JAZZ STANDARDS/CABARET

19 MP3 Songs
EASY LISTENING: Cabaret, JAZZ: Big Band



Details:
Shortly after birth, when the doctor spanked my bottom and I immediately broke into a rousing version of 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning', it was apparent that this bouncing boy loved music. It seems ever since then I've been singing singing singing. I loved any and all types of music...especially if I was singing along. My first live performance, my virgin "gig" so to speak, was in the 3rd grade at a PTA fashion show (wearing a fringed western vest, matching rust corduroys, and a burnt sienna western shirt with snap buttons!) when I sang Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World" at one point even descending from the stage and walking into the audience to shake hands. If that's not the sign of a born performer I'd like to know what is. Oh well, I'd seen Tom Jones and Tony Bennett do it. In 6th grade I got involved with an Explorer scout troupe. As part of our service to the community we would go to various retirement homes and children's hospitals performing skits and musical numbers - it worked for this Catholic boy - it was a good deed and dinner theatre all rolled in one. By 8th grade I was singing constantly...some might even say incessantly. In addition to theater I worked my pipes as a proud member of madrigal groups, choruses, guitar groups, and "Catholic gig of gigs" as a church soloist. I was also part of a traveling musical troupe, doing theatrical reviews for special occasions throughout my high school years. That was the first time I ever got paid for singing and once I got handed that check something else clicked in my mind...hmmm...you mean I can get paid for this too? That was just the icing on the cake and just as sweet. In the mid 1990s I worked as a street performer (but NEVER a mime!) for two years. My best friend KevinEcker and I banded to become Frick and Frack. We could be found harmonizing while he played the ukulele (it was very Me and You and a Dog Named Boo), performing at street fairs, on "L" platforms - basically anywhere and everywhere. During this time I was also involved in local theater productions. In the later half of the 1990s I took a break from theater to concentrate more on my music. Around that time I began doing a cabaret show and have worked consistently as a nightspot performer ever since. In 2001 the final piece of the nightclub entertaining puzzle came together when I ran into an old friend, incredible "tickler of the ivories", and inciter of pianist envy John Paluch. We've have been working together ever since, making great music balanced with sassy and entertaining banter - the heart and soul of cabaret performing. In 2002 we recorded our debut CD "The Here And Now" and are currently planning a second CD sometime in the near future. In closing I would like to add a very special thanks to my family for always supporting and encouraging me and not yelling "Shut Up!!!!" (At least not too often) when I would sing and sing and sing all those years ago!