[Dixielandjazz] Buddy Greco interviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Buddy Greco: 'Sinatra Was a Really Good Cook'
by Brigit Grant
Express (UK), October 16, 2011
Until recently you knew what to expect from Westcliff-on-Sea. The mud flats at low
tide, Havens department store and a show at the Cliffs Pavilion were the key points
of interest.
That was before Buddy Greco arrived in the Southend suburb. Now Westcliff's main
attraction is an American star and spotting the last remaining member of the Rat
Pack striding the Essex sands while humming Around the World is fast becoming a local
tradition.
Tanned and smiling with an enviable crown of grey curls, Buddy Greco, 85, resembles
his younger self enough to attract the attention of visitors who think they recognise
him and then dismiss the notion.
After all, why would the performer who shared a stage with Frank, Dean and Sammy
be having breakfast at Dino's Cafe in Westcliff?
"England has been calling me for years," says Buddy, who first visited Britain in
1949 when he was the pianist, arranger and vocalist for revered band leader Benny
Goodman. "I divide my time between here and Palm Springs but some day I'd like dual
citizenship."
It was in Palm Springs that Buddy spent a large part of his career performing hit
versions of songs like The Lady Is a Tramp and Girl Talk in top nightclubs and also
where he settled with his fifth and current wife Lezlie Anders "right around the
corner to Sinatra".
"In the later years when we were all a little older, we were regularly invited round
for dinner at Frank's," recalls Buddy.
"He would appear dressed in a chef's hat and apron with pasta sauce all over it.
He was a really good cook." Buddy's recollection of spaghetti marinara being prepared
by Ol' Blue Eyes was merely an anecdote appetiser.
The singer, who has had one of the longest recording histories of any living artist,
has a million starry tales, all of which he plans to cover in his unfinished autobiography.
"It's going to be a tell-all tome," he grins. "The sort of book I could never have
done while they were all alive.
"I get very nostalgic, particularly when I see those Rat Pack tribute shows. I remember
what it felt like to walk into a lounge in Las Vegas with Frank, Dean and Sammy and
watch the world stop.
"We were like gods. There wasn't enough that people could do for us and together
we were bad boys. We drank, mainly Jack Daniel's.
That was Sinatra's choice and if he drank it, so did you. We shared women. Boy, we
were bad. There were mornings I woke up and couldn't understand why I wasn't in jail."
It may be due to all the fast living that Buddy is now so vague about significant
timelines but the summer of 1962 is indelibly ingrained in his memory: it was in
July of that year that he made his debut at The Copacabana Club in New York.
"Sinatra had practically bought the place out and brought along every movie star
in the world to see me perform with an orchestra. There was Judy Garland, Peter Lawford
and so many faces, I forget who was there but I wasn't nervous."
It was his father Papa Joe, an opera critic from southern Italy, who encouraged the
four-year-old Armondo (as he was christened) to sing and to learn the piano.
"Everyone in our neighbourhood was poor but my parents made big sacrifices so I could
have piano lessons," says Buddy.
"When I finally made my first record Oh Look-a-There Ain't She Pretty at the age
of 17, it sold over a million copies. I thought I would buy my parents a house with
the royalty cheque but when it arrived it was only $33. The company president had
taken the money and run."
Buddy's success meant that eventually, as he puts it: "I made a ton of money. I went
from having nothing to suddenly making $20,000 a week and you think that will never
end. The booze, the broads, it all kept coming and then one morning you wake up and
it is all gone."
With six children and five marriages to date, it's easy to see where the cash fl
owed. Fortunately for Buddy, spouse Lezlie had a career in finance before becoming
a singer so she's keeping his generosity in check. The couple now perform together
and are appearing in Fever, a musical tribute to Buddy's close friend the late Peggy
Lee.
Lezlie was thrust into Buddy's A-list social circle when they met at the Desert Inn
in Las Vegas in 1992. "He was still a player even then," she laughs.
She is clearly Buddy's biggest fan, eagerly producing photos of her famous husband
with assorted legends. "This one with Marilyn was taken in Lake Tahoe two weeks before
she died," says Buddy, referring to the now infamous weekend at the Cal Neva Lodge
where Marilyn was warned by Sinatra to keep her distance from the Kennedy brothers.
"I was performing there and so was Frank. Everyone came up including mafia boss Sam
Giancana and they were all watching me when Marilyn arrived. The entire audience
turned to look at her.
She got very upset and started screaming. Frank told them to get her out of there.
Later I walked her to her bungalow, she was very distraught. I never thought I wouldn't
see her again but it was a serious weekend."
For now it's all about the launch of his new album Live at the Sands, a previously
unreleased performance recorded in 1967, plus a cabaret tour of Britain.
Would he go back and change anything? "No, not a thing. I'm 85 and I have a whole
new audience as well as lots of new friends.
Everyone says hello to me here even before they are sure it's me." After all, what
would the last remaining member of the Rat Pack be doing in Westcliff?
__________
Fever! The Music of Miss Peggy Lee is at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon on November
11 and Buddy and Lezlie perform at Ronnie Scott's on December 31. The album Live
at the Sands is released tomorrow. For more details visit
http://www.buddygreco.co.uk/


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

I hate all this terrorist business. 
I used to love the days when you could look at an unattended bag on a train or bus and think to yourself
"I'm going to take that."