Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15 & 16, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 17. Tix: $30, $25 students and veterans. Box office: 832-3484 or at brownpapertickets.com.
Holiday songs plus originals
“This year, I still want to do holiday tunes and make it Christmas,” Tony told The Chronicle by phone from his home in Atlanta. But he added, “If I did it all holiday it would be a lot like last year. So I’m planning to do some of my New York City classics, with more standards and stuff from recent years that I haven’t really done up there.”
“I’ll do a fair share of holiday items, but also some some other things that I just want to share. I’m probably going to do quite a few of my own, more than usual, just because I’ve got quite a catalogue.”
Yes, Tony says, he plans to do his audience-pleasing “21 Versions of Jingle Bells” in piano styles ranging from one-finger plinked “First Recital” to “Randy Newman,” “Tango” and more.
He’s bringing his standard quartet of Mike Klopp on drums, Ed Decker on 12-string guitar, Dylan Shamat on bass.
New: Producing, conducting
This last year Tony says, he debuted a new Cole Porter show — “the first show that I completely sat down and planned, produced and directed,” also arranging more than half the music. Fellow Hudson Falls classmate Tedd Firth arranged several songs for the show as well, he said.
Tony performs it with orchestras, along “with a world class tap dancer, trombone player and vocalist,” he says. “It was a big swing for me. Thankfully, people liked it.”
He’s booked it at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops in early 2025.
“That’s a big milestone for me,” says Tony. “I’ve performed at Carnegie Hall before, but not with my own show.”
Also, “I’ve got my first conducting gig next year,” in February with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, conducting and singing a program of Frank Sinatra songs — much like the old-school big band leaders of years past, he says.
“My Sinatra show doesn’t demand a lot,” he says. “I pretty much can count the songs in and cut them off. I don’t have to stand there the whole time and wave my arms. That would be awkward.”
He says he was able to try conducting a couple of weeks ago during rehearsals as guest pianist with the Edmondton Orchesta in Alberta, Canada. “Thankfully, it went well, and the orchestra gave me a little shuffle, which is like their applause. It gave me a little boost of confidence.”
“The thing is, it’s something different, too. Anything that you can do in this business to further burrow into your niche, it’s a good thing.”
New releases, big sound
Next year, Tony says he plans to release a new single every two months.
“Up to this point, I’ve just released small jazz group albums. For years, I wanted to do a bigger production, but it’s so cost prohibitive to go into the studio.”
Even for a few songs, he says, “it was looking like $100,000, which in today’s streaming land, it becomes a more like a vanity project, not a good business decision.”
Now, with the rise in home studios during the pandemic, “I was able to find players, mostly in L.A., that, like, one guy did all the trombone parts, one did all the sax, trumpet; I hired a remote drummer, mandolin.
“Almost all the instruments are real, and I assembled them all in my home studio. We record my stuff in my home studio and fill the rest in with synth and sample libraries, which have gotten really good. They’re fooling my ears into thinking I went to Capitol Studios to record.”
“I’m pretty excited to get these songs out in a way that I’ve always wanted to.
“I want to focus more on my own songs and get them out, because, when I play them live, I see that people like them, and they connect, and there’s not really good versions for people to listen to.”
‘Proud of the HF Strand’
Of the Strand, Tony says, “I’ve been to every state and played performing arts centers, big towns and small towns.
“I’m just so happy that little Hudson Falls has this space, curated by Jon (Jonathan Newell) who is so hip and brings such great stuff in. I’m proud of Jon and what he’s built there, and that the community supports it.
“It’s a really great room to play. Each room has its own personality, and it’s one of those rooms that feels intimate, as well as big.”
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