Season Two of Morning Melodies at His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth, got off to a good start with May I Be Frank? which featured four-time Aria award nominee Frank Bennett in partnership with a three-piece band – Glyn MacDonald on piano, Karl Florisson on bass and Michael Perkins on drums.
Bennett is a seasoned performer of mature years, and his experience shines. His vocal style encapsulates elements of both his heroes, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, without aiming to copy either of them. He manages to pay tribute to his idols without actually mimicking their expertise as vocalists.
Bennett’s crooner-like voice lends itself well to the popular music of the Rat Pack: the one-hour program included, for example, ‘Imagination’, a song more closely associated with Dean Martin than Frank Sinatra. The song in which he sounded most like Sinatra was probably the little-known ‘Day In, Day Out’, but it was far from being a Sinatra impersonation.
But vocals aside, where Frank Bennett did resemble Sinatra was in his mannerisms and liberal use of improvisation and asides in both lyrics and melody. Sinatra occasionally did this in recordings as well as on stage. One cannot help but associate the style with the smoky nightclubs of the Fifties and Sixties, and its intimacy, perhaps, is not entirely suited to the theatre. But Frank Bennett and his fellow musicians made it work through clever compromise. So often compromises fall short, but somehow Bennett and his cohorts gave us the expansive style needed in a theatre as well as the familiarity necessary to hold a nightclub audience. It was cleverly done. Their performances of the famous ‘My Way’ and ‘New York, New York’ gave us pure Sinatra magic, complete with mannerisms, ad-libs and jokes.
Bennett is a pretty mean saxophonist as well as a singer. (He has played sax with Daddy Cool and with Glenn Shorrock of The Little River Band.) He gave us two numbers – Ellington’s ‘Take the Train’ and the ubiquitous Sixties hit ‘Tequila’, written by Daniel Flores under the pseudonym ‘Chuck Rio’. In both, Bennett evinced an admirable clarity of tone and a tonguing technique that must be second to none. It should be noted that both these skills carried over into his singing, where he demonstrated clean, precise diction and enviable breath control, proven by the ability to hold a final note as long as a wet Sunday.
The trio was not just a backing group. Rather, we were treated to a display of teamwork that might convince us they’d been regularly working together with Bennett for years. Here again, experience shows: WAAPA graduate Glyn MacDonald (he has a DPA in classical trombone and a BM in Jazz Piano) is well known as a teacher/lecturer as well as being a respected performer with several different jazz ensembles. Karl Florisson and Michael Perkins are likewise well-respected performers on the Perth jazz scene.
The house was a relatively poor one for Morning Melodies, which is a shame. Jazz, even the popular variety served up here, is a medium appreciated these days by no more than a niche market in Perth. This program was a slight departure from the middle-of-the-road style of music usually presented by Morning Melodies. I am sure many more patrons would have enjoyed the show, had they been adventurous enough to essay it.
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
His Majesty’s Theatre presents
Morning Melodies: May I Be Frank?
Frank Bennett, vocalist
Glyn MacDonald, piano
Karl Florisson, bass
Michael Perkins, drums
His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
21 August
