.” Peg Banks, Steve’s colleague in elementary music education at PPS, stated, “Steve infuses his teaching
ARTIST, TEACHER, PERFORMER: Steve Kramer reflects on his exciting career as performer and teacher—from jazz clubs, wedding bands and the “Ice Capades” to Littlebrook and Riverside Elementary Schools. with his incredible musical experiences delivered with a big helping of his fantastic sense of humor and his interesting life experiences (he really should write a book). His students enjoy his classes and return year after year to visit and thank him for his encouragement and artistry.” Steve grew up in Trenton, where “music was always big in my house. There was always a lot of music going on, whether it was opera or jazz or Broadway.” He started piano lessons at age 11, at the instigation of his grandmother, then “by about age 14 I started to love jazz. Because I had a good ear and loved jazz, I assimilated the music naturally.”
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Influential Teachers Thomas Passerella and Thomas Grice, music teachers at Trenton High School, welcomed Steve into the music room and helped him to shape his future career. He would get a pass from study hall to go to the music room, where he’d sit down at the electric piano, “and Mr. Passerella and Mr. Grice would work with me. Those guys were so great. They were very, very encouraging to young musicians.” Steve played with several different bands during his high school years, eventually trading in his Hammond organ for a Fender Rhodes piano and joining a jazz fusion group, where the group’s older and more experienced drummer, Dick Wilshaw, introduced him to the realities of the business side of the music world. Though originally his passion was theater, when it came time to apply to college, Steve decided to go to music school, and, at the urging of one of his best friends, applied to and was accepted at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Thrown into competition there with a range of musicians who had been classically trained, most of whom had a significant head start — “these guys can really play!” — he doubled down
on h is musical com m itments. “I practiced like a maniac for those years in college, and summers when I came home I would practice for six hours on Saturday and Sunday, and, during the week, I would come home from my job and practice for about two hours.” During his last year at college, Steve took on a parttime job teaching jazz piano at Andover Academy, and after college started playing gigs in the Boston area. He became the piano player at a comedy club, the Comedy Connection, then picked up additional jobs in the Boston theater district. He continued to teach at Andover one or two days a week, and toured with a couple of shows. Artie Shaw Band A breakthrough in his performing career came in the mid 1980s when the legendary big band leader Ar tie Shaw came out of retirement and auditioned local Boston musicians for spots in his new band. Steve got hired and for the next two years he toured all over the country, plus a trip to Berlin, with the New Artie Shaw Band. His first encounter with the 75-year-old Mr. Shaw was tense. “Before we went Continued on Next Page
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