Bios
Brandy Irish
UPDATE: Leif and Brandy have relocated back to the new Hampshire Seacoast after the challenges of the past one and a half years. We hope to be seeing you soon in the Seacoast area and beyond!
Brandy Lorraine Billingsley Irish-Gerjuoy was born in New Rochelle, New York and grew up mostly in The North Shore of Massachusetts and the Southern Maine seacoast Community of York. Brandy’s father, William (Buzz) Billingsley, was an accomplished jazz musician who played 17 instruments and was a skilled arranger besides. Brandy began playing the organ at age 7 and by age 12 was playing the organ for church services. Brandy continued her passion for music throughout high school and enrolled in the Berklee school of Music in Boston afterward, supporting herself and paying her tuition by playing gigs. Through her association with Berklee and her father’s connections in the business, Brandy had the opportunity to know and work with many of the great jazz musicians of the 50s and up through the nineties. Three of her musical associates from Boston are now the core of Tony Bennet’s band. As well as playing the organ, Brandy is also a skilled pianist and accomplished jazz vocalist. During her time in the Boston music scene, Brandy performed as a featured vocalist in several area big bands, pianist and vocalist in small groups, and as a solo act on piano and vocals. In addition to performing, Brandy also taught piano and voice for many years and has had students in the Pittsburgh area as well. Most recently Brandy was music director for the Saint Mark Parish which included directing the vocal choir the hand bell choir and cantoring as well as playing the organ and piano for services. Brandy was also music director for a musical passion play performed by members of the parish and some neighboring parishes.
Brandy and Leif have been playing Music together since they met in 2006 in Portsmouth, NH. Their relationship was almost nipped in the bud by a pair of dirty white gloves with beat up thimbles on the ends but they persevered and continued. Together they have more than 100 years of musical experience between them. Grab the next chance you get to see and hear them perform.
Leif Gerjuoy
UPDATE: Leif and Brandy have relocated back to the new Hampshire Seacoast after the challenges of the past one and a half years. We hope to be seeing you soon in the Seacoast area and beyond!
Leif Gerjuoy was born in Hollywood, raised mostly in Pittsburgh, PA and lived for more than 30 years in New Hampshire. Since 2013 Leif and his wife Brandy have lived in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Leif is a multi-instrumental percussionist with a specialty on the washboard, which he kidnapped from the laundry room to astonish young and old alike. Leif Gerjuoy is ½ of the BrandyLeaf Duo in which, along with his wife Brandy on piano and vocals, he plays washboard, drum kit, mallet percussion and sings. They have recently been featured at the Carnegie Library’s Sunday music series and at the Azorean Café in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood. Leif also performs on the washboard with Colonel Eagleburger’s High Stepping Goodtime Band,(see below) a brass and percussion ensemble that has been featured in many Pittsburgh area parades, festivals and other events. They can be seen rehearsing at Schenley Plaza In Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhoods most Tuesday evening when the weather permits. All are welcome to stop by and listen. Leif has also been a featured performer in Washboard concerts in Ohio Connecticut, most recently in Monterey CA, at the Monterey Jazz Bash by the Bay in March of this year. Leif also can be seen playing washboard on a tune or two with Jazz Alto wizard Richie Cole on Sunday afternoons at the Village Tavern in Pittsburgh’s West End. Richie calls Leif his “secret weapon”
Leif was raised on the music of Leadbelly, Josh White, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald as well as musical comedies and classical. By growing up in Pittsburgh he was exposed to many of the greats of the Pittsburgh Jazz tradition and of course the rock and roll revolution of the sixties. Leif loves music that blend the roots of different styles in new ways. After teaching and playing music in the Northern Virginia area for seven years, Leif relocated to New Hampshire in 1982 and for the next thirty years participated in the music scene in the Seacoast area which featured both thriving folk and jazz communities.