An Evening of Food and Musical Fare at Mary's Market

“Love what you do and do what you love”

I've been attending events at for the last year or so.  Although the market is just down the street from me, it is only recently that I have been able to spend time here and enjoy the ongoing events and eat the fare. 

Mary’s proprietress, Carolyn French-Dapper grew up in Sierra Madre on North Adams. She took over the operation three years ago in November. 

As she puts it, she fled corporate America and a staff of 80 people. What she has done at Mary’s is let it evolve to a new level, one the community wants - not necessarily just her vision. Working and living in the canyon, she loves her customers...

"When they scream for ice cream, you get them ice cream."

Mary is no stranger to preparing food.  A member of a large family, she began putting dinner on the table for six people when her mother went to work. She was only in fifth grade at that time.

Her mom said “if you can read, you can cook” and handed her Betty Crocker. She started out with Betty and had abandoned all cooking from boxes and packages by high school.  As the chef at Mary’s, she specializes in fresh healthy food.  Among her favorite things to cook she peruses..."might be quiche".  She loves to bake and she’s great on the grill.

Carolyn has no agenda at Mary’s other than to provide a safe place for people to gather.

"It’s a small neighborhood market cafe that brings community and people together. Artists and  musicians can showcase and sell their work here, its a fun place to come in and look around. There is a regular crowd that drifts through for food, and entertainment. I’ve never advertised. It’s all word of mouth."

Local musician Jean Sudbury organizes the music at Mary’s. There are revolving Art shows, music on weekends, and once a month on second Wednesday.  You can find hand made tiles, blown glass, local musicians’ cds, basic groceries, and some antiques.

Tonight Jean Sudbury has organized an evening of food and music with the help Carolyn and the food is delicious: barbecued chicken and ribs, gratineed potatoes and green beans. They might be the best green beans I've had in a long time. For dessert we had a large brownie drizzled with dark chocolate.

Now, at 7 p.m., Jean is sitting playing music with a group of local musicians. Greg Schneeman and Jean both travel with Renaissance Fairs and Lark Camp, a music and dance festival based out of Mendocino County.

Fred and Joyce, two others with Jean tonight, just got married two months ago at the Renaissance Fair at the Santa Fe Dam. Jean has been exploring music with a Bowed Psaltery, which was gifted to her two years ago by a fellow artist.  

They are playing Renaissance period music.  Lots of the pieces are Contra Dances and a couple of women here are dancing around Mary’s.  Jean has been  a session musician for TV and movies for over 30 years.  She has played with several orchestras including the Crystal Cathedral in Orange county.  Last night she played at a restaurant in Arcadia, Matt Denny's, in singer-songwriter night.  Her gift is that she has the ability to sight read and improvise and create music with anyone and with any style on the spot.

The music is quite mesmerizing and I'm amazed how skilled the musicians are.  I'm sitting with Van Fox, Jean’s partner,  who has been explaining the music to me.  He is an outdoor recreation guide and adventure travel guide.  He has run an outdoor adventure and travel service for 15 years.  It started with two military bases.  Fort Douglas and Dougway Proving Ground; and then for the University of Utah outdoor programs where he was also a docent at the Red Butte Garden and Arboretum in the foothills of Salt Lake.  He and Jean share a garden together on the corner of Alegria and Mountain Trail. Van’s story is a different blog post. 

For now, here’s Jean’s story of her music in her own words. 

"Jean Sudbury is an artist; a musician, who has lived in Sierra Madre for 18 years. Her artistry is clearly expressed through her music, photography and her garden. As a professional violinist and mandolinist, her music has supported her since 1975, the year she arrived in Los Angeles. So very young and inexperienced, she was determined to make her statement in the big city, and not let anything or anyone get in her way. Her statement was that true artistry is the most honest form of communication, and anyone will understand and accept you if your artistry is unique, yet flexible; not a facsimile of someone else’s mastery. Her statement remains the same after many years and a most interesting range of experience.

"An artist travels on a fine line between commerciality and making a statement which affects observers on varied levels, perhaps inspiring the individual to achieve a higher level of thought, of communication, just for a moment.  Through her music, often inspired by nature, Jean communicates the flow of life which stimulates humans, plants and animals to keep on moving forward. This flow can be defined in numerous  ways.  Jean illustrates the flow with her music, striving to share joy with others through her music.

"As a true life student of the mastery of music, Jean is thankful to have studied, worked, performed and recorded with some of the world’s greatest musicians, some of them alive today. Others have passed on leaving treasured memories and musical motifs to further share.  Many of the wonderful composers and performers of history have influenced Jean’s musical sense and have broadened her awareness of styles of music from across the globe and from eons past. That explains why she looked at her cactus garden one sunny summer morning and was inspired to write a piece called ‘’Impromptu’’ which is a French Beguine with a smooth, chromatic melody. This piece works well as a duo for  violin and guitar, a violin and cello duo, and as a mandolin ensemble piece, or a new combination yet to be discovered.

"Jean wrote a Tango for her cat, ‘’Darla,’’ with tremolo because Darla loves to purr, and an impish counter melody, because it fits her Tabby personality. A quirky Tango called ‘’Stapellia Grandiflora’’ describes an unusually beautiful autumn blooming flower which attracts ants and flies. A lazy 2 step swing called “Daisy’’ makes a listener want to sway with the breeze. This piece was originally written with solo mandolin in mind. It is sweet as a violin piece with mandolin ensemble accompaniment. She is in the process of recording these numbers here in Sierra Madre, and will soon have CDs for sale. Jean has a very creative photography collection for sale at jsmusic@redbubble.com.  It could be said that her music inspires her garden to grow and her garden, and other natural phenomena, inspires her music to progress. A nice combination, wouldn’t you say?

"People ask what style of music Jean plays. It is a bit indefinable because of the varied influences. Maybe we can call it ‘’Garden Museart.’’ That is a fitting description. 

"As gardens grow and change, so does Jean’s music. Other creative artists, with whom she is fortunate to share her music and theirs, add their touch and help her music grow and develop into new works. A synergy is usually developed during performances and recordings of Jean’s music. The Cosmic communication continues.

"This is Jean’s Music."

I encourage you to visit Mary’s Market as I did last night.  It is another spot like , to witness the soaring creativity that is flourishing in Sierra Madre right now. 

I’ll be exhibiting some photographs there for your pleasure as well.  Take a day and stroll through our canyons and streets.  You’ll be delighted by what you find there, and you will be touched by the authentic welcome that you receive as you travel.