At St. Gerard Majella A Singer Grows Past Ballads

When asked what he loves best about performing, local Wantagh musician Jeff Jacobs pauses for a minute as an excited, mischievous look comes into his eyes. His mouth cups into a smile. "I don't know," he says softly. "It's the personal connection with the audience. That'd have to be it," he says after thinking for a moment.

Jacobs, who grew up on the Wantagh-Bellmore border and graduated from Wantagh High School, was recently performing an intimate set at a local venue in Port Jefferson Station, the Saint Gerard Majella. The room is dimly lit, with the acoustics of the latest act booming through the intimate space.

Beginning with "City Lights", Jacobs relays the story of a lovesick man, left empty by the absence of the woman who captures his heart, the void of which cannot be filled by friends, family or big city lights. Later on, Jacobs' takes listeners back to his most popular track, "The Necklace", a sweet song in which Jacobs details the tragic love story of an elderly man trying to reconnect with his former love and mother of his child, left some in the audience in tears. With each strum of the guitar, he plucks at listener's heart strings. It's no wonder then that, as soon as the set was over, each patron lined up to purchase the CD and that listeners were more than eager to join his mailing list.

Jacobs was the last to perform that evening in Port Jefferson Station, and by all accounts, his music fit the ambience of the venue perfectly. Dazzling the audience with "brand-spankin' new" songs, such as the catchy, Train-esque melody "As Long As You Are Mine," kept the audience smiling with cutesy lyrics and an upbeat melody. Fans of Jacobs' realize that his new songs are a marked change from the soft-acoustic ballads he used to make. Yet, the change too is appreciated. After all, growth as an artist Jacobs' feels, "is necessary".

Perhaps it is Jacobs' level of lyrical mastery which gets fans lining up outside to purchase his album. From his catchy, radio ready songs to his most intimate, Jacobs warmly engages the audience, getting the locals to clapping, cheering and in some cases, slow dancing in the background of the venue.

Creating such successful songs does not always come easily. "There are some songs that just write themselves," he relates. "Then there are others…man, others that you just can't get write. This last song...I finished it last night actually. No one has heard it before. Originally, it was totally different...but, a song is never really finished".

Smiling brightly after explaining his set list that evening and making an animated expression, that same light of excitement comes back into Jacobs' eyes.  Seeing that, one can't help but become excited to mark Jacobs' growth as an artist.