Two of my big influences were established early on, Harold Arlen’s music and Judy Garland’s voice. Arlen’s music resonates profoundly with my musical sensibilities. In his interview with Max Wilk, he declared that his whole career was an accident. He considered himself a jazz writer and wanted to be a vocalist himself. My fascination with Garland were her uncanny powers of musically shaping a song while acting and telling the story. As Barbara Cook said, she demonstrated that a song has a beginning, middle and end. The common denominator of both artists was the utter joy each brought to their music despite the innate character of the song and their impeccable musicainship.

Other musical influences: Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Irene Kral, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Barbara Cook, early Barbra Streisand, Cleo Laine, Carole Sloane, Fred Astaire, Cy Coleman, Jacqueline Francois, Johnny Hartman, June Christy, K.D. Lang, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Manhattan Transfer, Lena Horne, Nancy Lamott, Mark Murphy, Nat King Cole, Shirley Horn, Rosemary Clooney, Mabel Mercer, Noel Coward, Johnny Hodges, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Bill Charlap, Richard Rodney Bennett.

There are no musicians in my family. My parents listened to Frank Sinatra and Edyie Gormer, The McGuire Sisters etc.

I studied the accordion for 4 years in grade school and even gave a solo performance during a group concert. So I had some early formal education. During High School, it was Motown. But it was in my junior year of college that I began my life long affair with music. And I eventually wound up studying classically: voice ,dance, acting, before I found jazz and the Great American Songbook.

My great Uncle George tap danced. My great Uncle Molly actually danced with George Raft, smoked reefer, and hitched into town on Long Island.

But it was my college humanities professor, Marjorie Malvern, who saw me in a college production of Jean Anouilh’s “Waltz of the Toreadors”, in which I played Gaston, the juvenile lead, and sang “O Caro Mio Ben” offstage. She remarked that I missed my calling. And this is before any training. 

After college I was the murderer of Nancy Kulp in an English murder mystery comedy; played Billis to Olivia Ward’s Bloody Mary (the then NYC Police Commissioner’s wife) in South Pacific, who asked his wife if I really spoke with such heavy New Yorkese English. Nationally toured in “Singin’ in the Rain” and played my last juvenile lead as Billy Lawlor in “42nd Street”.

I did my first solo performance in April 2000 @ Don’t Tell Mama in “Who the Hell is Harold Arlen?!” In April 2006 I performed my 2nd Arlen show “Aspects of Arlen” at the Danny’s Skylight Room. My demo was recorded in 2003 in NYC, with the Tedd Firth on piano and Saadi Zain on bass.

In 2010, I released my first CD, “The Face of My Love”, which explored the arc of a modern relationship using standards.

I am currently in on-going production of the Harold Arlen Project. Volume 1, entitled “Vintage & Rare: The Songs of Harold Arlen”, is a comprehensive recording of most of Arlen’s oeuvre. I have hunted down some obscure and unpublished pieces. Most of these are in a modern jazz trio setting. Occasionally, I have introduced other instrumentation, sax, guitar and even a string quartet. One CD is devoted to only voice and piano a la Tony Bennett and Bill Evans. It has been pure joy to work on this project. My core team consists of Wells Hanley, co-arranger, music director and pianist; Pete Donovan, bassist extraordinaire; Jacob Melchior, a sensitive and talented drummer; and Gerry Geddes, associate producer and creative consultant, who has directed me in all my shows.

In 2016, I released my third CD, “Night People”, and was very well received. That CD featured Frank Ponzio on piano, Pete Donovan on Bass and Vito Lesczak on drums. 

Night People is an homage to my early youthful days, when I haunted and habituated the night scenes and nightscapes searching for the unnamable thing or experience. This divine restlessness was always seeking newness, satisfaction, release, and ultimately peace.

Last year, I performed many different shows at various twi-state libraries. I also released Volume 2 in the Harold Arlen project. 

The third volume in the Arlen Project will be previewed on October 20, 2020 at Soap Box Gallery in Brooklyn with a superb jazz trio consisting of Tedd Firth, Steve Doyle and Mark mcLean.

Supporting Musicians: 

Tedd Firth piano
Steve doyle bass
Mark McLean drums