Saturday, September 22, 2007

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:
John Jorgenson plays "Limehouse Blues,"
plus Frank Sinatra Jr & Was (Not Was)
do "Wedding Vows In Vegas"



This week we've got two more videos previewing upcoming jazz performances in St. Louis. Batting leadoff is guitarist John Jorgenson, who will perform with his quintet on September 30 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in University City as part of the Church's "Reverberations" concert series. Jorgenson's quintet plays in the Gypsy inflected, hot-jazz string band style associated with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli, and here you can see them doing an appropriately idiomatic version of "Limehouse Blues".

Down below is, in the words of Monty Python catchphrase, something competely different - it's Frank Sinatra, Jr, teamed with conceptual rock/funk/pop band Was (Not Was) for a little something called "Wedding Vows In Vegas". This track is one of many in which Was (Not Was) employed what might be called "stunt casting" of vocalists; they've recorded with everyone from the late Mel Torme to Mitch Ryder of Detroit Wheels fame, using singers in both iconic and ironic fashion.

Video footage of Sinatra Jr. is not plentiful on the Internet, but this clip at least provides a small sample of his vocals while demonstrating that he's probably got at least a semblance of a sense of humor about himself as well. Sinatra Jr. will undoubtedly be acccompanied by a more traditional orchestra when he plays the Touhill Performing Arts Center on Sunday, October 7, but since he served as his Dad's bandleader and music director for many years, one would expect him to have a high quality contingent of players, especially for a show billed as a tribute to Sinatra Sr. This feature story, published last year in the Washington Post, provides additional insight into Sinatra Jr. as singer, musician, bandleader and son of a legend.

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