Bandiera Revisits His Orbison Program
By ED CONDRAN • April 22, 2009 •
When Count Basie Theatre CEO Numa Saisselin approached guitarist/bandleader Bobby Bandiera about doing revue-style shows at the Red Bank venue three years ago, Bandiera was reluctant.
“Numa said, “Why don’t you do these tribute shows?’ ” Bandiera recalled while calling from his Atlantic Highlands home. ” “A friend does them in Canada. It’ll be fun.’ ”
The laid-back musician initially turned down the offer.
“I told Numa that I just wanted to focus on original material, but then I said that I would do it if I could pick the first artist for the show,” Bandiera said. “And he said, “Oh, no.’ But I told him to trust me.”
Roy Orbison was the first recording artist Bandiera decided to honor with his initial Jersey Shore Rock-n-Soul-Revue in 2006.
“It was a natural selection for me,” Bandiera said. “Over the years, I would pull out a Roy Orbison song while doing Jersey Shore dates and the response was always tremendous. . . . Why not do a show featuring all of Roy’s material?”
Bandiera delivered an Orbison show to a sold-out audience, and he’s bringing back the concert Thursday to the Basie.
Bandiera’s revues, which include singer/guitarist Bob Burger, bassist Graham Maby and others, usually are one-and-done affairs.
“That’s a little frustrating since we put so much work into it,” he said. “It would be nice if it were more than one show.”
This time, Bandiera’s ninth revue will be repeated June 2 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Bandiera and company will play a fundraiser benefiting New Jersey Network.
“It’s nice to know that we can do this again in just over a month,” Bandiera said. “It would be great to do this more than once, and we have that opportunity.”
He already is looking forward to his next revue show — a tribute to trios slated for August at the Basie.
“We’ll be doing songs from The Who, Led Zeppelin, Cream, U2 and the Police, among other bands. Jon Bon Jovi said, “Bob, some of those bands aren’t trios — they have singers.’ I told him, “Who cares about the singers?’ Those bands are trios, as far as I’m concerned.”
Bandiera is pleased that he didn’t blow off Saesselin’s concept.
“It worked out great,” he said. “I’m so happy with these shows. I get to play songs that I love with a great band, and the audience just eats it up. It’s worked out better than I could have ever imagined.”
Copyright: The Asbury Park Press (c) 2009
