By Andrew Poretz***The title seemed compelling: A Bronx Accent from Brussels. The premise of a fellow who grew up in “da Bronx,” but now resides in Belgium, stirred the imagination. Your humble correspondent thus reviewed Brussels-based jazz singer, Tom McGuire’s show, a tribute to the Frank Sinatra songbook, with anticipation, along with some apprehension, for the subtitle suggested a Sinatra impersonator. The good news? 
He is not an impersonator, but the strength of the show was firmly in the excellent band supporting him—a wise choice on the singer’s part. McGuire has a pleasant-enough baritone (although pitchy) and a warm, avuncular stage presence; you can imagine him getting up to sing at your best friend’s wedding. Telling was the presence of McGuire’s many “Noo Yawk” friends, including numerous childhood pals from Fordham Prep, now fellow 72-year-olds.
The superb quartet of young musicians included renowned pianist Baden Goyo of Venezuela, trumpeter Alejandro Berti of Venezuela, bassist Hamish Smith of New Zealand and drummer Daniel Prim of Venezuela. The exceptional Mr. Berti, utilizing a muted trumpet for many songs, and a flugelhorn on several, was given much free rein to improvise fills, much as Harry “Sweets” Edison did on many seminal Sinatra sessions.
The repertoire was surprisingly eclectic, with McGuire performing some of the usual Sinatra songs like “You Make me Feel So Young” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” as well as rarely covered tunes, including “It Happened in Monterrey.” He focused on Sinatra’s “Capitol Years,” emphasizing Nelson Riddle arrangements that Goyo deftly adapted for a jazz combo. Goyo kept the most unmistakable Riddle vamps without overtly copying the charts. McGuire also sang a few of the later Sinatra songs, like “That’s Life” from 1966, and “It Had to Be You,” from Sinatra’s 1980 Trilogy album. “Sinatra recorded 1,200 songs—we don’t have time to do all of them,” he quipped. Interestingly, McGuire somewhat redeemed himself with an Italian song never performed by Sinatra, “L’appuntamento,” a big hit in Italy in 1970. McGuire, a polyglot fluent in Italian and French, was effective here.
While he borrowed some phrasing from the Chairman of the Board, his timing was off; McGuire was often behind the music, as opposed
to being behind the beat like Sinatra. He told funny anecdotes, but read most of his patter from a script in a blue folder, with some ad libs. An especially amusing story, with a callback later in the show, was about the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the site of Sinatra’s early gig as a singing waiter. Transformed after its closing into the Rustic Cabin Exxon Station, a “singing attendant” purportedly sung him a parody song. But the script was something of a lost opportunity. McGuire told some familiar Sinatra background stories, but little about himself. It would have been interesting to learn how he wound up in Brussels, for one thing.
McGuire closed out the evening with a pair of Sinatra’s biggest later hits, “My Way” and an encore of “(Theme from) New York, New York.”
