"Manilow Sings Sinatra" Album Premiere Party
Supper Club
New York, NY
November 11, 1998
Hi Everyone,
This episode is a very special one to me.
Nobody has ever seen it. I’ve kept it in my vault ever since the night we recorded it.
Clive and I decided to do a CD in tribute to the great Frank Sinatra. He had passed the year before. Who didn’t love his talent?
For me, not only was it his unique style of singing that I admired, but it was his arrangers that I learned from: Don Costa, Nelson Riddle, Neil Hefti, etc. I was in awe of their arranging styles.
So when I began doing the arrangements for this album, I tried to pay tribute to their styles of arranging.
When we recorded the album, Phil Ramone, my co-producer, hired the best musicians in L.A. Some of them actually played with Sinatra.
The great orchestrator/arrangers Patrick Williams. Johnny Mandel (who worked with Sinatra for years) and Doug Besterman did the session and I tell you, it was an incredible experience for me to sing live, with their charts being played by a 56 piece swinging orchestra.
When we decided to debut the album for one-night-only in the intimate Supper Club in New York, I couldn’t wait. Only I came down with bronchitis the day before!
Bolstered with medicine and shots by the best ear, nose and throat specialists in New York, I actually got through the show.
But my illness didn’t stop me from having one of the times of my life.
Hope you all enjoy this rare video.
-Barry
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