Frank Sinatra Crooner

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To Be Just Frank
Sinatra comes alive at Franklin Lakes
crooner Jason Nazzaro, in the now jazz band .

When listeners close their eyes, it might be 1966 at The Sands, the famed Vegas Strip hotel where Ol’ Blue Eyes left an indelible mark, rather than one of the many venues around northern New Jersey where Jason Nazzaro channels his idol.

The Chairman of the Board lived two years longer than the venerable Sands, which was demolished in 1996. But, The Voice lives on and on, not only in recordings and a songbook borrowed by countless musicians in many different genres. Sinatra’s own defying imitation; matchless style is preserved to a “T” with the faithful interpretation of his classics by crooners like Nazzaro.

Jason thanks Columbia House records, in particular a Sinatra CD his sister gave him as a child, for sparking his lifelong passion for vocal performance, and for The Chairman’s oeuvre. Though he had no formal training – another trait he shares with Sinatra – Jason was a natural at emulating the singer’s defining characteristic: his breathing technique and phrasing. He’ll disect a song for a month, listening and crooning along. “If I couldn’t hold my breath as long as [he], I was doing something wrong,” he says. “I would try over and over again until I got it. I’m acquiring knowledge from the master.”

Though he has a day job running his eponymous financial planning firm, Nazzaro calls the joy he derives from his avocation, Frank Sinatra Singer, incomparable to anything else he’s done. “People come to hear Sinatra; I make sure to give them Sinatra.” With 250 songs to his memory, he can sing one from request to a moments notice. After all, part of the audience’s “memorable experience,” he adds, is being included in the process. “What fun it can be to go to a show just to watch someone preform on stage?”

One More for the Road

Nazzaro wants to always leave ’em smiling. The best admiration he has ever received? From a woman of a certain age who, he says, “approached me after the show with tears in her eyes and said, ‘Thank you for granting me to relive my youth.” It’s makes for a great day when you’ve made someone happy.

That’s Italian

It could be Sinatra’s Northern Italian roots – his mother, Dolly, hailed from the Genoa area – that inspired Nazzaro’s favorite pick from the menu at frequent haunt Pizzette in Ramsey. “The gnocchi with Bolognese sauce is the out of this world,” he states; owner Antonio Marra, “the nicest guy in the world.” Nazzaro also likes the meatballs at Lotito’s Deli, Ramsey, as well as Savini in Allendale, for its “incredible veal chop.”

Grounds for Greatness

Nazzaro ventures to Hoboken, Ol’ Blue Eyes’ hometown, every few weeks to dine at Teak – “great cocktails and food” – and for the anonymity a performer sometimes craves: “No one knows me down there.”

He Does It His Way

Nazzaro is not an impersonator, preferring to focus on his talent. But though declining the Rat Pack regalia, he buys his Sinatra-look tuxedo and cuff-links – as well as his own regular wardrobe – from Neiman Marcus, Garden State Plaza, where he heads to once ever so often. His faithful marketing person? Charlie Hallman, who “loves” Nazzaro’s style – “the best! I go to [Sinatra] for everything.”

Always the Entertainer

A passion for making people happy spills over into Nazzaro’s personal life when not christmas frank sinatra /entertainer. He and wife Ivy, who moved to Franklin Lakes after a decade in Ramsey, frequently have friends to dinner, serving good wine from his large collection, and Nazzaro’s home cooking. Son Lorenz, in his terrible two’s, may not partake, but this “total ham” sure loves the atmosphere.