" ... The Style & Soul of Sinatra ..."

" ... Steve takes his art & expands on it, taking it to a new level ..."

" ... Steve Marvin has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike as one of the best interpreters of the songs of Sinatra. ..."

This highly acclaimed show has been performed with accompaniment from Trio, to big band to a Symphony Orchestra, and has included guest artists, such as vocalist Rebecca Parris.

The Sinatra Tribute has been narrated by Ernie Santosuosso (Boston Globe) and Ron Della Chiesa (WPLM-FM and WGBH-FM).

The show was performed at Town Hall - NYC, in The Legends Of The Century" tribute to Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra in June 2000.

"The soul of Frank Sinatra lives on in the person of Steve Marvin."

....Burt Lewis, Round Midnight - WATD-FM Marshfield, MA

"Steve is among a handful of truly great artists working today."

....The Jazz Messinger

"...deserves wider recognition...should be a household name."

....Jack L. Frieden - The Vocal Sound Of Jazz, WHRV-FM, Norfolk, VA

"A top singer with real panache!"

....The World Jazz Network

"...my favorite singers have long been Mel Torme, John Hendricks, Joe Williams and Frank Sinatra. Steve Marvin is all of them and then some."

....Larry Rout - WOBO, Cincinnatti,OH

Steve Marvin with the Mayor of Boston, Tom Menino and Ron Della Chiesa

Steve Marvin with the Kenny Hadley Big Band

Listen to a selection of Sinatra favorites performed by Steve Marvin..

AUDIO 

REVIEWS


From the Lowell Sun Lowell, MA September 1, 2002

"ADMIRATION - NOT IMITATION FILLS SINATRA SHOWSHOW"
. . . . . . . .By Charles St. Amand, Sun Staff

Anyone who attended Strictly Sinatra at Boarding House Park on Friday night expecting to see an Ol' Blue Eyes impersonator should be relieved they didn't. Most of them sound like Tony Soprano doing karaoke. "I admire him so much that I refuse to do an impression of him," Steve Marvin reassured the crowd of more than 1,000 during his stellar two-hour, 20-song set with Artie Barsamian's Boston Big Band. It's a disclaimer Marvin includes in every Frank Sinatra tribute show he performs.

"There was no one like him. He just had that something," Marvin said. Nonetheless, Sinatra's influence on the Boston native's 40-year career was unmistakable throughout the night. While Marvin's stylings are jazzier - he names Jon Hendricks, Mel Torme and Sarah Vaughan as major influences - his ability to build dramatic effect by stringing lines of a song together without taking a breath is perfectly Frank. Sinatra learned this "long breath" technique from watching the legendary bandleader Tommy Dorsey play his trombone. Marvin clearly learned it from listening to Sinatra recordings.

After Barsamian got his Chelmsford-based Boston Big Band warmed up with "Lullaby of Birdland" - an odd choice for a show titled Strictly Sinatra - Marvin took the stage and immersed himself in the Sinatra songbook with "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Witchcraft" ("always plays better in Salem," Marvin quipped) and "Don't Worry 'Bout Me." By that time, several couples were up from their blankets and lawn chairs to dance in the wings of the Boarding House stage.

The band hit its stride with "Don't Worry," sounding every bit like the Count Basie Orchestra on the Sinatra at the Sands LP (1966). Barsamian clearly took pains to use the exact arrangements Sinatra used, and they served to keep the show focused on Sinatra as Marvin gave the songs his own voice.

The band's renditions of charts by Nelson Riddle ("Night and Day," "The Lady is a Tramp," "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "Luck be a Lady," to name a few) and Quincy Jones ("Fly Me To The Moon," "More") were dead-on perfect. If you weren't seeing it with your own eyes, you would think the Boston Big Band - which includes Lowell's own Lou Stamos on sax and Wayne Branco on trombone - had 30 musicians instead of 16. Several songs into the set, Marvin, along with Nick Goumas on sax, John Baboian on guitar and drummer Don Pentelton, gave the rest of the band's lips a rest with a jazzy version of "Time After Time." No tribute would be complete without what Sinatra called his "saloon songs." Marvin and the band, lacking a keyboardist, wisely eschewed the obvious choice, "One for My Baby," for the lesser-known but equally Jack Daniels-soaked "Drinking Again."

Marvin dedicated "More" to Sinatra's Rat Pack lieutenant, Sammy Davis Jr., and "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)" to Sinatra's eldest daughter, noting that song was written by Sgt. Bilko himself, Phil Silvers. Wrapping things up was the mandatory Sinatra show-stopping triumvirate of "Summer Wind," "My Way" and "Theme from New York New York." Even on these songs, though, which are so quintessentially Sinatra, Marvin made them his own.

Admiration, not impersonation, is what made this show a fitting tribute to the 20th century's greatest entertainer.