Post tag: Frank Sinatra
Update: The Max Borak Story

Marlowsphere (Blog #153)

This is a follow up to my 2016 blog “Kids + Jazz Alive & Well” about the “Jazz for Kids” program at Jazz Standard.

Max Borak, age 11On October 16, 2016 (a Sunday) I visited the “Jazz for Kids” program at Jazz Standard just off 27th Street and Lexington Avenue (Jazz Standard closed in December 2020 after offering a combination of barbecue and jazz since 2002). I arrived at around 11:30 a.m. It was an amazing sight in this leading basement jazz venue.

The star of the afternoon, for me, at least, was Max Borak, an 11-year-old vocalist who performed Jerome Kern’s Oscar-winning song “The Way You Look Tonight.” Not exactly the kind of tune you would expect an 11-year-old to choose to sing, but then Max Borak is not your usual kid.

I spoke with him briefly after he concluded his rehearsal. Turns out his singing model is Frank Sinatra. Apparently, when he was younger he saw the movie “The Parent Trap” and fell in love with Sinatra’s rendition of the song of the same title. Try to imagine Wayne Newton’s voice in the body of an 11-year-old who is not yet five feet tall. This “kid” displayed poise and audience connection way beyond the norm. His use of the microphone also showed a professional understanding of stage mechanics. I thought to myself, “You’ll hear from him one day.”

Fast forward to December 2021. Keith, Max’s father, reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in doing a follow-up blog about Max. I readily agreed.

Max Borak, age 16Max Borak is now a junior and a music major at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, one of the specialized high schools in New York City. You have to audition to get in. Following is our conversation:

EM: How did you feel performing at the Jazz Standard at the tender age of 11 years old?

Max: I felt so gifted to be even close to performing on that stage with all my friends and everybody there cheering me on. It was a dream come true and it was worth every moment of it.

EM: When did you realize you could sing and might sing professionally?

Max: I had always been humming tunes in the back of the car. One day I decided to just open my mouth and see how far I could go.  My dad said, “Wait a minute, I hear something.  I hear talent.”  From that moment on I just knew music was part of my life for good.  I was probably maybe five or six.

EM: Why do you sing jazz standards?

Max: I was drawn to jazz standards mostly because of what I feel listening to jazz music. All the swing and all the pop and funk doesn’t get to me as much as jazz. It makes you feel a certain way that you’re somewhere that you can be.  You’re on top of the world. You see it all and you have it all. You’re listening to an Ella Fitzgerald record and you just think, my goodness, it’s such a beautiful, beautiful feeling that I’m having.

I listen to some of the Rat Pack, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. A lot of old classics like that.  I’ve been listening to “King Pleasure,” “Moody’s Mood for Love,” all those wonderful songs that I can just riff off of.

I like to consider myself genre-less.  I see all music as part of what I come from.  But I mostly consider jazz as the single part of my identity that I could never give up.

Max Borak performs with other studentsEM: How do you feel attending LaGuardia High School?

Max: It takes chops. There is some talent there like you would never believe. I am so blessed to have every day to spend with them, learning and perfecting my craft.  I made a promise to myself a while back, when I had the gift of seeing the LaGuardia Jazz Band perform, live, when the Jazz Standard was still open, that I would have the ability to learn more from those knowledgeable people—more than any other people in the City. I got in and got a seat in that school and I’m so glad I did.

There are not necessarily singers in that group, however, the orchestration can take your breath away. There have been plenty of other singers before me that front the jazz band. Currently, I’m the only singer.

EM: What’s in your repertoire?

Max: Songs like “I Thought About You,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Moody’s Mood for Love.” I’ve been thinking a lot about expanding my repertoire, too.  Not only in jazz, but I’ve also gotten into a lot of opera music and solo opera performance.

We’ve been rehearsing an oratorio, Handel’s Messiah. We’ve had the privilege of Juilliard representatives actually coming from across the street to give us feedback. I am humbled that they take the time to see us and to speak with us especially because it’s such a prestigious school.

As a junior at LaGuardia comes with a lot of pressure. Not necessarily bad pressure, but there’s a lot of expectation that comes with being a junior.  It’s my job to deliver on that and make everything worth it.

EM: Who are some of your teachers? And what kinds of courses are you taking?

Max: I study with Mr. Kevin Blancq, Mr. Darrel Jordan, and Mr. Piali.  I’m currently involved in mixed chorus, that is, our chorus is co-ed. That involves tenors, altos, sopranos along with bass tenors which is my range. I’m taking music theory and music history where I’m learning Max Borak performs with quartet at NYC restaurant during COVIDabout the greats and their mark on music history. With classical music, however, we do talk a lot about music invention, music instrumentation, and composition. It’s a very free-flowing discussion.

EM: What about after high school?

Max: I’ll be graduating in 2023. I’m looking for further education, hopefully at a conservatory. I’m very open to the possibility of traveling abroad.  Maybe signing with an opera company or maybe staying in New York and seeing where my talent really fits.  We’re in the land of possibilities, so let that happen.

EM: Where have you performed so far?

Max: I’ve had the pleasure of performing in front of an audience at Lincoln Center and Sardi’s.  I’ve done countless street and restaurant shows in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the Lower East Side. I’ve performed in the La Guardia School itself–in our little theater that we have in the back.  Other opportunities that I was involved in include the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center. I was involved in a lot of the Italian cultural events in the Bronx. For instance, I was invited to sing at the San Genaro Feast, the big street fair. I was very fortunate to be invited and sing some Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin songs. Everybody loved it.

EM: Who else in your family has the musical genes?

Max: Surprisingly, nobody else in my family has musical talent. My dad will say he can play lead triangle if he really tried. I like to think most of my musical influence came from my dad’s spectrum of music knowledge. He really guided me towards a lot of what his father was listening to when he was a young boy. It made me so happy to see him smile.”

Keith & Max BorakMax’s father, Keith, interjects: “My wife and I didn’t know if we were going to be able to have children. But out popped this beautiful boy with dark hair and light eyes just like my dad. He started humming the songs my dad loved for years when he was about five or six years old.  Then he started to sing them. Unfortunately, Max never met my dad. I’ve always felt like he’s been with Max the whole time. He’s named after his grandfather, of course.”

EM: Who are some of your influences?

Max:  Of course, I’ve listened to the New School jazz repertoire for a while now. Often when I think about what comes next in my musical career, I’ll look back at those before me who put in the dedication and devotion and were stepping up to the plate. There wasn’t the path written before them, so they had to carve the path to get there.

EM: Have you recorded an album or a single track?

Max: I have never recorded an album but would sure love to.  I’ve never quite asked the question of what songs I would pick for my album if I were to do one. Just off the top of my head, I could think of me singing “That’s Life.” Life has ups and downs. I’ve definitely felt that during COVID.  I bet everybody has.

EM: What’s been the biggest challenge for you during the pandemic?

Max: The biggest challenge I’ve experienced dealing with my music this year is I lost my grandmother to COVID. She was very dear to me and my father. It took a lot of strength to keep her in my heart even though I was unable to see her. I was too young to see her. To think of her and not feel sad and not feel doubt and not feel like how can I lose my rock?  She was very important to not only me, but also to my family. All my family. It really weighed us all down.  She had a long life with people who loved her and she cared every moment she had.  I saw the good in every moment she was with me.

EM: Do you have a philosophy of life going forward?

Max: There is no point in not trying.  If you give it your all and you put everything you have into it, then there is no reason you shouldn’t get there. You deserve success as much as anybody else. You give it your all and you are sure as hell not going to take it from anybody else.  If the opportunity is there, why not you?  Make it you.

Eugene Marlow, MBA, Ph.D., © 2022

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Is There a Relationship Between Personal Finance Literacy and the Financial Administration of Arts Organizations?

 Marlowsphere (Blog #148)


Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE)

 

The following blog was delivered by Dr. Eugene Marlow on May 1, 2020 to members of the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) via Zoom for their annual conference.


Alberta Hunter, Blues SingerAccording to a lyric sung by the late blues singer Alberta Hunter “You cain’t have romance without finance.” The same is true in terms of longevity and survival of profit and non-for-profit organizations. More specifically, arts organizations do not exist for very long without effective financial management and financial support from various external sources.

In the United States government organizations at the national and local level are increasingly withdrawing from the role of funding arts institutions. And applicants for funding are finding it increasingly competitive for whatever funding remains available. Yes, the National Endowment for the Arts budget was increased this year and more foundations are getting into the funding role, but no longer can arts organizations take it for granted that monies will be there.

Turtle Bay Music School CLOSEDA case in point: In November 2019 The ​Turtle Bay Music School, held its final artist series concert, the last hurrah of a nearly century old New York City arts institution. A nonprofit on the East Side that partnered with public schools, the school announced in November 2019 it would be forced to close due to a lack of funding.

But there is a deeper issue that is pertinent to the training of arts administrators at the graduate level and it is this: if finances and financial administration is the bedrock foundation of an arts organization, how pertinent is the personal financial literacy of those in charge of the organization? My answer is: very pertinent.

Do You Know Your Net Worth?

At the risk of embarrassing myself, I’m willing to bet 80% of the folks in this audience don’t know what their net worth is. You have little idea what your debt-to-income ratio is or how much you’ll need for retirement if you can afford to retire.

My contention is: if you don’t have a handle on your own personal finances, your long-term debt, or how you’re going to finance your retirement, how can you deal effectively and efficiently with the finances of the arts organization you work for or are connected with, or teach students about arts organization financial matters?

It’s Personal

Why am I so keen on this? The answer is simple and personal. My father, Michael Marlow (nee Spivakowsky) , was an excellent Michael (Spivakowsky) Marlow, Violinist/Violistmusician: a child prodigy on the violin; Taught himself the viola and the mandolin.; Composed music.; Wrote the world’s first concerto for harmonica and symphony orchestra. It’s still being performed today worldwide.; He had his own radio program on the BBC.; Was a Broadway show conductor.; Performed as a member of the orchestra with many notables, including  and Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. But he was lousy when it came to business and finances. He attempted to build his own music publishing company. It failed. He once dreamed of owning a restaurant. It never happened. When he died at the age of 63 of a second heart attack my sister and I learned he didn’t have any life insurance because he didn’t “believe” in life insurance.

I earned an MBA in part because I didn’t want to put myself in the same financial position my father ended up in. I wanted the vocabulary of business as a means of leveling the playing field professionally.

I’ve been involved in the fine and performing arts in various artistic and management capacities since I was born. At Baruch College (City University of New York) I teach and have taught a panoply of courses in media and culture, and business. At every turn I have experienced and observed that where there is a lack of focus on finances, regardless of the quality of the creativity, the enterprise falters. Further, this failure often, if not always, has roots in a key individual’s lack of understanding or appreciation of personal finances.

Personal Finance vs. Organizational Finance

Aye, there’s the rub. There’s no escaping the connection between personal finances and organizational finances.

What is the difference between personal finance and organizational finances? There are, of course, differences in terms of scale and function, but there is at least one major commonality: assets and liabilities.

In the personal finance context an asset could be liquid assets, et al. In the corporate context an asset could be liquid assets, etc. In the personal finance context a liability could be a long-term debt. In the corporate context a liability could also be long-term debt.

In other words, the difference between the personal finance context and the corporate context is scale and function.

Financial Literacy

This all relates to a much larger context and that is global financial literacy. According to a 2014 Financial Literacy Around the World: Insights From The Standard & Poor’s Financial Literacy NotebookRatings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey:

Worldwide, just 1-in-3 adults show an understanding of basic financial concepts. Although financial literacy is higher among the wealthy, well educated, and those who use financial services, it is clear that billions of people are unprepared to deal with rapid changes in the financial landscape. Credit products, many of which carry high interest rates and complex terms, are becoming more readily available. Governments are pushing to increase financial inclusion by boosting access to bank accounts and other financial services but, unless people have the necessary financial skills, these opportunities can easily lead to high debt, mortgage defaults, or insolvency. This is especially true for women, the poor, and the less educated—all of whom suffer from low financial literacy and are frequently the target of government programs to expand financial inclusion.

Further, in the United States, according to this same survey, the financial literacy rate is only 57%. Denmark and Sweden have the highest financial literacy rates at 71%.

In 2019, Investment News reports on an updated Standard & Poor’s survey, as follows:

World Map % of Adults Who Are Not Financially LiterateAlthough the U.S. is the world’s largest economy, the Standard & Poor’s Global Financial Literacy Survey ranks it No. 14 (tied with Switzerland) when measuring the proportion of adults in the country who are financially literate. To put that into perspective: the U.S. adult financial literacy level, at 57%, is only slightly higher than that of Botswana, whose economy is 1,127% smaller.

According to a 2019 report from the U.S. Department of Treasury entitled Best Practices of Financial Literacy and Education at Institutions of Higher Learning:

With the cost of college rising faster than incomes and a staggering 44 million Americans owing more than $1.5 trillion in student loans, there has been growing concern that students and their families are taking on debt without truly understanding the long-term impact.

Indeed, there is a lot of research exploring this national problem: Nine out of 10 parents and students failed a 2018 quiz about student loan debt. Meanwhile, MarketWatch reported that half of college students taking an AIG survey on personal finance basics got two or fewer questions correct. And in a recent survey from the Brookings Institution, less than 30% of student respondents could correctly answer three questions on inflation, interest and risk diversification.

We must conclude then that to insure student success in arts administration programs as educators we must be certain that these same students are financially literate on a personal level, particularly so because as arts administrators the finances of an arts institution is a vital aspect of the institution’s credibility, viability, and longevity.

The Financial Literacy of the Arts Administrator

To put this another way, if an arts administrator isn’t paying attention to his/her personal finances and doesn’t have a firm grip on his/her net worth assets and liabilities, it Financial Literacywould follow that this same arts administrator is not paying enough attention to the institution’s assets and liabilities?

Now, perhaps this parallelism is not valid. Perhaps the arts administrator is fluent in the institution’s finances and knows the institution’s balance sheet, cash flow, assets and liabilities in great detail. But let’s say this same arts administrator accrues excessive credit card debt, or purchases real estate at the height of a market with a net income to long-term debt ratio that is out of balance and disproportionate. What does this say about this arts administrator’s expertise and skill to manage the institution’s finances? It does not speak well.

The importance of financial issues to arts administrators is nowhere more articulately stated than in the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) Standards for Arts Administration Graduate Program Curricula of November 2014. The opening paragraphs of the “Financial Management” section of the document states:

Financial management is a core function within the management of cultural organizations, and is the framework through which resources–human, physical and financial—are maintained and monitored. In the not-for-profit sector, the balance between mission and money is a key factor in maintaining a sustainable, vibrant and successful organization, and needs to be clearly understood by arts administration students. We recognize that some programs include the teaching of commercial enterprise in the arts; this version of the standards has not yet incorporated standards for those areas of practice.

The document goes on to describe what arts administration students should be able to do with regard to financial matters at the foundational and best practices levels.

The Financial Literacy of Arts Administration Students

The question is: even though students at the undergraduate and graduate level might be adept at dealing with financial matters in the corporate context in the classroom, might not their understanding and appreciation of fiduciary functions have deeper meaning if their own personal finances are in order?

How many students come into an arts administration program with a foundation in either personal or corporate finance? Textbook learning is not as valuable and purposeful as real life learning. It’s one thing to require students to take a course in corporate finance, but it is quite another if students have no real-life background in finance, personal or otherwise. Students might take a corporate finance course and achieve a high grade, but what is this grade based on? An ability to read and abstract financial content from a textbook and feedback on a test, or is the good grade based on a student’s deeper understanding of finances based on “personal” financial experience?

Possible Prescriptions

A possible prescription for this “in the closet issue” is to provide students with a one credit course in personal finance. It does not have to be complex. But its main objective would be to sensitize students to personal financial matters as part of the process and preparation for dealing with institutional financial matters.

Finance Class for Arts AdministratorsAnother solution is to infuse non-financial courses with references to financial matters wherever possible. By doing so, students can begin to relate “personal financial” issues to non-financial course content. Over time, perhaps, students will begin to integrate the “personal” with the “organizational” to everyone’s mutual benefit.

In other words, to borrow and skew a well-worn phrase, charity begins at home. I’m willing to bet that if an arts administrator has a firm handle on his or her own personal finances, the chances are high this same arts administrator is well informed and in control of the institution’s finances. One context informs the other.

It makes sense to me that the more informed an arts administrator is about their own personal finances, the more sensitized this same arts administrator will be to the institution’s finances. You can attempt to bifurcate the two contexts, but if one bar is lower than the other, ultimately one will suffer. Attempting to parse these contexts can lead to problems. Is it not a better idea to prepare an arts administrator student with a solid foundation how to deal with personal finances so that this same student can approach the institution’s finances with the same kind of rigor?

© Eugene Marlow, PhD, MBA 2020

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Kids + Jazz Is Alive And Well

"Jazz for Kids" at Jazz StandardThe Marlowsphere Blog (#135)

It would be easy to make the statement that the younger generation (however you define it) is not being exposed to jazz, America’s classical music, and that is one major reason why jazz is not a popular music anymore.

Well, it would be easy, but it would be a mis-statement for several reasons. Jazz has not been America’s popular music since the end of World War II and the advent of bebop at almost the same time. Jazz went from a dancing and listening music, to a listening music, and sometimes to a hard to listen to and understand music.

Nonetheless, in New York City, at least, there are several ongoing instances of kids, that is students not yet in college, who are being exposed to jazz, not only as listeners, but also as participants. The instances include the jazz program at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music Art and Performing Arts (used to be the High School of Performing Arts and the Music & Art High School before 1982), the jazz program at the Dalton School, the kids initiatives at Jazz@Lincoln Center, and the “Jazz for Kids” program at Jazz Standard, one of New York City’s leading jazz clubs.

I visited the “Jazz for Kids” program a couple of weeks ago, on October 16—a Sunday—when Jazz Standard opens its doors to a program it has been running and promoting for many years. I arrived at around 11:30 a.m. It was an amazing sight in this David O'Rourke, guitarist and bandleader "Jazz Discovery" program for kids at Jazz Standardleading basement jazz venue. On the stage—a stage frequented on Monday nights by the Mingus Legacy Band and on other nights by many of the world’s leading jazzers—was a somewhat diminutive young girl (turns out she was nine and a student at Saint Ann’s located in Brooklyn Heights) at the piano performing Gershwin’s “Summertime.” She also worked through the standard “Blue Bossa.” She was accompanied by a much older, and much more accomplished upright bass player and drummer. Granted, she was no Joey Alexander—she played all the chords on “1” and her improvising was highly formative—but nonetheless there she was performing in a jazz trio.

It turned out she was auditioning to become part of Jazz Standard’s “Jazz for Kids” program, a Sunday afternoon program, during the school year, curated by guitarist David O’Rourke.

Irish born David O’Rourke was introduced to the U.S. jazz scene in 1982 via Bucky Pizzarelli and Les Paul. Influenced by Pat Martino (with whom he studied and now collaborates), David has performed with jazz legends Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, Jackie McLean, Billy Higgins, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Davern, Jack McDuff and many more. His arrangements have been recorded and performed by many jazz legends, as well as the RTE Concert Orchestra (Ireland) which he guest conducts.  David leads his own 20 piece Big Band (The O’Rourkestra), co-founded and directs NYC’s Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra and the Jazz Standard Discovery Program.

orouke-n-kids-capFollowing this audition, groups of junior high and high school students one after another took over the stage to rehearse. The quality of the playing was significantly higher, especially the bass players and the drummers. One pianist in particular, a senior level student from LaGuardia High School (at Lincoln Center) displayed a high level of technical ability and confidence. In a very quiet way he commanded not only the piano and the stage, but also the other players.

The instrumentation among the students was what you might expect: piano, bass, drums, guitar, alto and tenor saxophone. The tunes they played also met expectations: “There’ll Never Be Another You,” “Autumn Leaves,” and “Back Home in Indiana,” among other jazz standards. The by-play among the musicians was also standard fare: a few choruses all around, trading fours, and incorporating quotes from the bebop litany, Monk, and “Trane” in their evolving improvisational technique. An appropriate mix of ethnicities was also present: white, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian.

However, the star of the afternoon, for me, at least, was Max Borak, an 11-year-old vocalist who performed Jerome Kern’s Oscar-winning song “The Way You Look Tonight.” Not exactly the kind of tune you would expect an 11-year-old to choose to sing, but then Max Borak is not your usual kid. I spoke with him briefly after he concluded his rehearsal. Turns out his singing model is Max Borak, 11 year old singerFrank Sinatra. Apparently, when he was younger he saw the movie “The Parent Trap” and fell in love with Sinatra’s rendition of the song of the same title. Try to imagine Wayne Newton’s voice in the body of an 11-year-old who is not yet five feet tall. This “kid” displayed poise and audience connection way beyond the norm. His use of the microphone also showed a professional understanding of stage mechanics. You’ll hear from him one day.

The afternoon audience (doors opened at 1 p.m., show time at 2 p.m.; no cover, but the food costs) was mainly parents, friends of parents, and people generally supportive of young people playing jazz. The program benefits everyone: the “kids” who get to perform and gain from the experience, the parents and friends of parents who get to see their kids grow professionally, and the Jazz Standard which gets to bring in an audience on a Sunday afternoon which otherwise would be dark.

The question that has to be posed is this: from what circumstances do these “kids” come to perform jazz? Why aren’t they looking to emulate any number of pop music icons that bombard all forms of media every day? It’s clear each musician understood the correct, professional stage demeanor required, understood how to relate to an audience, and knew how to relate to one another. What is influencing them?

The answer lies in two places. After doing a little questioning with David O’Rourke and several audience members it was obvious that many of the 16 or so students present that afternoon had parents who were either musicians themselves or had connections in some way to the music business or show business. Second, the educational system they were in was also a very strong influence. In this one afternoon they were students there from a specialized school—LaGuardia, a New York City high school one has to audition to get into—or a private school, such as Saint Ann’s or the private school in New Jersey Max Borak attends (even though he lives in Riverdale in the Bronx).

If anything is a truism it’s that where you come from will have a strong influence on your future. Jazz Standard’s “Jazz for Kids” program provides an ongoing environment for these future professional musicians, but it’s the parents and their school environment that provides the evolving talent.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
October 31, 2016

© Eugene Marlow 2016

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“Mr. Sinatra” & “Michael”: A Personal Account

Sinatra picture autographed to Michael MarlowThe Marlowsphere Blog (#120)

HBO, the leading premium cable channel, recently presented a two-part, four-hour documentary on singer and Oscar-winning actor Frank Sinatra, arguably one of the world’s most successful entertainers of the 20th century, and, as Grammy-award winning radio personality Jonathan Schwartz has pointed out, the most recorded singing voice in history.

A consistent thread throughout the four hours of the programming is Sinatra’s insistence on quality. It is easily observable from the performance clips. There’s never a moment where you don’t understand every lyric of every song he chose to sing. He worked with the best arrangers—Billy May, Don Costa, Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Ernie Freeman, Eunir Deodato, Sy Oliver, and Quincy Jones. He also worked with some of the best Michael (Spivakowsky) Marlow, Violinist/Violistmusicians. Among them was violinist/violist Michael (Spivakowsky) Marlow. I know this for fact because Michael (Spivakowsky) Marlow was my father.

But this is not the point of this blog. The stories that are usually told about Sinatra are his relationship with the so-called “Rat Pack” —Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Peter Lawford—his on-again, off-again relationship with President Kennedy, his loose connection with the “mob,” his womanizing, and his off-stage partying and on-stage boozing.

The relationship between “Mr. Sinatra” and “Michael” is not only a musical one, it is also about the little known, sublimated story of Sinatra’s respect for the composers, arrangers, and musicians he worked with, and, perhaps more importantly, his oft-ignored generosity.

There was a time when Sinatra’s orchestra consisted of a string section. The orchestra was contracted by violinist Joseph Malin.  According to Will Friedwald’s book Sinatra: This Song Is You (Scribner 1995), “From 1974 onward, Sinatra’s main accompaniment was the ‘New York Band’ assembled for him by contractor and concertmaster Joe Malin (until his death in 1994). Based in New York, this ensemble would travel with Sinatra to any gigs. . . .” (p. 453).

At the time my father knew him, the Malins lived in New City, just north of the New Jersey/New York State border and the town of Nyack on the western side of the Hudson. My mother and father also moved to New City. The relationship between my father and Joe Malin was fortuitous. It was primarily because of Joe Malin that my father had work at all. Joe was able to look past my father’s irascible nature. He knew quality playing when he heard it. My father was a crackerjack sight-reader, and had an encyclopedic experience in classical, Broadway, and pop music. He was a composer and arranger. He composed a concerto for harmonica and orchestra that is still performed worldwide today! He was also pretty adept at improvising jazz on the violin. Joe hired my father for the Sinatra orchestra between 1974 and 1983 for live performances and recordings.

It was fall 1980 in the small wee hours of the morning. The phone rings. It’s my mother. Atlantic City Medical Center Frank Sinatra WingShe informs me my father has had a heart attack and is in ICU in Atlantic City (New Jersey). They were in Atlantic City at the Sands Casino Hotel where Sinatra was performing. (The Sands Casino Hotel operated from August 13, 1980 until November 11, 2006.) At its peak, the Sands headlined top entertainers, such as Tony Bennett, Cher, Liza Minnelli, Bob Dylan, Robin Williams, Whitney Houston and Eddie Murphy, and, of course, Frank Sinatra, among others.

My wife (at the time) and I discussed driving to Atlantic City in the morning after sunrise. My sister, Janet, calls shortly after my mother. She wants to go to Atlantic City right now. She lived then and still lives in Litchfield, CT, so it would take her a couple of hours to drive down. When she arrives, we all pile into one car and take the five hour drive south from New York City to Atlantic City.

When we get there my mother reports my father was not feeling well that afternoon and it was decided to go to the hospital emergency room. While he was on the gurney, apparently, he had the heart attack and technically died. He was revived and placed in ICU in the Atlantic City Medical Center in the Frank Sinatra Wing.

Seeing my father in ICU was difficult enough, but the experience was exacerbated by the fact I had not spoken to him for at least nine months following his totally disrespectful behavior at my Seder earlier in the year. But there he was looking partly in shock, unshaven, vulnerable, and helpless.

We were put up in rooms in the Sands Hotel, courtesy of Mr. Sinatra.Atlantic City Sands Hotel & Casino circa 1980s My mother reported that Sinatra was prepared to bring world-renowned American cardiac surgeon Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, if necessary, to Atlantic City to care for my father. But the proof of the pudding, so to speak, of Sinatra’s respect and generosity was expressed later that evening. We were invited to sit backstage, in the wings, at one of Sinatra’s performances. We were escorted to stage right. My mother was given a chair. My sister and I stood for most of the performance. A comedian, I think it as Shecky Greene, was warming up the audience in front of the main curtain. Sinatra came onto the stage behind the curtain towards the end of Greene’s act from stage left. He went right to the orchestra string section and gave a full report on my father’s status. I was amazed. He knew exactly what was happening with my father and clearly had spent time to find out so that he could provide the other string players with requisite information.

I do not recall how much time my father was in ICU, but when he was discharged, Sinatra paid the bill for a private ambulance to transport him and my mother from Atlantic City to New City (at least a six hour journey).

It took my father at least three months to recover from the attack. He had lost around 20-30 pounds, which for him was a good thing. He was about 5’6” and weighed over 210 pounds. He ate poorly, smoked occasionally, and never exercised. Those three months were the best three months of my relationship with my father. He was accessible, emotionally approachable, a father I could talk to and relate to. He was human.

It didn’t last.

My father was also a talented painter. Clown Picture Painted by Michael Spivakowsky Marlow in 1981Among his dozens of works, he had painted fairly large vertical pictures of several well-known English clowns. Before his heart attack the edges of the clowns were hard and pronounced. During his recovery he repainted the clowns. The edges became soft and compelling. After three months, he repainted the edges again to their original presentation. It was emotionally metaphorical.

Friday, May 13, 1983, I was home in my Manhattan apartment. It was late afternoon. The phone rang. It was a police detective. He informed me my father was driving his car northbound on the Tappan Zee Bridge and had had a heart attack. This one did him in. Miraculously, while in the midst of his attack, my father managed to bring the car to the right hand side of the road next to the railing and stop the car. Ironically, in a car behind my father’s were two nurses who witnessed what had happened. They also had oxygen with them. The doors to my father’s car were unlocked, so they were able to get to him. But it was to no avail.

My father spent about 10 years with the “Sinatra New York Orchestra.” He would often recount that “Sinatra knew how to phrase and to present a lyric.” He also reported that Sinatra would say “Work at it until it doesn’t fail you.” His last recording session (on viola) with Sinatra was on January 25, 1983 at the RCA Recording Studios in New York City.

Sinatra’s respect for my father and generosity in 1980 helped give my father about three more years of life. It also gave me three months of the father I had always wanted. I wrote a note to Sinatra to thank him for what he did. But I was told “don’t expect a reply.” He never did respond. But it didn’t matter.

If you have any questions or comments about this or any other of my blogs, please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
April 20, 2015

© Eugene Marlow 2015

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The Real Frank Foster, Saxophonist: An Autobiography Review

Frank Foster and AutobiographyThe Marlowsphere Blog (#116)

Google the name of famed saxophonist Frank Foster (who died of kidney failure in 2011) and you’ll discover a long list of accomplishments. Here’s a snippet from his July 26, 2011 New York Times obit by Nate Chinen:

Frank Foster, a saxophonist, composer and arranger who helped shape the sound of the Count Basie Orchestra during its popular heyday in the 1950s and ’60s and later led expressive large and small groups of his own, died on Tuesday at his home in Chesapeake, Va. He was 82.

. . . Mr. Foster had a varied and highly regarded career as a bandleader, notably with his Loud Minority Big Band, and he was sought after as an arranger for large ensembles. But it was the strength of his contribution to the so-called New Testament edition of the Basie band, from 1953 to 1964, that anchors his place in jazz history.

Mr. Foster wrote and arranged a number of songs for the band, none more celebrated than “Shiny Stockings,” a puckishly genteel theme set at a cruising medium tempo with a slow but powerful crescendo. Recorded by Basie on his classic 1955 album “April in Paris,” it subsequently became both a band signature and a jazz standard, often performed with lyrics (there were two sets, one by Ella Fitzgerald and one by Jon Hendricks).

He was one of two musicians named Frank in the band’s saxophone section, the other being the tenor saxophonist and flutist Frank Wess. Their contrasting styles as soloists — Mr. Foster was the more robust, with a harder husk to his tone — became the basis of a popular set piece called Count Basie“Two Franks,” written for the band by Neal Hefti.

After leaving Basie, Mr. Foster worked for a while as a freelance arranger, supporting the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan.

He returned to the Basie band in the mid-1980s, this time as its leader. (Count Basie died in 1984.) He held the post for nearly a decade and earned something like emeritus status: when the Count Basie Orchestra was enlisted for Tony Bennett’s 2008 album “A Swingin’ Christmas,” Mr. Foster was the arranger.

Even as he spent a good portion of the late 1960s and ’70s exploring harmonic and rhythmic abstraction, Mr. Foster never quite surrendered to it. And he was no purist about jazz-funk — “Manhattan Fever,” one of his best albums, released in 1968 on Blue Note, has several effervescent backbeat-driven tunes.

In 2001 Mr. Foster had a stroke that hindered his ability to play the saxophone. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master the following year, and continued to write and arrange music, often as a commission for organizations like the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He also became active in the Jazz Foundation of America, a nonprofit organization that delivers aid to musicians in need.

Quite a resume: a long-standing tenure with the Basie Band as a player/arranger and then as Count Basie Orchestra Directed by Frank Fosterleader, composer of numerous jazz standards, and NEA Jazz Master, among other accomplishments. These are highly admirable musical credentials not easily come by.

Then you read Foster’s autobiography bluntly titled A Jazz Master Frank Foster: An Autobiography (PFDGS Media, 2013). With expectations high, a reader would expect masterly insights into the jazz world from this renown, world traveled jazz master. Instead this 254-page work provides more than a glimpse into the real personality of this famed, highly regarded jazz instrumentalist/ composer/arranger. And the picture isn’t pretty.

The first sign of trouble starts on page iii, the table of contents. Yes, the table of contents. There are 12 chapters to this book and each chapter in the table of contents is described in the following manner:

Chapter 1……………………….1
Chapter 2……………………….13
Chapter 3……………………….19

And so on. When you get to each chapter itself each does indeed have a title, such as Chapter 1 is “3025 Stanton Avenue” where Foster grew up. Why then did the editor choose not to name each chapter in the table of contents? The reason:  as one reads the book it becomes increasingly apparent that there was no editor, and by this I mean a professional editor. Foster’s autobiography is clearly self-published. And it shows glaringly.

In numerous places there are complete lapses of content segues. For example, in one of the middle chapters all of a sudden he’s married to Vivien! WHO’S VIVIEN AND WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? In another chapter he’s moved from Scarsdale to Chesapeake, Virginia! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN AND WHY?

But this is the least of it. The most jarring aspect of Foster’s autobiography is the following: While there are descriptions of his musical development—teachers, colleagues, jazz notables—the most prevalent content is his focus on women, not a few mind you, but almost everyone he ever bedded. In one of the later chapters he offers up a list (in great detail) of all the women, city by city, whom he slept with, mostly while he was with the Count Basie Band. The descriptions border on the pornographic. I have not done a mathematical analysis of the number of pages, but I feel confident in saying more than half of the book is given over to his sexual predilections.

Hand-in-hand with this catalog of women is his use of language. In a few instances his language is clear and articulate. In most other instances, his language is that of the street, of the hood, of the low-life. In this regard, the autobiography is at its most real. There’s no attempt to clean up or whitewash his expression. His use of low-class, sophomoric, street language is pervasive—at once disturbing and honest.

Korean War Memorial, Washington,DCThese two aspects distract in a way from the very real racism Foster experienced, both as a student and a soldier (during the Korean War). This racism seems to color (no pun intended) his apparent deep hatred of bigots. It is clear from what he writes he feels deeply about his black roots and expresses it at every opportunity.

In a way Foster redeems himself—after so many chapters of page after page of retelling sexual exploits in graphic detail—in  a couple of chapters towards the end of the book, especially those dealing with the Basie Orchestra. Here we get some behind the behind details that are informative and revealing. His very last chapter is an attempt to reflect on his life with some wisdom. It works for a while, but the parade of one woman after another in previous chapters is too present for this chapter to have much impact.

The Jazz Life of Dr. Billy TaylorThere is a reason why this book was self-published. Sex sells, but sophomoric descriptions of a young man’s sexual conquests does not. Foster could have risen in writing to the heights apparent in his musical performance and composing. But he does not. If you want class, read The Jazz Life of Dr. Billy Taylor. If you want late night titillation, Foster’s book is for you.

If you have any questions or comments about this or any other of my blogs, please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
February 2, 2015

© Eugene Marlow 2015

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