[Dixielandjazz] Frankie Randall R.I.P. - Los Angeles Times, January 1, 2014

[Robert Ringwald]

Rat Pack Singer Frankie Randall, Sinatra's House Pianist, Dies at 76
by David Colker
Los Angeles Times, January 1, 2014
Singer and pianist Frankie Randall, who was a Rat Pack favorite in the swinging '60s
and a staple of TV variety shows of that era, died Sunday at JFK Memorial Hospital
in Indio. He was 76.
The cause was lung cancer, said his longtime companion, Melinda Read.
In addition to his TV appearances with Dean Martin and others, he recorded several
songs, bringing his jazz-inflected, supper-club approach not only to standards like
"It Had to be You," but also to the TV theme from "Flipper" and The Who's rock anthem,
"I Can See for Miles."
He appeared at casino lounges and clubs across the country, including the Playboy
Club in Los Angeles.
But Randall is most closely identified, not only in his professional but also in
his personal life, with Frank Sinatra. The leader of the Rat Pack first heard Randall
in a New York club and helped him get a recording contract. And although the "most
memorable" gig of Randall's career was his first appearance on the "Tonight Show,"
he told the Palm Springs Desert Sun in 2011, the "best bill" he ever appeared on
was with Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Atlantic City.
Later in life, Randall became the unofficial house pianist at Sinatra's Rancho Mirage
home. Living nearby, he would walk to Sinatra's house when summoned to play piano
for informal gatherings that could go late into the night, sometimes with Sinatra
singing. "He called me his favorite piano accompanist," Randall told the New York
Daily News in 2007.
The two were so close that Sinatra, a few years before he died in 1998, gave Randall
the musical arrangements to many of his songs.
For more than a year, Randall performed a Sinatra tribute show at a theater in Palm
Springs.
He was born Frank Joseph Lisbona in Passaic, N.J., on Jan. 11, 1938. His father played
the trumpet as a hobby and Randall proved to be adept at playing the piano, picking
up his first local paid performances at 13.
His father insisted he get a college education in a non-music field in case he flopped
as a performer. Randall earned a bachelor's in psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson
University in New Jersey, but then pursued music in New York. Hearing him at Jilly's,
a club frequented by celebrities, Sinatra took him under his wing.
Read said that Randall never minded being closely associated with Sinatra for much
of his career. In 2007, Randall told the New York Daily News that he never saw Sinatra's
legendary temper. "The man I knew was the guy who would invite you to his home and
cook you one of his favorite pasta dishes," he said. "Those are wonderful memories."
In addition to Read, Randall is survived by daughters Lisa Denicola of Verona, N.J.,
Laura Lisbona of San Francisco and Ava Lisbona of Los Angeles; son Frank Lisbona
Jr. of Maplewood, N.J.; sister Grace Elaine Lisbona of New Jersey; and two grandchildren.
His three marriages all ended in divorce.
-30-

-Bob Ringwald
Bob Ringwald Solo Piano, duo, Trio, Quartet
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/ 806-9551
Amateur (ham) Radio station K 6 Y B V

Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed
to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps
so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?