Member-only story
My Night with Frank Dibussolo
April 27, 2019|DIARY OF A MAD JAZZ SINGER
I always look forward to singing at the Paris Wine Bar in Philly. It’s homey, the servers and owners are friendly and real (there’s no bar manager breathing down your neck asking you to play Barbara Streisand tunes — the ones she sings, not the ones she writes), and the audience is right up front and close.
My regular guitarist Tom Glenn was in Utah, so I asked Frank Dibussolo to sub and was delighted that he said yes.
There are a number of players in the area that you hear about all the time and you figure you’ll bump into one day, but I only bumped into Frank briefly back in the day on a gig with alto saxophonist George Nardello — Just a straight, outside gig without much improvisation happening. So last night, I finally got the chance to work with him and his playing was everything I thought it would be — loose, free, and totally empathetic. Even our fuck-ups were musical (what were those chords on More Than You Know?) and we rescued each other a few times.
The Paris Wine Bar/London was a bit somber though. It’s been sold and no one knows what’s going to happen, whether it’ll be a doughnut shop or a Gap. I remember singing there in my early 30s with guitarist and Dennis Sandole acolyte Joe Federico; unbelievably, this neighborhood watering hole has been a drinking…
