Some of Cole Broderick’s fondest musical memories involve dazzling fans in settings ranging from Albany’s Tulip Festival to Music Haven in Schenectady’s Central Park to the Freihofer Jazz Festival in the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

The composer-pianist whose credits also include garnering a Critic’s Choice from Billboard for his four-part Seasons of Saratoga CD collection and hand-written fan letters from the likes of FRASIER co-star David Hyde Pierce is on the threshold of what might be called The Fifth Season of his career.

“I want to keep the music of Benny Goodman , Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, George Gershwin, George M. Cohan, Hogie Carmichael, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Rodgers & Hammerstein and others alive,” says Broderick, who has been passionate about the piano since he began taking lessons near his boyhood home in Albany at age seven.

“I’ve recently begun taking a new look at songs by these great composers of bygone eras whose music is rarely heard anymore and have found the melodies as engaging as when I first heard my parents playing them on their old record player,” smiles Broderick.

While some of the songs date back as far as the early 1900s, the majority of tunes were popular during the 1930s and 1940s when those now residing in assisted living centers and nursing homes were in the prime of their lives. “Something magical happens when residents hear the songs that were a part of some of the greatest moments of their lives being performed once again in a live concert setting,” muses Broderick.

It also gives Broderick a lift to hear young staff members and the offspring of elderly residents praising his repertoire. “A lot of them are under the age of 30 and never had opportunities to hear the kind music I’m playing. Old music is brand new to members of today’s younger generation.” (Please see related testimonials below.)

Among the settings where Broderick has recently rekindled musical memories are: Beacon Pointe Memory Care Center in Clifton Park, Coburg Village in Rexford, The Daughters of Sarah in Albany, The Eddy in Cohoes, The Glen, The Landing and The Pines in Glens Falls, Prestwick Chase and Woodland Commons in Saratoga Springs and the Homes of the Good Shepherd in Malta, Saratoga and Wilton. He has also enjoyed entertaining the residents at the Saratoga County Nursing Home in Ballston Spa and the Saratoga Hospital Nursing Home.

Broderick, who now resides in Ballston Spa, NY, was still in his teens when he began studying and arranging and composition with Jerry Coker and Clifton Williams at the University of Miami and made campus history when he incorporated jazz with his classical performance in the senior recital. Greatly influenced in his college years by Oscar Peterson and Andre Previn, Broderick went on to receive impressive offers following his graduation with a degree in music. He opted instead to party, playing in bars and clubs between Fort Lauderdale and Lake Placid to support himself.

The artist's lifestyle finally caught up with him, and in 1980, he resolved to make a fresh start. Returning to his Capital Region roots, Broderick winterized a rustic log cabin that his late father built on the shores of Saratoga Lake in the 1930s and set about the business of getting his career back on track. After forming the Cole Broderick Quartet in 1992, Broderick recorded a demo tape of some of his original compositions and sent it to Festival Productions. The following year, his ensemble was booked to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Energized by the experience, Broderick recorded what would be the first in a collection of CDs celebrating the glorious Seasons of Saratoga. The flurry of publicity that surrounded the Billboard Critic’s Choice award that followed led to the playing of Broderick’s music on radio stations across the USA, Canada and parts of Europe. Broderick ultimately recorded eight CDs in between performing at music festivals, private parties and corporate events.

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