Radio Show

Tony DeSare | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 20, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B001LOR3HW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,756 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

For most of the 20th century, well before the dawn of the digital age, radio was the primary channel for popular music of every kind. More than just a means to transmit sound on a wave to remote locations, radio created an intimate entertainment experience, a fraternal atmosphere wherein the music and everyone associated with it became a friend to the listener.

Radio Show embraces a variety of eras in American popular music, all tied together by the voices of radio announcers who set the tone for each individual track and the recording as a whole. Most prominent and diverse among the announcers is former Saturday Night Live comic and longtime radio personality Joe Piscopo. "He has an amazing, dynamic voice, and he understands all of these radio eras and styles so well," says DeSare. "He gave me a 1950s rock and roll DJ, a late-night jazz DJ, a 1970s AM radio DJ and a talk radio host. He's immensely talented in his ability to change his voice and move in and out of different characters."

More than just a collection of period songs with clever intros, though, Radio Show offers up a historical retrospective of the intimate relationship between the music, the listener and the magic medium that brought them together.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh, different, current., March 8, 2009

By 

starschaser (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radio Show (Audio CD)

If you like singers who can sing and musicians who can play, then this is for you.
If you like Michael Bublé, Jamie Cullum or Peter Cincotti, this is a great and very enjoyable album for you.
"Singer Tony DeSare's conceit here is a familiar one: an old swing radio show. Tony, a 33-year-old Upstate New York native and Ithaca College student who has been based in New York City for a decade, sings jazz standards, old rock and soul tunes, and a handful of originals. Comic Joe Piscopo acts like a jazz DJ/talk show host, offering up intermezzos of brief banter. Compared to a lot of singers who toil in the Sinatra/Bennett vineyard, DeSare displays better pipes and more depth than the usual retread. He's at his best working the Tin Pan Alley songbook, such as "All or Nothing At All," or singing beside guest vocalist Jane Monheit on a Brazilian-laced take of "Bizarre Love Triangle".
DeSare's original tunes have the whiff of teen poetry. "To Touch a Woman" is oddly classical for a Don Juan-like tune that treats a woman like a fast car. DeSare is awfully reverent on "The Times They Are A-Changin', " while tackling Ray Charles' "Hallelujah I Love Her So" seems to be beyond his soulful powers". - K. Starks
"Radio Show is a fine showcase for the talent of jazz vocalist, Tony Desare. Every song he sings is topnotch, and his rendition of "To Touch A Woman" will linger in your thoughts long after the playing of the song as will Tony Desare's original composition titled "A Little Bit Closer".
The musicians accompanying his singing are excellent, and these songs will enchant the jazz listening audience with their clarity, imagination, and enjoyment.
"The Times They Are A-Changin" will surprise you with its intensity, and "A Stranger's Eyes" would be a nice song to hear on contemporay jazz radio.
While much of DeSare's career to date has been about doing his part to preserve the Great American Songbook, he maintains that that canon could be more broadly defined as the 20th century grows smaller in the rearview mirror. "Most of the great singers of the 20th century are gone", he says. "But there's a new generation of people, including myself, who are writing and recording in this genre that has just as much to do with a particular style as a particular song catalog. With Radio Show, I wanted to open this style up to songs that are not just limited to the Great American Songbook. The idea is to look at this style of music, but from the perspective of a new generation".
"If you are new to the sound of Tony Desare, then this CD collection will entertain you with a new vocal sound in jazz! This is his third CD collection, and it is a winner". - Jazzreview
I heard his rendition of "The Times They Are A-Changin" for the first time on a jazz radio station and I do not know why, but there was something about this familiar song and this great vocalist that just got me hooked.
I bought the album the very next day and there is not a week goes by that I do not listen to this excellent album. He has such an easy voice to listen to and he is a marvelous, talented pianist.
I also have purchased his previous albums, which I find pretty much the same.
Personnel: Tony DeSare (vocals); Andy Farber (alto saxophone); Nathan Childers (tenor saxophone); Jay Brandford (baritone saxophone); Dominick Farinacci and Glenn Drewes (trumpet); Wayne Goodman (trombone); Mike Lee (bass guitar); Brian Czach (drums), guess artists Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar ) and Jane Monheit (vocals on track 6)
Guess artists: Mike Lee (bass), Brian Czach (drums), Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar on track 2, 4, 8, 9), Jane Monheit (vocals on track 6), Dominick Farinacci (trumpet), among others.
My highlights: "A Little Bit Closer", "Bizarre Triangle", "To Touch a Woman" and "Easy Lover"
Last First Kiss
Call Me Irresponsible
East Of Angel Town
The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb recording!!! What a find!, February 21, 2009

By 

Ray A. March (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radio Show (Audio CD)

What a surprise this record is. Tony DeSare is great! His piano playing on the tracks is superb and the style of the recording is inventive. Setting the record around old radio shows was a great idea. He has a great voice and I'll definitely be checking out his other records. The compositions that he wrote for this are all wonderful and varied. The final selection is a beautiful solo piano composition which is perfect. His recording of Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' sounds so current that it could have been written this year.

I highly recommend checking this artist out. This is my favorite record in a very long time!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musical magic from Desare, October 22, 2010

By 

barry (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Radio Show (Audio CD)

This cd is amazing and shows a true artist at his best. I am a huge fan of Tony Desare and have his two earlier cds as well. I love those too but find that here with RADIO SHOW he has set a newer and higher standard for himself. He is 34 years old and you can tell how much music and all it involves means to him. Here he provides a concept album that works perfectly to showcase his talent and diversity. I have never had the honor of seeing Mr. Desare in person but this cd presents the next best thing. The cd is set up as a radio broadcast with an announcer between many of the tracks. This reminds the listener of how intimate the transfer of music from performer to listener is and you feel as if Desare is singing directly to you. This intimate setting would not work well for all performers but it takes all the assets as an artist that Desare possesses and provides the ultimate showcase.

In the era of Michael Buble who has helped artists who perform standards have an opportunity to be heard Tony Desare appears and though he may be in a similar vein provides a whole different approach. Tony Deasare's approach to music is filled with passion and emotion. He has a liltingly beautiful masculine voice that possesses an amazing range. But for me with Desare it is the emotion and passion that rules. He takes the classic GET HAPPY and interprets it in an uptempo soulful way. Gospel is his approach on the Dylan classic THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN. ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL is a classic and here it sounds brand new. Emotion is on the sleeve with this one. With LAZY RIVER and EASY LOVER Desare takes full control and effortlessly makes these songs his own.

These classics are magical but for me the best numbers are the Desare self penned tunes. A LITTLE BIT CLOSER is a pure jazz uptempo track while TO TOUCH A WOMAN and A STRANGER'S EYES are hauntingly beautiful heartfelt ballads. Not over the top but sung with an honest, raw approach that only a true artist can do. I find the versatility that Desare possesses awe inspiring. He makes the classics his own rather than just relying on the standard approach many artists are doing these days. He can sing pop, jazz, standards, gospel and approach all with glowing vocals, an amazing range and most of all honest emotion. I live in Boston and can't wait to see this exciting performer live. I highly recommend this cd.