More About Musical Legends

Musical Legends offers arts in education programs throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. We have developed highly-acclaimed interactive programs that employ visual and performing arts to demonstrate the stories and influences of the cultures that make our world so rich and diverse.

Musical Legends has assembled some of the finest musicians, artists and performers in the area to bring the arts and culture to life for children.

Lauren Hooker, Artistic Director

Lauren is a multi-talented performer and educator .

As a vocalist, composer, lyricist and pianist, she began her career in the early eighties, working extensively with top agencies performing pop, jazz, and classical music throughout the Metropolitan area. Through the years, she has been a featured vocalist in many New York City night spots including Sweetwaters, The West End Cafe’ as well as the Dewar's and Greenwich Village Jazz Festivals.

Lauren began piano at age four. By her teens, she was singing classical repertoire with the NJ Schola Cantorum under the direction of her father, Louis Hooker.

After receiving her Music Education degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, she continued her studies in Jazz Theory with Kenny Baron at Rutgers University, conducting at Manhattan School of Music and Orff Schulwerk Music at Bloomingdale House of Music.

Her private studies include jazz piano with Keith McDonald and voice with Paul Gallagher. Lauren’s jazz repertoire highlights original compositions as well as instrumental standards set to her own lyrics, many of which have been featured on Cable TV, Broadway to Business in Manhattan, For Arts Sake in New Brunswick and QPTV in Queens.

She has performed and/or recorded with many noted jazz musicians including Billy Holiday's pianist, Mal Waldron; guitarist, Vic Juris; and bass players Calvin Hill and Reggie Workman, to name a few. Her latest Jazz CD Right Where I Belong is due to come out this Fall. It includes Allen Farnham (piano), Rufus Reid (bass) and Tim Horner (drums), and features many of her own compositions and lyrics set to jazz standards.

Formerly a music teacher at the acclaimed Bank Street School for Children in Manhattan, the Montessori Children's House in Morristown and the Neighborhood School in Manhattan, she is currently developing the Music Program at The Hamilton Park Montessori School in Jersey City and teaches privately in her home in Teaneck. One of the co-founders of the former, award winning Teaneck Cultural Arts Coalition: "bringing people together by celebrating cultural diversity through the arts", Lauren presently sits on the Advisory Board for the Puffin Cultural Forum, a project of the Puffin Foundation, Ltd., and serves as the Production Manager and Grants Coordinator for the Teaneck Community Chorus. She will teach her Jazz Vocal Workshop at the The Creative Center in NYC this fall.