On 12 December last year the musical world celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra, one of the most important and unmistakable voices of the last century and an artist who changed the history of song. A charismatic personality, an excellent actor (winner of two Oscars and twenty-one Grammy Awards), over the course of his sixty-three year career he sold over 150 million records. Numerous festivals around the world have paid tribute to Sinatra by playing from his repertoire. Jazz at the Piccolo has made a different choice: a programme in which the voice is protagonist, but not for the reproduction of his repertoire (only two songs will be tied to two famous performances by The Voice), rather to celebrate him through an authentic jazz singer: Gegé Telesforo. Master of scat, Telesforo will also perform his own compositions and songs from the history of jazz together with the Civica Jazz Band and Enrico Intra, with who he previously performed in another show not long ago.
Brought to the public eye by Renzo Arbore during the cult transmissionQuelli della notte, Telesforo has developed a brilliant career as a vocalist, becoming the only authentic Italian jazz singer, performing in duets with artists of the calibre of Jon Hendricks, Dizzy Gillespie, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Clark Terry, as well as appearing as a presenter for television and radio.
The common thread of the evening, Sinatra will be remembered without rhetoric or forced interpretations, but rather through the naturally expressive manner of a great singer and a formidable big band.