Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 17th June 2016
Everybody who ever wrote a song wanted it to be recorded by
Frank Sinatra. It was a guarantee that it would be a hit, sell many copies, and make the composer wealthy. Sinatra recorded thousands of songs during his life but, towards the end, his performances concentrated on a small collection of his very biggest hits.
Sinatra's Other Songs looks at many more of the hits that he recorded during his long career.
These are not obscure songs, by any means, being just as well-known as his later more restricted repertoire. Many were songs he recorded numerous times with different musicians and in various arrangements. Vocalist, Greg Meyer, was not short of choice with such a massive collection available to him, and his selections were universally appreciated by a packed audience of fans.
Meyer could not do this alone, of course, and what a sensational quartet he had playing with him, with David McEvoy, on piano, Tim Bowen, on double bass, Ben Riley, on drums, Bob Jeffery, on tenor saxophone and flute. If you plan to perform the music made famous by Sinatra you have to be able to really swing, and these five can certainly do that.
Meyer picked a marvellous collection of tunes from all stages of Sinatra's career, from ballads, to hard driving swing numbers, to music from the films. I suspect that the entire audience, like myself, knew every single number, and would have happily stayed on for another hour or two to hear many more, given half a chance.
Greg Meyer has a very fine voice that is extremely well suited to interpreting these songs, the core of what is often referred to as The Great American Song Book, and the musicians clearly enjoyed the chance to play such marvellous tunes. Their enjoyment came across and the audience were caught up in their mood.
What a selection we were given, with such songs as
Nice and Easy,
The Second Time Around,
I Get a Kick Out of You, and so many more. The big number to close the show was
My Way, Sinatra's signature tune, but Meyer did it his way, putting his own stamp on that unforgettable number.
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