Larry Kart Posted April 3, 2018 Report Share Posted April 3, 2018 Wonderful Chicago cabaret-jazz singer and pianist: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/reich/ct-ent-audrey-morris-dead-0402-story.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted April 11, 2018 Report Share Posted April 11, 2018 Many great, local singer/pianists/guitarists never get the recognition of a wider audience, because they stayed local, never got the big break (or in AM's case, turned it down), or other reasons. Frank D'Rone was another one that was an incredible talent (especially his version of 'Joey,Joey,Joey' on the Hefner Show).but never reached a wider audience. I just received word that Sal Casper,a singer/pianist I used to work with a lot just passed at the age of 81. The best way I can describe him is that he had a voice like Mark Murphy, but without the affectations of MM. I played on the one LP that he released, but was disappointed that he decided to sing only commercially oriented originals that he thought went over with the 'crowd', rather than the great standards we'd play on gigs. He said he used me because I sounded like Phil Woods on the guitar, which is still the greatest compliment I've ever received. RIP, Sal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted April 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 Yes, Frank was something else. He came along a little too late in the game, as did another excellent and somewhat more obscure Chicago-based singer-guitarist Johnny Janis. He, like D'Rone, was a Hefner favorite, and Hefner in the mid-1960s bankrolled a gorgeous album, with Don Costa charts, of Janis singing ballads, "Once in a Blue Moon." A few years earlier Janis recorded a date, unissued at the time, with Ira Sullivan, Dodo Marmarosa, drummer Guy Viveros, and bassist Jerry Friedman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DhjpCrSjrE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted April 12, 2018 Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 That's a singer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted April 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 From Janis' first album: Accompanying Images include some from Janis' later days in the Nashville area. I suspect that he's no longer with us; his website has been inactive for some time. P.S. Yes, he passed in 2017 at age 89. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tennessean/obituary.aspx?n=johnny-janis&pid=185016926&fhid=17194 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted April 12, 2018 Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 Great stuff, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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