Saturday, September 25, 2004
Even as a teenager, Tom Tiratto was mesmerized by 'Ol Blue Eyes' songs.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
The difference between Frank Sinatra impersonators and Tom Tiratto's "Tribute to Frank Sinatra" is mimicry, or the absence of it.
"An impersonator will wear blue contacts when I have brown eyes," says Tiratto, a Mahoning Valley native and seasoned vocalist who will give his first Youngstown show on Saturday. An impersonator also might don a gray wig to look more like Sinatra "and plagiarize everything the man ever said, word for word ... where I don't do that. Basically, we're celebrating the man's career and life with the music he loved.
"It's my personality with Sinatra's music and a band that can play the heck out of it," Tiratto said. In Youngstown, that band will be Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, which also has local members.
Tiratto, 51, spent the first five years of his life in Lowellville. His memories aren't specific: "I just remember it as a wonderful place to grow up," he said.
His father was employed by Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube, but an on-the-job injury ended his steel-working days. That's when the Tirattos moved to Cleveland, where Tom went to school. Tiratto still has relatives in Lowellville, Campbell and Boardman and returns here about once a year for family reunions, he said.
Early days
When Tiratto was a teenager, he was playing drums and listening to the music of Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. His parents cherished the Big Band music of Sinatra, Count Basie and Glenn Miller. Something about Sinatra always grabbed his ear.
"I loved his vocals, I liked the way he acted, the way he delivered that lyric," Tiratto said. "Every time I heard a Sinatra record ... it kind of stuck with me for the day."Tiratto began his singing career about 15 years ago, after working as a railroad lineman and an insurance adjuster. "Frank Sinatra was my instructor without actually being physically in front of me," Tiratto said. "I listened to him so much. You can sing a lot of words ... and people will be looking around because you're just singing out some words. It's very important to feel the lyrics, feel the songs. That was one of the biggest lessons of my life, learning to entertain."
The vocal similarities between Tiratto and Ol' Blue Eyes are obvious on Tiratto's CD, which he also calls "A Tribute to Frank Sinatra."
"It's not that I sound like him," he said. "I phrase like he did. That phrasing reminds people of him. I'm really not trying to sound like him."
Credits
Tiratto has performed on TV's "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno; at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fla.; and at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California, among other places. He recently returned from a trip to Frankfurt, Germany, where he joined Warsaw Symphony Orchestra in recording the song "It Was A Very Good Year" and performed at a corporate event for Volkswagen.
Despite his extensive travels, he never came close enough to Youngstown so that his family could see him perform. All they knew was what they read in newspaper articles that his father circulated among them. Of course, he's hoping to see more than his family in the seats at Stambaugh. "We have a good Italian audience, I understand," he said.
Tiratto lived near Tampa, Fla., for many years before moving to Beebe, Ark., north of Little Rock. He has a home, about 20 acres and some farm animals.
"It just got very crowded there," he said of Florida. "I still work there. I just found a place where it's not so crowded. I think there are only two traffic lights [in Beebe, Ark.] I love it."As for what Tiratto likes of the Sinatra song book, "In my repertoire, I love some of his romantic ballads. They don't always work in a show so I have to be careful in what I select. If you were in that melancholy mood, he could help you stay there. I love to sing that kind of music myself." His favorite is a medley of "The Gal That Got Away" and "It Never Entered My Mind," he said.
Tiratto also prides himself in having the same musical arrangements that Sinatra used. "If I can deliver the lyrics like he did, give it that pizzazz, that will be the true tribute."
shaulis@vindy.com