The popular songs of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley in the 1930s and 40s are a huge part of any jazz musician's repertoire, and nobody sang these timeless melodies and witty, urbane lyrics better than Frank Sinatra. With impeccable timing, a mellifluous voice, and boundless charisma, Sinatra came to personify the sophistication and style of the music we now call the Great American Songbook—the same tunes that provided the launching point for the daring improvisations of bebop artists like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Although they might seem to occupy different ends of the jazz spectrum, modern jazz pioneers from Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins to Joe Lovano and John Zorn have acknowledged Sinatra as a major influence. The Stanford Jazz Festival's tribute to the life and music of Ol' Blue Eyes features an extraordinary group of musicians who honor the legacy of Sinatra's golden age while carrying it into the future: trombonist/vocalist Danny Grewen, multi-reed master Jim Rothermel, saxophonist Noel Jewkes, pianist Larry Dunlap, bassist Seward McCain, and drummer Vince Lateano.
Inside Jazz: The Voice that Could Sing Nearly Anything
Speaker: Alisa Clancy, KCSM Radio Host/Operations Manager
1:30 pm, free with concert ticket