Friday, December 4, 2015

Regional Jazz Big Band Pays Tribute to Frank Sinatra with Legendary Singer’s 100th Birthday Celebration

For generations the legendary Frank Sinatra has remained one of the greatest jazz and traditional pop singers to ever live. In honor of Sinatra, the State Theatre is pleased to announce a tribute to one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century, with “That’s Life: A Celebration of the 100th Birthday of Frank Sinatra,” with music by State College’s own Zeropoint Big Band, Saturday, December 5 at 7 pm.

This tribute concert will include various regional singers, with backup by the Zeropoint Big Band. With sixteen musicians, they will work with each regional singer to put a new spin on Sinatra’s classic works. Concert-goers can expect to hear many of the old Sinatra favorites, which will bring back old memories for some and make new ones for others. The concert is open to all ages and is family friendly.
 
Since 2009, the Zeropoint Big Band has been knocking the socks of Central Pennsylvania music fans with their post-modern-retro approach to big band jazz, which leaves few musical stones unturned. Their playlists range from classics from Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Thad Jones, and Duke Ellington to reimagined rock ‘n’ roll anthems by Queen, the Who, U2, and the Beatles.

Zeropoint has taken the stage at some of the area’s most popular venues and festivals, including recent performances at the Dauphin County Wine & Jazz Festival, the Weis Center for the Performing Arts at Bucknell University, the State Theatre, and the Central PA Festival of the Arts in State College. For the past two years, the band has performed Duke Ellington’s arrangement of “The Nutcracker Suite,” and has appeared at the American Ale House in State College on the first Tuesday of every month for the last six years.

A jazz combo from greater Central Pennsylvania, Zeropoint is a 16-piece band: five saxophone players, eight brass, and a three-piece rhythm section. Many of Zeropoint’s members are nationally-recognized performers, composers, and educators who happen to make their homes in Central Pennsylvania. A who’s-who of regional jazz all-stars, Zeropoint features a stellar lineup of fantastic soloists; including Harrisburg piano-icon Steve Rudolph; brass players Eddie Severn, Barry Long, Dale Orris, Aaronsburg trombonist Jay Vonada, and Penn State Professor of Trombone Mark Lusk; drummer Kevin Lowe; and saxophonists Dan Yoder, also a music professor at Penn State, and State College musician Rick Hirsch.

The idea for the Sinatra tribute came from the State Theatre, when they approached Hirsch about performing a concert for the centennial of Sinatra’s birth. “Someone on the Board of Directors had the idea that it might be kind of neat,” Hirsch said. “Zeropoint had a relationship with the folks at the State Theatre, and we were the first band they thought of.”
 
Born Francis Albert Sinatra on December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. His songs have been the soundtrack for generations of fans for over 70 years.

Because Sinatra made so many legendary recordings and scored numerous hits, it was a challenge for the band to narrow it down to only one concert’s worth of music. But for the tribute, Hirsch believes they chose to present a collection of some of Sinatra’s most beloved favorites, which include “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “Come Fly With Me,” which Sinatra recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra; “Mack the Knife,” also a popular Bobby Darin song, “Something Stupid,” a duet with his daughter Nancy; “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and of course “That’s Life,” the title theme of the show.

Singing the Sinatra tunes will be four outstanding vocalists based in State College: Tommy Wareham, Elizabeth Webb, Tyne Palazzi, and Natascha Hoffmeyer. “Elizabeth has been in town for the last couple of years and she is just a real hidden treasure,” Hirsch said. “She and Tommy both know the Sinatra songbook inside and out.”

Hoffmeyer is perhaps most well known as a blues singer from Natasha and the Spy Boys, and Palazzi for her bluegrass and banjo-picking. “Tyne is one heck of a singer,” Hirsch said. “Many of the tunes that Sinatra sang came from Broadway musicals, and she has a lot of experience doing musical theater.”

In addition, the concert will feature special guest vocalist Chris DiMattio from Scranton. “I worked with Chris this past summer on a recording project of Sinatra tunes,and I thought he really capturetheessence of Sinatra,” Hirsch said.

Sinatra’s most popular songs are from a specific era – from the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s – music written by some of the greatest songwriters and composers of the 20th century: Classic songs by George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, and Lerner and Loewe remain timeless to this day, and their universal appeal is in large part due to Sinatra’s interpretation of them.

“Sinatra was such an honest performer and he wore his emotions on his sleeve,” Hirsch said. “One thing that made him so great as an interpreter of song was that he would really get inside the lyric; and for him each song would tell a story. I think that’s what people love about Sinatra, and why his music is still so strong today.”

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