Saturday, March 14, 2015

Tony DeSare And Philly Pops - Songbook Updated

Last night we had the pleasure of enjoying the Philly Pops under the fine direction of Michael Krajewski with vocalist Tony DeSare in a lively, diverse program called American Songbook, Then and Now.
Named a “Rising Star” Male Vocalist in Downbeat magazine’s Critics Poll, Tony DeSare has lived up to the distinction by winning critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout the United States, as well as in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.
From jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas headlining with Don Rickles, Tony has brought his fresh take on old school class around the globe. DeSare has three top ten Billboard jazz albums under his belt and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, the Today Show and his music was even recently posted by social media celebrity juggernaut, George Takei.
Notwithstanding his critically acclaimed turns as a singer/pianist, Tony is also an accomplished award-winning composer.  He not only won first place in this year’s USA Songwriting Contest, but Tony has also written the theme song for the motion picture, My Date With Drew, along with several broadcast commercials.
His compositions include a wide-range of romantic, funny and soulful tunes that can be found on his top-selling recordings as well as on his YouTube page, which is frequently updated with recordings not available on his current releases.
(For more about Tony, check out his website at www.Tonydesare.com and his YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/adesare.)
Michael Krejewski has really done a wonderful job since he took over as music director of the Philly Pops, delivering a broad range of first-rate programs that entertain all generations. 
The combined leadership of Krajewski and Philly POPS President and CEO Frank Giordano has brought record-setting sales to The Philly POPS, the largest stand-alone POPS orchestra in America.
After the concert we were invited by our dear friends Anne and Jerry Klein of Anne Klein Communications Group to join them for a reception hosted by Frank Giordano at the nearby Union League of Philadelphia. There we met maestro Krajewski and Tony DeSare who told us a wonderful story about headlining at the legendary Cafe Carlyle in Manhattan with the great cabaret singer Bobby Short in the audience. The late Bobby Short was always a favorite of ours and we were privileged to see him perform at Cafe where he held forth for decades.
We were also honored to meet Ginny Rowan Smith whose father, Henry Rowan is the chief benefactor and namesake of Rowan University. With Ginny we recalled out experiences learning and later teaching at Rowan.
It was a very memorable evening. Thank you, Anne, Jerry and Frank!
Now, enjoy this clip of Tony DeSare singing a song he sang last night at the concert:


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Dan, thank you for this wonderful blog. I am so sorry I missed seeing you -- at The Kimmel and the Union League! ... I'm making it a clip and sharing it with the team, including Tony.