Post tag: SAMMY DAVIS Jr.
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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“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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Hearing Is Believing

Justin Kauflin in concertThe Marlowsphere Blog (#119)

On April 2, 2015, The Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives concert series  (of which I am honored to serve as co-chair) at Baruch College (City University of New York) will present a quartet led by twenty-something jazz pianist Justin Kauflin. The concert will take place in Baruch’s Engelman Recital Hall, part of the college’s Performing Arts Center.

There are certainly many young, talented jazz pianists being educated and nurtured in high school and college jazz programs across the country (around the world, for that matter). But what makes Kauflin stand a little taller than the rest is the fact that he was mentored by the very recently departed, great trumpeter and educator Clark Terry.

Keep On, Keepin' On PosterI became familiar with Kauflin and his relationship with Terry through a showing of the award-winning film “Keep On Keepin’ On.” I reviewed this film in a previous blog.

To quote from this review:

Clark Terry became acquainted with Kauflin when he was studying at William Patterson College. The relationship between these two musicians—an age difference of over 60 years—evolved into more than just a professional exchange. It became a friendship founded on the mutual respect and, yes, love, between these two artists.

But there’s more to this story. During the course of the documentary we learn of Justin’s eyesight problems at a very young age and ultimate loss of all his sight at age 11. We also learn—and see first-hand—of Clark Terry’s battle with diabetes and the ultimate loss of both his legs late in life (around age 90). Here, then, are two musical artists with serious physical challenges who share their pain with each other, but encourage each other to “Keep on Keepin’ On.”  (Click to read full review.)

The documentary has earned an armful of awards.

Clark Terry, one of the most popular and influential jazz trumpeters of his generation and an enthusiastic advocate of jazz education, died on Saturday, February 21, 2015 in Pine Bluff, Ark. He was 94. (Read New York Times obituary.)

Justin Kauflin is also keepin’ on.

But the pain that these two artists have dealt with—Terry with diabetes, and Kauflin with his loss of eyesight at the age of 11—begs the question: how do some people deal with physical adversity given their creative impulses? In particular, how do people with musical genes overcome their lack of sight to express their sonic visions?

At first blush, the perception is that the vast majority of musicians do not have to deal with “sight“ issues. But even a cursory look at the musicians who have achieved success in the music world gives one pause. The number and quality of blind American musicians who have battled past a lack of sight to become successful at making sounds is impressive. Here are a few examples of the many blind musicians in the jazz/pop genres, courtesy of http://blindamericanmusicians.blogspot.com/:

Ray CharlesRAY CHARLES (1930 – 2004) – Ray began life with sight but was blind due to Glaucoma by age 7.  He attended the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.  It was here he received a formal education in classical music.  With this base and his growing interest in Jazz and Blues he began to develop his musical style.  He listened to Country, Blues, Gospel, Pop and Jazz on the radio.  His 1955 hit “I Got A Woman” was the beginning of finding his unique musical voice.  He loved how music allowed him complete freedom of expression.

Sammy Davis Jr.SAMMY DAVIS Jr. (1925 – 1990) – His dad, Sammy Davis Sr. was a well-known vaudeville entertainer. Davis never attended school and was self-taught through the school of hard knocks. In 1955 he lost his left eye in a car accident. His music was very traditional in Broadway, Light Jazz and Pop Standard vein. Davis was famous for his stage presence, acting ability and singing style. He had more than a hand full of big hit songs, “Love Me Or Leave Me”, “The Candy Man”, “That Old Black Magic”, and “What Kind Of Fool Am I” to name just a few.

Jose FelicianoJOSE FELICIANO –  a Puerto Rican/American born blind, Jose has become one of America’s best known entertainers internationally. He belongs in the upper echelon of the great guitarist of our time. His version of the national anthem performed at Tiger Stadium in Detroit in the late 1960’s was controversial at the time but has become recognized as one of great interpretations of the song. In the United States he is best known for his million selling hit “Light My Fire” and the Christmas classic “Feliz Navidad”  He helped to mainstream Latin music influence on Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Terri GibbsTERRI GIBBS – Terri was born in Florida in 1954 and the family moved to Augusta, Georgia. She comes from a family steeped in Gospel music. She began playing the piano at age three and began performing at an early age. She did take music lessons to help improve her understanding of the art. Like Ray Charles, Ronnie Milsap and other great artists from the South, she grew up listening to Country, R&B, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Gospel. Her debut single “Somebody’s Knockin’” became a huge hit and a crossover success.

Rahsaan Roland KirkRAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK (1935 – 1977) – He performed as a multiple instrumental artist. Jazz was what he performed and was famous for his stage antics and the ability to play more than one instrument at a time.  He left a legacy of over a dozen albums.

MARCUS ROBERTS – He is one of America’s great jazz musicians who happens to be blind since age five. His mother also was blind and a gospel singerMarcus Roberts who helped him to learn to play the piano. He attended the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, the Alma Matter for two other great musicians, Ray Charles and Charles Atkins. He went on to college at Florida State University. He believes strongly in the traditions of the great Jazz artists. Marcus is a perfectionist and very tradition minded when it comes to his art.  Yet, he believes the artist needs to play for the audience and not for themselves.  He is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at Florida State University.

Diane SchuurDIANE SCHUUR – Two-time Grammy award-winning jazz singer. While she was self-taught on the piano, she did attend Washington State School for the Blind for formal education in music and piano. She was influenced by the great Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington and Ray Charles to name a few. She has had several hit albums in the Jazz genre. While Jazz is her forte, she has performed in nearly every popular genre.

SIR GEORGE SHEARING, OBE (1919 – 2011) – was a world-renownedSir George Shearing British-born jazz composer and musician. Shearing became involved in the jazz scene in the greater London area.  When he immigrated to the United States in 1947 he was swept into the New York jazz world. He melded the two worlds of classical orchestra music with jazz.  He has over 300 songs to his credit as a composer, as well ass two Grammy’s and 100+ albums. His music has been heard in more than a dozen films and TV shows. In 2007 he was Knighted by the British Crown and given the official title of “Sir.

Art TatumART TATUM  (1909 – 1956) – Tatum was not totally blind.  His vision was little more than light perception. At a very early age he taught himself to play the piano. Both parents were skilled musicians. During his high school years he attended the Ohio School for the Blind.  He studied braille and music. He has over four dozen albums to his credit.  His piano styling has had a lasting impact on jazz musicians. Great musicians he influenced are Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Parker, and Herbie Hancock. He is noted for his impressive speed playing of the piano. He was posthumously honored with  the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lennie TristanoLENNIE TRISTANO (1919 – 1978) – He was born in Chicago and was one of the nation’s leading jazz educators.  He acknowledged fellow brother in blindness, Art Tatum, as influential in his music.  He also credited Charlie Parker and Nat King Cole. He had more than a hand full of recordings to his credit.

STEVIE WONDER – a world famous singer/songwriter, was Stevie Wonderborn blind in 1950. At a very early age he began to master the piano.  Later he mastered the harmonica, drums and bass. He attended the Michigan School for the Blind where he studied classical music. Perhaps, what might have been more important were the impromptu jam sessions in the dorms at the school. Ronnie White of the Miracles discovered Stevie which led to him being signed by Berry Gordy of Motown and Tamla records. He has two dozen Grammys (including the Grammys is the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award), a Golden Globe, and an Oscar for best song in a film.

There is truth to the observation that when one loses, either partially or totally, one of his/her senses, the other senses compensate by becoming more sensitive. Perhaps there’s truth also in the observation that the jazz/pop musicians presented above achieved their artistic success, in strong part, because of their loss of sight. Their loss of vision accentuated their musical vision.

But the other significant thread among all these musicians is that they did not let their sensory handicaps to deter them. They kept on keepin’ on.

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.
March 30, 2015

© Eugene Marlow, March 30, 2015

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