Tony Desare: ‘Doing What I So Enjoy!’

When asked for a self-assessment, singer-pianist-composer Tony Desare responded, “I’m just a kid from Glens Falls, New York when fell in love with jazz at an early age and who feels very lucky being able to make a living doing what I love and so enjoy.”

Tony DeSare is described as “a sophisticated jazz vocalist, pianist and songwriter who balances his love of the classic American songbook with his other eclectic pop and rock influences” Often compared to other revivalists like Harry Connick Jr, John Pizzarelli and Michael Bublé, Tony performs with infectious joy, wry playfulness and robust musicality. His sound is romantic, swinging and sensual, and he has brought his fresh take on old standards in a sophisticated and contemporary way.

Rising Star Male Vocalist

Named “Rising Star Male Vocalist” by Downbeat Magazine, he has lived up to this distinction by winning critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout North America and abroad, from jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas, often performing in front of full symphony orchestras

Tony acknowledges that he has always loved music. His earliest introduction to music was listening to his father play Beatles tunes on his guitar following the family dinner. He played the violin in the fourth grade and took up the piano in the sixth grade. He had a trio in high school that played for a variety of events every weekend. He attended nearby Ithaca College and continued performing while developing a loyal following around Upper New York State. At Ithaca College, he took some music classes and switched to a music major in his sophomore year, graduating in 1998. He heard Billy Joel speak at Cornell University, and Joel’s comments on the life of a professional musician made a lasting impact on Tony.

Moving to New York City in 1998 as an unknown with no special connections, DeSare got his feet wet meeting fellow musicians and visiting watering holes such as Birdland, Jilly’s and the Friar’s Club. He nabbed an engagement playing at the Marquis Hotel in Times Square and then landed a role in the off-Broadway musical, Our Sinatra (2000-03). A chance meeting with veteran guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli during a performance at the Apollo Theater led to numerous projects between the up-and-comer and the journeyman, including a pairing on DeSare’s 2005 Telarc recording debut, Want You.

Opening Act for Rickles

In 2006-07, he hit the Vegas circuit where he was the opening act for Don Rickles. In late 2007, he returned to the Big Apple with Last First Kiss, which again featured Pizzarelli. The album, which cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard jazz chart, also found DeSare beginning to expand his approach, singing both classic standards as well as more contemporary songs by Prince and Carole King. He then rounded out his time at Telarc with 2009’s even more eclectic Radio Show, tackling songs by New Order, Philip Bailey, Bob Dylan, and others. He made his first appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2010 when he did nine songs as part of the New York Pops Gala.

In 2013, he released the inventive Piano, in which every sound that accompanied his vocals, from the notes to the rhythms, was created on an acoustic piano. Following a 2015 holiday album, the singer issued his sixth full-length album, 2020’s Lush Life, which found him collaborating with pianist Tedd Firth.

DeSare has four Top 10 Billboard jazz albums under his belt and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, A Prairie Home Companion, and the Today Show, and his music has been posted by social media celebrity juggernaut, George Takei. He has also collaborated with YouTube supergroup Postmodern Jukebox and been a featured guest artist with over 100 symphony orchestras, which he describes as “so satisfying to play in front of a full symphony orchestra.”

Award-Winning Composer

Notwithstanding his critically acclaimed stature as a singer/pianist, DeSare is also an accomplished award-winning composer. He not only won first place in the USA Songwriting Contest, but has written the theme song for the motion picture, My Date With Drew; several broadcast commercials, and has scored five films. What sets DeSare apart is his ability to write original material that sounds fresh and contemporary, yet pays homage to the Great American Songbook.

Tony has a strong presence on social media and continues to release his “song diaries” recordings from his home studio that started in 2020 and now number in the 100s. He commented, “Social media is not my favorite thing to do, but it is important for every artist to have a presence.” New projects in the works include arranging the music of Billy Joel for a concert with the Cleveland Orchestra and co-writing original songs for a film that will be released on Netflex and in theaters.

Tony’s “Sinatra and More” concert is in high demand as he travels the world. It was in his late teens that Tony first became enamored with Frank Sinatra and the way he sang. “The music actually found me,” he said. “I loved Frank’s arrangements and how he sang. Our voices have the same range, so it was only natural that his style and songs became an important part of what I do.”

With a busy schedule of over 100 concerts a year, he chose to live in Atlanta because of family and the fact that the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has over 1,000 flights a day to 225 domestic and international destinations. “The travel is not the most glamorous part of this business, but it takes me to interesting places where I meet interesting people. Performing before exciting audiences and the energy they bring to a room are most important to every artist.”