My life has been driven by music. It started with my father, who played piano by ear in the key of C after playing violin in the Columbia Orchestra. I often enjoyed his playing, which happened at family gatherings and parties with my parents’ friends.
I think I started piano lessons when I was around 7, learning 3-part chords, and was not the greatest student.
Years later, I heard the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, which exposed me to my first taste of jazz which I loved.
When I graduated high school, I began working on Wall Street selling securities, researching and writing research reports, and raising money for several companies, including one that developed indoor skydiving.
But the fact was, I never loved Wall Street. It was my father’s business, and he was happy to have me follow in his footsteps, but I was not so happy.
Continuing on my musical path, the next event that helped shape my love of music was when a family friend, famed composer and arranger Johnny Mandel, visited and, as he was leaving, played a complex chord on our piano that opened my mind to harmonic possibilities beyond the simple 3-part chords I had learned.
Of course, I listened to lots of music, from the Beatles and James Taylor, Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind & Fire, to Sinatra and Tony Bennett, who became my favourite singer. I also enjoyed classical music, including Satie, Ravel, and Debussy.
Finally, I was living in Los Angeles and listening to the jazz station there when I heard a very interesting Cello Quartet playing a combination of jazz and classical music. The artist was Roger Kellaway, a musician’s musician who had been Bobby Darin’s musical director and played piano on hundreds of albums, including for Sinatra and Streisand.
As luck would have it, I was renting a room in a home, and my landlord was a friend of Roger’s. A few days later, I met Roger by phone, and a few months later we met in New York and began what became a 30+ year friendship.
Along the way, Roger heard me sing and play and suggested we do an album together. That idea finally manifested when I was 82 in an album called Out of Silence. Originally planned as a live recording in L.A., the album became an international project due to COVID. Roger recorded piano in Ojai, California, while I laid down vocals in a studio in Launceston, Tasmania.
It was the thrill of a lifetime for me to work with Roger. I studied with a vocal coach to get my voice into the best shape of my life, and the result is an album I am very proud of.
It features several original songs of mine and some of my favorite songs by well-known composers, including Tell Me My Name from Roger’s score for an animated feature that opens and closes the album.
I believe it’s never too late to do what lights you up and hope this album encourages others—especially elders—to follow their dreams.
You can can listen to my album at: https://jeffhutner.bandcamp.com/album/out-of-silence. And to learn more about Roger’s stellar career, visit www.rogerkellaway.com.
© Copyright 2025 Jeff Hutner. All Rights Reserved.
Jeff is a retired Wall Street executive living in Tasmania. He is the former editor and publisher of New Paradigm Digest and the LA Bargain Book. Most recently, at age 82 he completed an album of songs on which he sand with jazz legend Roger Kellaway. You can listen to his album at: https://jeffhutner.bandcamp.com/album/out-of-silence
