interview: Gregg Arthur

Gregg Arthur talks about his forthcoming Lane Cove Country Club show honouring local radio star Bob Rogers OAM

WORDS: BRAD FORREST

Up to 150 fans are expected to pack the scenic Lane Cove Country Club on Saturday 18 March to be entertained by Gregg Arthur, possibly Australia's finest jazz singer in decades.

Arthur and his band, the Peter Locke Trio, with special guest Billy Burton, will play the music of the incomparable Tony Bennett to honour Sydney's legendary radio star of yesteryear, Bob Rogers OAM.

The significance of Bob Rogers and Tony Bennett on Gregg Arthur's career can't be overstated. Arthur, 58, began singing with groups at school and got his first break singing as a teen at Sydney's Bourbon and Beefsteak.

"I grew up listening to my grandmother playing piano and to my father's big album collection and I remember being influenced by the sounds of Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz and horn player and vocalist Chet Baker."

He was fortunate to be mentored by Australian musical greats like Tommy Tycho, Don Burrows and Julian Lee, and when his voice broke, Arthur took acting lessons to learn how to "own the stage."

He eventually ventured overseas to further his career, and he joined up with "incredible musicians" in Europe, where he performed for Princess Mary of Denmark, among others, before eventually getting a tap on the shoulder advising him to move to the big smoke of the US. "It was a great experience," he recalled.

His Dad would have been thrilled when his son played at Herb Albert's own club in Bel Air, Los Angeles, where Tom Jones would relax over a lamb chops dinner and listen to performers. And even more proud that Gregg’s warm tenor voice and style got the attention of Bennett back in 2007. Tony Bennett himself heaped praise on the Australian singer for his "beautiful phrasing" in song. "I had worked with Vinnie Falcone, Bennett's pianist and it was he who organised the introduction," recalled Arthur. With an endorsement from the legend himself, Gregg is the ideal man to present all the wonderful hit songs from Tony Bennett’s incredible lifetime of music.

He furthered his career singing alongside top musicians like Bob Rosario, pianist and arranger for Bobby Darin and the likes of Clayton Cameron, drummer for Sammy Davis Jr and Bennett.

Back in Sydney, Bob Rogers added Gregg Arthur to his extensive playlist on Radio 2CH.

"Bob interviewed me four times on 2CH and he really supported my career.

“And sometimes he'd surprise me by playing stars like Sinatra and Bennett and then me.

"I could hardly believe it."

Eric Myers of The Weekend Australian also praised Gregg, “... this exceptional singer, like Sinatra, delivers immortal melodies with impeccable phrasing”.

So, after performing all around the world, Gregg Arthur is pleased to be returning to Lane Cove Country Club, where he's played many times before with the Billy Burton Band, to pay tribute to Bob Rogers through the music of Tony Bennett.

"It's a lovely musical venue and I'm sure Bob is going to enjoy the night.

"With the genre of music, we have to respect the past... we're all riding on the shoulders of the greats."

In his show Gregg Arthur sings Tony Bennett, Gregg will perform songs written by legendary artists including Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Cole Porter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Michel Legrand, as well as Bennett’s theme song “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”

Gregg Arthur's latest in a long list of albums, Jazz and Cocktails, has already received rave reviews. He plays at The Foundry 616 on Saturday March 4, before his big concert style show on Saturday March 18 at the Lane Cove Country Club. Bookings for GREGG ARTHUR sings TONY BENNETT are online, via Eventbrite. Rogers, in his 90s and now retired, has indicated he will be in the audience. And Lane Cove's own 90-year-old trumpeter supreme, the legendary Billy Burton, will also make another club appearance.