The Quintessence of Las Vegas article @ All About Jazz

” data-original-title title>Jack Jones, Pete Barbutti, and scores more. Still in-demand as ever in a changing environment, here Darro shares his musical legacy.

All About Jazz: Okay. Good afternoon, Joe Darro. How are you?

Joe Darro: I’m fine, Nick. How you doing, buddy?

AAJ: Joe, on behalf of All About Jazz, we’re going to spend some time talking about your career, both past, present, and future. So tell me a little bit about your early days up in Albany, New York.

JD: Oh, well, boy, let’s see. Well, I come from a big family, big Italian family, eight kids. I was the youngest of eight kids and my father played the flute and the guitar and everybody in my family sings or did sing. And so, we just a big family and a lot of music in the house between listening to the radio and recordings. And so, when I was like 11 years old in my class at school, they gave us like an ear training test or something, and the teacher said, “You have a good ear, you should play an instrument.” So, my sister said: “I want you to play the piano.” And I said: “Oh, okay.” So, I started taking piano lessons when I was like 11. And then I took lessons for like about three years and then I quit because I was into sports. I was a good athlete. I was a really good baseball player. I wanted to play baseball for the Yankees. Didn’t want to play the piano. So I quit and I didn’t take any more lessons again. And then when I was about 18, 17-18, I started going to some dances and I met some musicians and I said to them, I like to sing and they said: “Come on up.”

So I went up and they would let me sing a song or two and they said: “You know, you sing very well, you should play an instrument.” I said: “Well, I took piano lessons when I was younger.” They said: “Well, you go back to it. You could probably make a few bucks playing and singing.” So I started buying song sheets of songs that I wanted to sing and play. And it was funny because when I bought a song sheet and I would look, and at the top of the page there were the chord changes. Now with the piano teacher that I had when I was younger, I didn’t learn anything about chord changes because I was just playing classical music. So, when I was looking at these things I was singing, singing C minor 7 or F7 or these things. I had no idea what that thing was. I said: “What the heck are those things? So then I had some of the guys show me the fingering and then I would go home and I would figure it out and I would try it in all the different keys and that’s one of the ways that I learned. And I stole from everybody I could steal from. And that’s one of the ways that I got started playing and singing up in Albany was that way. And then when I was 18-19 years old, I had my own radio program. I used to go to a radio station there and listen to the disc jockey. And he said to me one day: “Would you like to have your own show?” And so, he got me a little 15-minute radio show. I used to be on Saturday mornings for 15 minutes, and then in the afternoons on Saturday he had a rhythm and blues and jazz show. And so I was there with him. And we would sit there and play R&B and jazz, and that’s how I got really interested in jazz and R&B, and started meeting some of the older musicians in town. And then I met

” data-original-title title>Nick Brignola and Nick and I got to be really good friends. And he was from Troy, New York, which was right outside of Albany. And then he was playing with a group there. And then sometimes when there was an accordion in the group, when the accordion player couldn’t make it for some reason, they would call me. And I didn’t play accordion, but I played the piano, so I would play piano with the group. I would fill in with Nick’s group there. So that’s how I got involved with Nick. And so then I played around Albany for quite a while. And then there were three brothers from Albany called the Russo brothers that I grew up with. We all lived in the same house when we were kids, and they were all very talented musicians and they had a job in Las Vegas. So they said to me: “You want to come with us to Las Vegas?” So, I said: “Sure.” So I came with them. In 1957, we played at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. So I came out there with them and we worked opposite

” data-original-title title>Matt Dennis, who I was a big fan of because of his music. And I know you know who Matt is. He was a wonderful pianist and composer. He wrote “Angel Eyes,” “Everything Happens to Me,” “Violets for Your Furs,” all those great songs for

” data-original-title title>Frank Sinatra. They were both with

” data-original-title title>Tommy Dorsey. So I worked opposite Matt and he and I became friends.

And then while we were there at the Frontier, there was a group named The Frank Moore Four that came to work opposite us, and Frank Moore I had met in Troy, New York, years earlier. He was playing at a club there. And a friend of mine and I went up there to hear the group, and my friend asked Frank Moore if he would let me sit in and sing. And I sat in and sang, and we became friends. So when I was in Las Vegas and I saw The Frank Moore Four, I went, oh, my God, here’s my friends that we met years ago.

So they were playing there. And Bobby Sherwood, the old bandleader, was fronting a group, and I remember him from television. I had seen him on the “Milton Berle Show” and Bert Parks and Jerry Lester’s “Broadway Open House.” So he was fronting a group. We worked opposite them. And then while I was out here in Vegas, I called home and my brother said: “You got your draft notice.” This was 1957. I said: “What?” So he said: “You got to come home.” So I had to fly all the way back to Albany to go to the draft board.

So I went to the draft thing. I tried to get in Special Services, but I didn’t get in. And then I was married. My wife became pregnant. So they made me “3A” [draft deferral] and they never took me. So while I was home, I was looking in the paper one day, and I saw Bobby Sherwood was playing at one of our local hotels. He was coming to town as the Bobby Sherwood Quintet. I went, gee, there’s the guy that was just in Vegas a couple of years ago. So I went up to see him. I said: “I don’t know if you remember me.” And he said: “Sure.” And he said: “I need a pianist and I need a drummer because the guys I have are just filling in.” And so in the meantime, my wife and I had gotten divorced. So I said: “Well, I’ll be your pianist.” And I got him a drummer. So I joined Bobby in 1960, and I stayed with him for 12 years. And we traveled for a while, and we settled here in Vegas in 1962 and played all the hotels here in town.

Then we played in Lake Tahoe, Reno, Phoenix, and around the West Coast, Santa Barbara, Texas, New Mexico. So that was a great time with his group. And so I stayed with him till 1972. And then in 1972, I got an offer to go work in Atlanta, Georgia. So I left Bobby’s group, and I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and went down there and got my own group down there. An agent down there fixed me up with a drummer and bassist. So I worked with them for a while, and I stayed in Atlanta for eight years until the end of or the beginning of ’79, and I got an offer to come back to Vegas. So I got a call to come back. So I came back to Vegas. I’ve been back here ever since. And I worked all the hotels. I did singles, and then I also had my own group for a while. Then I also played with several different groups here in town. And, boy, I’ve worked opposite so many wonderful people. Everybody you can think of, Nick.

AAJ: Joe. You obviously, with those dates, you saw the great days of Las Vegas.

JD: Oh, yeah.

AAJ: And you probably also saw when the union strike happened and things started to change. Could you tell me a little bit about that? How did you handle when they went on strike?

JD: Yeah, it was really tough during those times when we were on strike out here. And I got a few jobs under the table at different places that were non-union. And I was able to survive at least. And I was married. I got married again, and my wife was a cocktail waitress, so at least we were okay financially until the strike was eventually over. But when you say when I was here during the times and we had all the great music, when I was here, Nick, there used to be music 24 hours a day. Every hotel had groups 24 hours a day. I went to work. One of the hotels was the Thunderbird. I went to work at 3:00 in the morning. It was my first set. Three in the morning, three to eight. I worked at the Mint Hotel from 6 AM to noon. I worked at the Castaways from 1 AM to 6 AM. I mean, everybody, all the different groups. The first time we worked at the Flamingo Hotel, I think I was 27 years old, I pulled into the valet parking, and I looked up at the marquee, and it goes, “

” data-original-title title>Harry James Band with

” data-original-title title>Buddy Rich,

” data-original-title title>Billy Eckstine,

” data-original-title title>Della Reese, Phyllis and Bobby Sherwood.”

You know, I’m sitting there like my mouth was wide open looking at these names of people that I idolized, saw in the movies, had the records, saw them on TV. I was like, Wow! While I was at the Flamingo,

” data-original-title title>Ella Fitzgerald was in the showroom, and she used to come out every night and sit in the lounge and listen to our group. And she was so nice, and she invited me. She used to invite me to come sit in her dressing room with her and watch TV while she was on a break between shows.

AAJ: You obviously were incredibly busy at that time.

JD: Yeah.

AAJ: What was it about your talents that enabled you to be one of the most sought-after performers? Was it you knew most of the tunes or you knew different styles? What was it about that that enabled you to work so much?

JD: Well, you know. Yeah. My daughter asked me that once when she was little. She said: “Daddy, how come you work all the time and how come you know so many tunes?” And I said: “Honey, because it’s my job to know these tunes. It’s my job to be able to play lots of different tunes, be able to play them in different keys because I work with different people, sometimes different singers, and they don’t all sing them in the same keys, so you have to be able to transpose them in your head.” You know, if there’s no music unless they have music, then you read it. But other than that, you have to be able to just be able to play them in any key and do that. So, I was very lucky to be able to do that. I had a good ear, and I was able to do that. And my style of singing, I was able to sing a lot of different styles, but mostly a lot of people always said that they thought I was a jazz singer. I never thought I was specifically a jazz singer. I just thought I was a singer. Maybe with jazz phrasing or stylization, if you want to call it that. But I used to listen to all the great singers and everything. I didn’t really copy anybody. I remember once, years ago, I was working at Debbie Reynolds’ Hotel, in the lobby of the hotel, and I was playing and singing, and there was a bank of telephones over there by the registration desk that I used to face. And I was playing once, and I was looking, this guy was on the phone, and he put the phone down and he came walking towards the piano. I thought to myself: “Oh, boy. He’s going to say, Geez, you’re too loud. I can’t hear myself.’ And he goes: “Is your name Joe Darro?” And I said: “Yeah, why?” He said: “I was talking to so and so on the telephone and she said ‘That must be Joe Darro singing. Nobody else sings like that.'” I said: “Wow, what a nice compliment!” So, I was very lucky that way. And I’ve met so many people that I… In 1963, we were in Lake Tahoe at Harrah’s Club, and we were on the late shift from 1 AM to 6 AM. And Sammy Davis, Jr. was in the showroom. And after the second set, he would come out every night and sit in with us in the lounge till 6:00 in the morning, and we’d go have breakfast and we’d go play golf and then we’d go to bed. He did that every week, every night for two weeks. I mean, what a so down to earth was just a great guy. No egos and everything. And he told me I was, I don’t know, 20 whatever years old. And he said to me: “I need to talk to you.” I said: “Yes, Sam.” He said: “You sing so good that most people will never appreciate you.” And I just kind of looked at him like, Huh? I was in my 20s, and I’ve had people tell me that over the years. He said he was right. He said most people never know it. And in those times, those days, my chops were really up and, because I was singing five, six nights a week.

AAJ: Do you have perfect pitch?

JD: No. No, relative.

AAJ: Yeah, I would think so. I would think so. And it’s funny, the idea of performing with different musicians, vocalists, different keys or what have you, really is something that nowadays is kind of lacking.

JD: Oh, God, yeah. I know. I even know to this day. I had a lot of guys that are good players here. And here in town, we lost a lot of them who left years ago during the strike. And things are when they went to the all the electronic stuff, the guys, a lot of guys moved to LA and then they stay down there in the recording studios. But yeah, I got a lot of guys here in town that play very well. And they don’t remember. They have to read everything and I go: “Don’t you retain or you can’t transpose that song?” Or whatever. And it really kind of boggles my mind that they’re not able to do that. I don’t know why.

AAJ: What kind of work are you doing now?

JD: I’m actually doing a few different things. Like tonight, I have a job with a drummer, just a little duo thing where I play keyboard, I play left-hand bass and he sings. He’s a very good singer. And we play in a little restaurant here. We just do standards. And then I do a thing with Gary Anderson who I know you know. And we play a thing at the Italian-American Club. Actually, we’ll be there this coming Thursday. We do a thing called Fiore. It’s the second Thursday of every month, we play a luncheon, and we just play tunes for the people that sit there and have nice lunch and everything, and that’s about it. I’ve been working with a very talented young singer. His name is Michael Nugent. He’s from Buffalo originally. He just turned 30 years old. I met him when he was 25 about five and a half years ago. He called me on the phone, and he said: “Hey, Joe, my name is Michael Nugent. I’m a singer. I’m 25 years old, from Buffalo, and I need a pianist.” And, I’m going, “25 years old? What the heck songs could you sing that I would even know?” So, I got together with him, and he sings all the standards, and I’m looking at him like, “Where did you learn all these songs?” He goes: “I’m an old soul.” I said: “Boy, I guess you are.” He knows all the standards, sings great. He’s like a young

” data-original-title title>Michael Buble. He’s very good. Sings good, got good feel for the songs. And his pitch is good, which is the first thing people say to me asking. “When you listen to a singer, what do you do?” I say: “the first thing I listen to is pitch.” And he goes: “What do you mean, pitch? I said: “If he or she sings in tune, got to be on the notes.” That’s the first thing I listen to.

AAJ: One of the other things, as a matter of fact, this came up in an interview that I was doing yesterday, is the idea of being a good showman. And I would think that when you do, let’s say, a single or a duo, if there are any opportunities for your interaction with the audience…

JD: Oh, yeah.

AAJ: Tell me a little bit about Joe Darro as a showman, an entertainer.

JD: Well, that’s another thing, Nick, that I think a lot of musicians don’t do that. I don’t know why. I always talk to the audience. I always have because I learned that from Bobby Sherwood. But yeah, I always try to interact with the audience, talk to them, and I always ask for requests. I always ask if anybody’s celebrating anything, a birthday, an anniversary, blah, blah. But I always try to interact with them, and I’ve had a lot of people say to me, I do a thing here in town. We do it the last Sunday of every month. We do an open mic thing here at one of the local clubs. I do it with a friend and a friend of mine, Michael Delano, who was a movie guy. He was in the movies for 40 years, and TV. He did a lot of TV movies, and he’s a DMC frontman. And I’ve had a lot of people say, I like the interaction that you guys do and the jokes and kidding around with the audience that makes us feel involved with what you’re doing. And I said, Yeah, I always thought that was very important.

AAJ: Did you ever get an invitation, let’s say, to go to Hollywood or LA and get into that end of the business out there?

JD: No, no, I never did. The only thing, I was talking about that today, many, many, many years ago, I was working at the Sahara Hotel with a girl singer, Diane Ellis. We were doing a duo, and we were in the lounge, and Redd Foxx was in the showroom. This was about 40 years ago. And so, Redd came out. He used to come out singing, so one night, Redd comes out on my break, and he goes: “Hey, Joe. I need to talk to you. I want you to come to LA. I got a recording studio and I want to record you.” I said: “Yeah, and do what? You know, Redd, it’s very nice. I appreciate it, but I don’t want to go to LA. But thank you anyway.” Many, many years ago when I was with Bobby Sherwood back in the ’60s here in town, we got to be good friends with Dan Rowan—you know, “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In?” Dan told us about the premise. He said: “We’re going to be doing a show called “Laugh-In” and I want your group, the group that I was with, with Bobby. I want your group to be the house band on “Laugh-In.” God, we thought was great, but the LA local wouldn’t go for it. They wouldn’t let us do it. So that was the only other time that we would have been ever able to go to Hollywood and do anything in that area.

AAJ: I happen to know that you are, and it’s no secret you’re going to be 90, which is wonderful. God bless you.

JD: Thank you.

AAJ: The question is, what is the secret, if any, to your musical longevity and your wonderful age and outlook longevity?

JD: Wow. I don’t know about my musical longevity. I guess because, like I said, because I know a lot of songs and people will hire me because of that, because I know the songs that they want to hear. So groups, some of the other groups now, the younger guys don’t hire me. The older guys still hire me like Gary Anderson and a couple of the other ones. And so that’s normally the people that I play for that are people maybe 70-80 years old, people of that age that just still want to hear the standards. What we always call the Great American Songbook. And I just like to do my music. I’m very lucky that my health normally is good, and the only problems I have is I have vision problems. I have macular degeneration and glaucoma, so my vision has gotten pretty bad. So, I usually have to have somebody pick me up and take me. And I’ve been lucky in that regards that I do to take me to gigs. And as far as the vocal thing, I’ve been lucky that way. My voice has retained. I never got what a friend of mine calls “that old age vibrato.” I have a couple of friends of mine that have that vibrato. I feel so bad, but I never got that, and I don’t know why. The only thing is, I never smoked and I never drank. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but I never had anything with vibrato problems. Thank God for that.

AAJ: One other quick question just comes to mind. Is there one performer that you always wanted to perform with, but for whatever reason, you never got the opportunity?

JD: Oh, wow. One performer that I never get to perform with.

AAJ: I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but you have played…

JD: Yeah. I’m trying to think.

AAJ: You’ve played with so many and…

JD: Yeah, I know. There are so many people I wish they could have, I guess Ella, probably. I never got to perform with her, even though I got to know her. I would have loved to have gotten up on… We almost got her on stage once when we were at the Flamingo, but she had just done two shows, and she was tired. I would have loved to have her come up and sit in with us, but…

AAJ: So you were friends, but, didn’t work with her?

JD: No. I got to know her because she was in the big room, and she used to sit and sit in the lounge. She and

” data-original-title title>Sarah Vaughan used to sit in the back of the lounge listening to us. And she was in the showroom. I used to go sit in the dressing room and listen to her. And then when she got off, I would sit there. And she and I would watch the “Tonight Show” together or something, but I never got to work with her, which I would love to have gotten to scat with her. Because I’ve been scatting since I was a little kid. And I would love to have done something vocally with her. But, my favorite singer is Jack Jones. Everybody goes, who? I go, “Jack Jones.” And when I take or when I get them to listen to him, they go, “God Almighty. I didn’t know he can sing like that!” And I got to play for him once, Nick. We were doing a TV show at Debbie Reynolds Hotel. And ” data-original-title title>Pete Barbutti was the emcee, and I had the trio. So we did this show for nine months. And every week we would have different guests. So one week Jack was on. So Pete was interviewing him, and Pete said, “Jack, sing something.” So Jack said: “What should I sing? So I said: “Sing ‘I Am a Singer.” He goes: “I don’t remember the words.” And I had the lead sheet. I had a chart that a friend of mine had written on the piano. So he puts on his reading glasses, and he’s looking at the lyrics, and he’s looking at the camera, and he’s singing. And Nick, at the end of the song, he hits a high B, full voice. And I fell off the piano. Pete Barbutti said: “Joe, you gotta realize he’s a trained singer.” I said, “I don’t give a shit. You don’t hit that note without even warming up!” Come on, man. Oh, God almighty. I couldn’t believe it. Just blew me away.

AAJ: Joe, this has been wonderful. On behalf of All About Jazz, Thanks so much!

JD: My pleasure, Nick. My pleasure

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