An Interview with Brandon Tomasello
- R.A.G.
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
A freshly released album from Brandon Tomasello delivers a brilliant and classic crooner style, complete with fully orchestrated works, lively energy, and a vibrant character that shines through from beginning to end.
The songs on this record have a particular way of reaching out and grabbing you. This is for the people who grew up listening to The Rat Pack, Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, and the rest of them, who had a huge hand in creating this unique and very memorable genre of music.
If you're not very familiar with the style, it really brings together a big swing with vocal jazz, and in order to have this sound come through properly, you have to have a full orchestra making things colorful, right, emotional, and at times, even driving.
Brandon Tomasello delivers some of this amazingly classic and almost vintage feeling crooner attribute, packed with character, personality, and a slight sense of Whimsy, all rolled into this amazing record that doesn't let up.
Most of the songs on this release feel like instant classics. Lively percussion gives songs the feeling of being alive and breathing. Loads of horn sections and strings that come in and out, thickening up the atmosphere, bringing together these amazing textures to create atmospheres that you fall right into.
They swing, they dance, and all of it is built with such particular tonality and attention to the aesthetic of the genre that it's impossible to turn away from.
In my younger days, when I was growing up, my parents, aunts, and uncles would always listen to Frank Sinatra. It was almost constantly going during barbecues, parties, and gatherings.
It wasn't just Sinatra; it was Dean Martin, and the rest of them as well.
So, I did grow up with a lot of this stuff sort of embedded into my brain from a young age, and it's always blowing my mind.
You can only imagine someone like Brandon coming across pieces of work he hasn't heard before and deciding to bring those pieces to life in his own way.
Brandon is very well known for his love and passion for classic music, especially the big band, swing, and crooner era of songwriting and performance.
His love for the genre eventually led to a career in it, even booking a 6-month residency in Atlantic City at just 19 years old.
Having also performed at legendary casinos in Las Vegas, Brandon has really become a staple of the big band movement, bringing it back to the places that made it famous in the first place.
This record came to be because Brandon came across arrangements written by Billy Byers that were originally for Frank Sinatra and the Count Basie band.
Most of these were never heard, so when he found out about this, he did whatever he had to do to make it work.
In the end, we have a robust record with beautiful bodies of work, thick, orchestrated, and lush sounds, the air of live performance, and a gracefully approached love letter to the writers that really helped shape who he is today.
Being able to take all those incredible Inspirations and actually release something so close to someone like Sinatra is incredible.
For Brandon, I would imagine it was a dream come true to come across these pieces of work. A series of songs written originally for Sinatra but never heard.
Sounds like "Hello Dolly", gets you moving with beautiful rhythm, amazing horns, percussion, and lively, charismatic vocals.
The entire record is just packed with this kind of stuff, and it most certainly feels like an album that was released decades ago.
Brandon was able to really nail the aesthetic, and if ever there was an opus for the artist, this record is it.
Performed by Brandon himself along with City Rhythm Orchestra, and written by Billy Byers, The Lost Sinatra- Basie album is one for the books.
This is a record that any fan of the genre cannot miss out on.
Each song has a life all its own; the songs also come together across the record beautifully, and I don't suggest skipping anything.
This is an album meant to be heard all the way through from start to finish in one shot.
It's one of the best ways to really soak in that aesthetic, the way it was meant to be heard.
This thing was performed with loads of heart, and again, you can't get away from the charismatic element of it all.
Listening to this record gave me bouts of nostalgia left and right.
After listening to the album, I realized I needed to ask Brandon some questions. I wanted to know how it all came to be. How did he figure out a way to get the permission to use these songs and release them?
Again, this is like pure gold for someone like Brandon, and he certainly must have had to do some digging to figure out a way to get this all to come together.
So, while you listen to this incredible record, have a read through of our interview with Brandon Tomasello below.
Do not miss this one.
Let's talk about "The Lost Sinatra-Basie"! This is a big record with all kinds of classic approaches, lush instrumentation, and a wonderfully vibrant aesthetic! Where did this album come from?
It all began in the summer of 2019. While researching arranger Billy Byers at the Library of Congress, I discovered a collection of his original scores. Many of them were familiar—charts that famously appeared on "Sinatra at the Sands". But then I noticed something extraordinary: eleven arrangements I had never heard before.
I immediately called my friend Tom Knox, who serves on the Library’s board, and he arranged a phone meeting with the head of the music department. I was told that I could receive copies of the scores, provided I obtained written permission from the Byers estate.
That led me to Billy’s son, Bryant Byers. We spoke on the phone for nearly two hours. I shared my deep love for this music and my admiration for his father’s work. Bryant couldn’t have been more gracious—he gave me his blessing, and that moment set everything in motion.
I'm sure we can guess some of these but I have to know, who are some of your biggest musical influences?
My top five, in no particular order, would be:
* Frank Sinatra
* Ella Fitzgerald
* Steve Lawrence
* Dean Martin
* Sammy Davis Jr.
This record has some arrangements by Billy Byers? Can you tell us more about that?
Billy wrote most of the arrangements on this album. What many people don’t realize is that during the Sinatra–Basie tours, Quincy Jones hired Billy to handle much of the writing. Quincy simply didn’t have the time to do everything himself, so he brought Billy in to help manage the workload.
Billy could write at an incredible speed, and he didn’t need a piano because he had perfect pitch. One of the most fascinating discoveries was that Billy wrote in ink!
In addition to Billy’s charts, the album also includes a few arrangements by Quincy Jones and Chico O’Farrill, making this project a rare convergence of three legendary arrangers.
What studio did you go record all of this in? Better yet, how do you get a record like this together in the first place?
We recorded the album at "Soundplex Studios" in Pennsauken, New Jersey.
A project of this scale takes a lot of people. It began with George Koch, the owner of Soundplex. When I told him about the idea of recording previously unrecorded Sinatra arrangements, he immediately understood the importance of the project and helped get the ball rolling.
Next, we needed the right band. I chose the City Rhythm Orchestra, who I had worked with before. Band leaders Pete Spina and Nick Vallerio understood the ultimate goal: recreating the authentic Count Basie sound.
It meant a great deal to have Bryant Byers fly in from the West Coast to play lead trombone on the record. His involvement adds an extra level of authenticity and nostalgia. As an added gift, Bryant also painted the album cover artwork.
Finally, we needed the right engineer. Randy Weaver was fully on board from the start. He employed many old-school recording techniques, capturing the band playing together in one room to achieve the organic sound of a true big band.
How did this all start for you?
I grew up with my grandparents, Frank and Marion Fortino, in South Philadelphia. My grandmother always had Frank Sinatra’s music playing in the house, so it naturally became the music I fell in love with.
She also met Sinatra at the 500 Club in Atlantic City, and I can still hear her voice as she told the story of that night. Those memories are deeply woven into everything I do.
Are you performing live right now?
Yes. I perform every Tuesday night at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City with my pianist, Keith Chasin.
We’re also planning additional "Lost Sinatra–Basie" performances with the full big band, and I’ll be appearing with the Ocean City Pops this summer. all information will be on my website, brandontomasello.com
Now that this album is out, what’s next for you?
I take it one day at a time.
This is great music, and my goal is to keep it in the public eye in the most authentic and humble way possible. I’m not an impersonator, and I make it a point in every show to say:
"The real star of the show is the music.”
Who’s in your headphones right now?
Of course, all of the artists I mentioned earlier—along with Michael Bublé… and maybe a little Taylor Swift!
What would you tell people they can expect on this release?
It’s a fun album to listen to. The band is swinging, and the charts sound fresh and vibrant—even though they were written over sixty years ago and hadn’t been played since.
There are also some special treats:
Tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon delivers some killer solos.
I talked our lead trumpet player, Bob Gravener, into singing a duet with me on Hello Dolly. He does an incredible Louis Armstrong impression.
We also uncovered a previously unknown Billy Byers instrumental titled "Battery Charger.” It features my musical director and drummer, Mike Nigro.
The first time we performed “Battery Charger” in concert, Mike received three standing ovations for his drum solo!
Before we go, what would you like to say to fans of this music?
It is truly a privilege for me to carry the torch.
My ultimate goal is to make sure that my grandchildren’s grandchildren know the names:
Frank Sinatra. Ella Fitzgerald. Billy Byers. Chico O’Farrill. Quincy Jones, and many others.
This is the greatest music ever written, and it deserves to be remembered.
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