Margo Guryan
Albums
About
Margo Guryan was born in Far Rockaway, New York, a suburb about fifty minutes drive from Manhattan. She attended grade school and high school there, beginning piano study at the age of 6 years. As soon as she was able to read and write, Margo wrote poems. And as soon as she mastered some elemental piano, she ‘made up’ songs. Continuing her study of music, Margo enrolled in Boston University’s School of Fine and Applied Arts and graduated in 1959 with a degree in composition. Having fallen in love with jazz, her writing tended in this direction, and she had her first recorded song (“Moon Ride” by Chris Connor) while a junior in college. She also went to the Lenox School of Jazz, a 3-week summer program where the teachers were such noted musicians as Bill Evans, Milt Jackson, Max Roach, Jim Hall, Gunther Schuller and John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Her fellow students were Ornette Coleman, Gary McFarland, Arif Mardin and others who became well known to the music world. Following the school session, she was signed to MJQ Music by Schuller and Lewis and soon after was given Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” to fashion into a vocal version. Margo’s songs were beginning to be recorded more often, but listening to pop music was a “no-no” for jazz musicians. She was therefore stunned when her friend Dave Frishberg, a noted jazz pianist and songwriter, directed her attention to The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”. It marked the end of her jazz writing and the beginning of her pop compositions. Though she never considered herself a singer, her songs had a unique appeal when she recorded demos to show to “real” pop artists. The interest in these performances led to her 1968 album, “Take A Picture” on Bell Records. Though the album received positive reviews at the time, Margo’s reluctance to perform and promote the record assured its descent into the (records) dust bin of history. It was renewed interest sparked in Japan that caused the re-issue in 2000 of “Take A Picture” there (Trattoria), in Europe (Siesta) and the US (Franklin Castle). Though her songs have been recorded by many jazz and pop artists (Carmen McCrae, Anita O’Day, Julie London, Harry Belafonte, Spanky and Our Gang, Astrud Gilberto, [Mama] Cass Elliot, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell, and Jackie DeShannon), she was most gratified by the sudden popularity of her lone album as well as an album of her song demos released in both the U.K. and U.S. Her recording and video of "16 Words" (Margo set music to George Bush's infamous 2003 State of the Union Iraq claim) was released by the U.K.'s Pure Mint Recordings in 2007.