Fleurine

“Hi! I’m Fleurine, and I’m from Holland, and I wrote lyrics to a Monk song.”

That’s how an upbeat Dutch conservatory student introduced herself to musical multi-hyphenate Don Sickler at the 1994 JazzTimes Convention in New York. Thelonious Monk had just been a topic of discussion on a publishing panel featuring Sickler, and this aspiring vocalist, visiting the city for a few short weeks, was eager to learn more about the business.

Sickler gave her a quick education. “He said, ‘What! You can’t do that. Did you record it anywhere? We can sue you,’” Fleurine recalls with a laugh. For most, such an interaction would’ve ended the story. Fleurine, however, was undeterred. “I remembered that I had my little Walkman cassette recorder in my handbag, so I