Crooner Michael Martocci offers up Memories of Frank as the Sinatra-centennial year continues at the Count Basie on Saturday.
It’s not so much that Ol’ Blue Eyes is back: it’s more like he never went away, as the centennial of Frank Sinatra’s first vocalized notes (“I Did It My Waaahhh”) proceeds apace at the Count Basie Theatre, scene of our own Joe Muccioli’s annual Sinatra Birthday Bash concerts in December.
This Saturday night, the latest in a long line of spotlighted Sinatra tribute artists takes the famous stage when singer Michael Martocci brings his tux and baritone pipes to Red Bank for a fully orchestrated showcase entitled Memories of Frank.
Scheduled for 8 pm, it’s a production that picks up several steps beyond where other piano-bar cabarets leave off, as Martocci takes the bandstand in front of a 40-piece organization that boasts musicians who played for Sinatra from the 1970s to the ’90s.
Among them is Vincent Falcone Jr., who served several stints (being fired/rehired multiple times by the temperamental Chairman of the Board) as his conductor and pianist in the 1970s and 80s. The author of the memoir Frankly Just Between Us brings his tour-tested orchestrations to Martocci’s set in an evening hosted by WCBS-FM radio personality Joe Causi.
“Growing Up Italian” comedian Vic Dibetetto kicks things off with an opening set, and the Basie lobby promises “a marvelous array of Sinatra memorabilia to view and take pictures with.” Take it here for tickets ($39 – $69).
