The musical spirits of Tony Bennett and Burt Bacharach have been aglow Monday in The Villages Pops Refrain live performance.
However the sellout crowd at North Lake Presbyterian Church loved one other musical deal with – a uncommon vocal solo by Refrain Director Invoice Davis.
Bennett died final week and Bacharach handed away in February. The Pops Refrain confirmed that the music of these two is everlasting.
The live performance featured, Davis mentioned, numerous songs recorded by Bennett. The checklist included “Dream,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “The place or When” and a canopy of the Beatles’ “Yesterday.”
“Tony Bennett was the grasp of the good American songbook,” Davis mentioned. And the refrain captured not solely the sound of these songs, but in addition the grace and appreciation that Bennett dropped at them.
Bacharach was additionally a music grasp as a composer. The Refrain delivered a surprisingly emotional model of “I Say A Little Prayer,” a tune that Bacharach wrote with Hal David. It was successful for Dionne Warwick.
“They mentioned it was a tune written for troopers away from house through the battle,” Davis mentioned in a low, reverent tone of voice whereas introducing the tune.
“This was through the Vietnam Battle,” Davis added. “I believe the tune takes on an entire new that means while you consider it that approach.” Dave Czohara added to the tune’s energy with a Flugelhorn solo.
Davis normally spends his time on the Pops Refrain live performance on the podium conducting the singers.
However this time he stepped in entrance of the microphone by himself for a heartfelt model of “Softly as I Depart You.”
Frank Sinatra recorded the tune within the mid-60s, and it was later lined by Elvis Presley. “However I choose the model by Matt Monro,” Davis mentioned. “It’s about leaving somebody you like, and it says that in a particular approach.” Davis supplied a smooth and compelling vocal that captured the essence of painful departure.
However you may’t keep down for lengthy, particularly when Bonnie Williams is within the room. The indefatigably perky Ms. Williams brightened all people’s spirit with a jiving model of “Broadway Child.”
Marlene Caplis was additionally percolating with an brisk vocal on “Orange Coloured Sky.” The LaLiPops – Melody Gardner, BJ Odendahl and Debbie Tudor – saved the joint leaping with a rousing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
Harmonica virtuoso Phil Caltabellotta was in beautiful type, becoming a member of the refrain on a wistful “Moonlight In Vermont.”
“We prefer to say ‘we’re not your grandmother’s pops refrain,” Davis mentioned early on. That message got here via loud and clear because the women and men of the Refrain marched onto the stage with the musical background of “Within the Midnight Hour.” The hit model of that tune was by Wilson “the Depraved” Pickett. The Pops Refrain Band, led by Jo Ann Hanebrink, displayed some soul on that quantity.
This system was known as “Summer time Sunshine” and the becoming opening quantity was as fast-paced “You Are My Sunshine.”
The fellows within the Refrain took on Elvis’ “Don’t Be Merciless” and the women and men mixed for a tribute to Motown’s Smokey Robinson on “My Woman” and “My Man.”
Summer time sunshine can final perpetually and Davis and the Pops Refrain cooled the eternal heatwave with a little bit little bit of chill on the “Theme from Ice Castles.”
Tony Violanti covers music and leisure for Villages-Information.com. He was inducted into The Buffalo Music Corridor of Fame as a music journalist.
