[Dixielandjazz] Sinatra

[Jack Mitchell]

Here's a short piece by John Burls in this month's freebie THE SENIOR 
(for which I qualify well and truly).

Jack Mitchell



"One about the "bootleg" concert recording at Sydney Stadium, which I'd 
written about, came

from old mate Dave Anderson who, for many decades, was a leading 
Australian drummer.

Dave had a good friend, top trumpet man Al Porcino, who was one of the 
three musos Sinatra

brought with him. Unable to attend the concert, because of work, Dave 
was invited by Porcino to watch a rehearsal.

Sinatra arrived and the 90 per cent Australian orchestra got under way, 
but Frank didn't go on stage, instead going up to the bleachers, where 
he could be seen, singing to himself and listening to the orchestra.

At the end of the rehearsal he strode down and said a few words to the 
musos, then singled out the tenor sax player: "ln the first two bars, 
after the letter, the chart read dotted quavers and you played straight 
quavers. Check it'. With which Sinatra left.

The amazed muso said, "Heck he's right, I did. How did he pick that? And 
from way up there"' Sinatra was a formidable singer and a brilliant 
musician.

Another side to the man. When performing at the Sydney Stadium, he 
stayed at a private hotel at Rose Bay and was especially taken with the 
courtesy of the concierge, who Frank discovered had a young daughter 
with a physical disability, which couldn't yet be treated in Australia, 
but could be in America. Some months later a legal firm contacted the 
concierge to say it had been arranged for he and his wife to take the 
girl to the States for the op. This was on the basis that it was never 
to be made public. Frank had paid for the lot."