Terese Genecco & Her Little Big Band

Artist Information

Biography

BROADWAY'S LONGEST-RUNNING NIGHTCLUB ACT IS EXTENDED FOR A FOURTH YEAR!

Terese Genecco & her 8-piece *little big band* are currently headlining every month in an open-ended run at the world renowned music venue, The Iridium, on Broadway near Times Square in New York City.

"There were no 'mice' in the Ratpack - it was strictly an all-boy's club. But if Frank, Dean and Sammy ever returned from the Great Casino in the Sky, the first female singer that I'd recommend to join their clan. On the last Tuesday of each month, she and her three horns and five rhythm put on an unstoppable juggernaut of a set at the Iridium, with one hard-hitting swinger after another, pausing only for what she describes as a mandatory 'two-ballad maximum.' The calendar may say Dec. 28, but Ms. Genecco makes every show seem like New Year's Eve." ~ WILL FRIEDWALD for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; NY CULTURE EDITION 12/04/10

"The wild party continues at the Iridium!" STEPHEN HOLDEN for THE NEW YORK TIMES; April 19, 2012

"An irrepressible, old-school, world class entertainer...A Dynamo! Simply amazing! A full throttle celebration! Get yourself down to the Iridium. Pronto. This kind of comet doesn't pass our way nearly often enough." KEVIN SCOTT HALL for EDGE NEW YORK

"It's a gloomy world out there, but with Terese Genecco & her Little Big Band in the house, it's a whole lot brighter!" CHAD JONES for SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

TERESE GENECCO (pronounced Teh-REECE Jeh-NECK-oh) achieved national attention in 2005 with her critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning jazz/musical creation, "Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye!" Genecco has been charming audiences and critics alike, nationwide, ever since.

Genecco was named to Time Out New York Magazine’s list of the Top Ten Best Cabaret Artists of the Year in 2006 and 2007 (in the company the legendary EARTHA KITT and JACK JONES) and was awarded a 2007 Bistro Award for Best Tribute Show. The 2008 MAC Award for Best Recording (Manhattan Assoc. of Cabarets & Clubs) went to Genecco's debut CD (Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye on the BUG:OUT:MUSIC label.) Genecco also won the highly coveted 2009 MAC Award for Outstanding Female Vocalist and received a 2009 OUTMusic Award. She was nominated for yet another MAC Award with a bump up to the MAJOR ARTIST category in 2010 and three 2011 Out Music Award Nominations. She won two 2012 MAC Awards for Major Artist - Female or Duo and for Show Of The Year. She also won a second Bistro Award in 2012 for the 95th Birthday Tribute to Russ Garcia.

In addition to her monthly headlining performances at The Iridium, Terese debuted a brand new show last year in New York City with musical partner, Windham Hill-SONY/BMI guitar virtuoso SEAN HARKNESS, titled "Terese Genecco Sings Elvis '56!" which she will perform again in the summer of 2012.

Ms. Genecco is a graduate of the musical theater program at Syracuse University with a BFA. She is also a produced playwright and a standup comedian. Her company, Mulligan Productions, specializes in arts management with subdivisions BUG:OUT:MUSIC, BUG:OUT:DESIGN, BUG:OUT:MEDIA, and more.

Instrumentation

Barry Levitt - Piano
Tom Hubbard - Bass
Ray Marchica - Drums
Sean Harkness - Guitar
Rex Benincasa - Percussion
Mayra Casales - Latin Percussion
Rich Armstrong - Trumpet
Doug Beavers - Trombone
Cliff Lyons - Alto Saxophone, flute, Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Soprano Sax
Bud Burridge - Trumpet
Kenny Lavender - Trumpet
Mark Miller - Trombone

Discography

Terese released her sophomore CD, "Terese Genecco & Her Little Big Band Live From Iridium NYC" on the BUG:OUT:MUSIC label on March 20, 2012. It is available at all online music retailers including iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, Spotify and more.

She released a new single on October 1, 2010 on the BUG:OUT:MUSIC label. "If I Was A Boy" is available for digital download at CD BABY, Apple iTunes, Amazon.com and other online music retailers. The direct link to the single is: www.cdbaby.com/cd/teresegenecco2

Terese’s recording of “Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye” is on the BUG:OUT:MUSIC label and is available at www.drunkwithlove.com and www.cdbaby.com/cd/teresegenecco as well as Apple iTunes and Amazon.com.

Other recordings on which Genecco is featured include Russ Lorenson’s "What I Want For Christmas" on the LML Music label. Terese appears on track #9, "Snow."

GO TO www.drunkwithlove.com for digital liner notes and purchase info for Genecco's first full-length, live CD and to www.cdbaby.com for the rest of her music.

Links

• DRUNK WITH LOVE: THE CD
• Facebook
• Twitter
• WE LOVE CD BABY!
• MySpace
• ALL MUSIC.COM
• Last.fm

Audio

• Ain't That A Kick In The Head
  Listen  
• It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio Stasera)
  Listen  
• Universal Truth
  Listen  
• I've Got You Under My Skin
  Listen  
• The Man I Love
  Listen  
• St. James Infirmary
  Listen  
• If I Was A Boy
  Listen  
• Night And Day
  Listen  
• Drunk With Love
  Listen  
• Unchain My Heart
  Listen  

Lyrics

• If I Was A Boy

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• SWINGIN' ON THE MOON TO LAS VEGAS [+ Show ]
  

  "The wild party continues at the Iridium, where the singer and bandleader Terese Genecco recently ce..."The wild party continues at the Iridium, where the singer and bandleader Terese Genecco recently celebrated her third anniversary of once-a-month Tuesday-evening performances with her raucous eight-piece Little Big Band. This spiky-haired self-described “love child of Dean Martin and Judy Garland” is a natural extrovert whose combined roles of performer, bandleader and M.C. make her a gregarious cheerleader for the brassy ’50s and ’60s Las Vegas lounge music she adores." ~Stephen Holden

• NY CULTURE / HOLIDAY CHEER [+ Show ]
  

  "There were no 'mice' in the Ratpack - it was strictly an all-boy's club. But if Frank, Dean and Sa..."There were no 'mice' in the Ratpack - it was strictly an all-boy's club. But if Frank, Dean and Sammy ever returned from the Great Casino in the Sky, the first youngish female singer that I'd recommend to join their clan is this high-voltage entertainer. Ms. Genecco is deeply rooted in the early 1960s, the colorful last gasp of the era of swingin' lovers, and, as such, draws equally from Louis Prima and Sammy Davis on one hand and Ray Charles and Elvis on the other. On the last Tuesday of each month, she and her three horns and five rhythm put on an unstoppable juggernaut of a set at the Iridium, with one hard-hitting swinger after another, pausing only for what she describes as a mandatory 'two-ballad maximum.' The calendar may say Dec. 28, but Ms. Genecco makes every show seem like New Year's Eve." ~ WILL FRIEDWALD

• TERESE GENECCO @ IRIDIUM [+ Show ]
  

  There’s a monthly party going on in New York and you’re all invited. Don’t be crying in your beer if...There’s a monthly party going on in New York and you’re all invited. Don’t be crying in your beer if you miss your chance to see Terese Genecco at Iridium while the ticket is still reasonably priced and before she moves on to the world’s great halls.
  
  The irrepressible Genecco-an old school, world class entertainer the likes of which many decry that they don’t make anymore-bounds onto the stage with her (count ’em) eight piece band (her Little Big Band, she calls them) and launches into Charles Strouse’s "Lot of Livin’ to Do." Dressed in a black tux, shirt and tie, this dynamo-like many of the greats before her-is short in stature but gigantic in talent and charisma.
  
  She notes in her opening patter that her show has been running at the club for a year and half. "Sadly, that qualifies us as the longest-running nightclub act on Broadway. There are not a lot of us doing this anymore." No, there are not . . . and perhaps only a few that can manage it with such aplomb.
  
  Genecco introduces her pianist, Barry Levitt, as "the maestro," with whom she’s been working for five years. Back then, she was wowing audiences in San Francisco, which was then her home base.
  A FULL-THROTTLE CELEBRATION
  
  However, she’s not one to call any one place home, she says, introducing "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home" (Arlen/Mercer). She sings it as a defiant, tour-de-force and it’s one of those nightclub moments one remembers for years to come. The band is simply amazing, and Mark Miller on trombone gets a special nod for his efforts on this number.
  
  At another point, Genecco introduces a song by saying, "I don’t know who wrote it and I don’t care!" (It was, in fact, Mercer’s "Something’s Gotta Give"). No, this is not the Andrea Marcovicci school of cabaret, with its impressive historical anecdotes. It’s a full-throttle celebration.
  
  Of course, Genecco has tongue firmly planted in cheek. She is such a musician, from the ends of her tapping toes to the tips of her outstretched fingers, there is no way she doesn’t know everything about the music she does so well.
  
  Despite all that glorious sound surrounding her, not a word is lost. Her instrument-with both the comforting tones of kd lang and the drive of LuPone-perfectly matches those around her and her diction is impeccable.
  
  Genecco is completely at ease with her audience. She has diva-like talent and yet one still wants to hang out with her after the show, she is so welcoming.
  
  She is also refreshingly candid and flirty about her sexuality. Introducing her guitarist, Sean Harkness, she says, "He’s so pretty, why should I give him more props? All the girls I’m looking at go to him!"
  
  Later, during a guest appearance by Scott Barbarino and the three nubile Tropicabana Girls, Genecco takes turns wedging herself between them and shamelessly ogling them up and down.
  
  Other triumphs include a soaring version of "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Arlen/Mercer) and, incredibly, a recreation of Sammy Davis Jr.’s "West Side Story" medley. Both feature the stunning work of Mayra Casales on percussion, the latter being sung with only percussion.
  
  "It’s a little bit like jumping out of an airplane," Genecco says of the "West Side Story" medley. "Tonight" gave this reviewer goose bumps. Genecco stayed in rhythm and on pitch throughout this marathon but missed one high note. She tossed off an aw-shucks remark and continued on. The mistake was almost welcome-the audience was able to breathe again after the suspense created in that skydiving act.
  
  Genecco offered "Viva Las Vegas" from her Elvis show but that material didn’t quite live up to the well-known standards she had been delivering. She is a big band singer through and through.
  
  She ended the evening with an all-encompassing rendition of "Kansas City," which allowed each band member to take a solo.
  
  Terese Genecco’s enthusiasm is boyish but her passion is all woman.
  
  In closing, one must ask, "New York Times, Broadway producers, where are you?" Someone should be writing a show for this woman. If the powers that be think there are no new big stars to be found, they aren’t looking hard enough.
  
  My suggestion? Get out from behind your big mahogany desk and get yourself down to the Iridium on the last Tuesday of the month. Pronto. This kind of comet doesn’t pass our way nearly often enough.
  
  Terese Genecco will appear at the Iridium Jazz Club (www.iridiumjazz.com) on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 @ 8:00 and 10:00 sets. Special guest appearance by Karen Mason. See the website for more details; visit Terese Genecco’s website for more about the singer. (www.teresegenecco.com)

• A WORLD CLASS STAR WHO COULD CARRY A BROADWAY SHOW! [+ Show ]
  

  "A Discovery: I went to see TERESE GENECCO & HER LITTLE BIG BAND at Iridium on 51st and Broadway. W..."A Discovery: I went to see TERESE GENECCO & HER LITTLE BIG BAND at Iridium on 51st and Broadway. Wow! She has a strong, wonderfully musical, lyrical chest voice, and a “Little Big Band”- sax, trumpet, trombone, double bass, two drummers (trap and conga/bongo,) piano and a guitarist. She looks like a well-dressed 14 year old boy, and opens up her chops and rocks the room. She's lively, charming, and filled with humor and charisma, and the whole show is a class act— top level New York Cabaret-- good music and fun. And, excuse me— the food at Iridium is delicious. Terese comes across as a world class star who could carry a Broadway show. Guest artist Scott Barbarino, an aging Dean Martin, does an engaging guest shot. He brings on three beauties as Yah Yah girls— all real singers, and they are a delightful interlude in the show. [ed. The Lovely Tropicabana Girls] The power, the strength of the show is Terese. She gives us a superb super-finale: a medley from “West Side Story” accompanied only by the bongo drummer, Mayra Casales. Spectacular. Then there is a final finale— each band member blows, and Woooo!!! Each is a master. This is one of the best shows in town, and they play at Iridium the last Tuesday of every month." ~ Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.

• SWING DETONATES ON 51st STREET [+ Show ]
  

  The diminutive powerhouse, Terese Genecco, and Her Little Big Band “kick it” from Broadway clear acr...The diminutive powerhouse, Terese Genecco, and Her Little Big Band “kick it” from Broadway clear across the Hudson, creating the kind of big, brassy, expansive swing that flourished in the forties and fifties. Eight terrific musicians and their vocalist leader, commandeer the Iridium stage for over two hours of what genuinely feels like a party. The salty Genecco kids her collaborators with warmth and familiarity reminiscent of The Rat Pack. She’s clearly where she belongs up there.
  
  Throughout last night’s love fest, a widely grinning audience of lucky first-timers (myself) and seasoned admirers including Billy Stritch, Johnny Rodgers,* and Phoebe Legere tapped feet, bobbed heads and swayed through an evening including pop standards such as A Lot of Livin’ to Do (Charles Adams/Lee Strouse), Tonight You Belong to Me (Billy Rose/Lee David), Come Rain or Come Shine (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer), a song I’d’ve loved to hear with only bongos and base as it began, instead of the “thunderstorm” it became, and Something’s Gotta Give (Johnny Mercer) abetted by the able Kenny Lavender on trumpet. A little more differentiation in the arrangements would improve the set. “Go big or go home,” Genecco beams, explaining her credo, “Two drink minimum, two ballad maximum.”
  
  Tributes to Sammy Davis Jr. (style) included Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer) supported by the very cool saxophone of Scott Kreitzer and a medley of songs from West Side Story (Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein) like one Davis sang at the Cocoanut Grove in 1963 after his Broadway run in Golden Boy. Genecco’s personalized phrasing shone in the former, her range was showcased during the latter. The musical’s songs were performed a capella, accompanied only by Mayra Casales on bongos—pure synergy.
  
  Guest artist and Broadway denizen, Karen Mason (Mamma Mia, Sunset Boulevard, Hairspray…) opened with an effervescent, Get Happy (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler), followed by Mr. Monotony (Irving Berlin) which she performed in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. “Sixty-two dancers and me.” Mason slides between keys with an authority few possess. She can make a note into a double helix and come out again without apparent struggle. Here she tiptoes out with a lovely mute trumpet on her tail. People (Jule Styne/Bob Merrill) and then Somewhere (Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein) were splendid with just bassist Tom Hubbard despite vocal thinness in the higher register. The Impossible Dream (Joe Darion/Mitch Leigh) and All That Jazz (John Kander/Fred Ebb) rounded out her set- Mason’s got a swell growl. The ladies did an amiable duet of The Look of Love (Burt Bacharach/Hal David) with Genecco on piano, and Mason took her leave.
  
  Genecco’s set ended with Unchain My Heart (Bobby Sharp) made famous by Ray Charles in the sixties. The Little Big Band’s rousing R&B version rocked the house. Pianist and arranger Barry Levitt “the maestro comes out once a month to play for me” could’ve accompanied Jerry Lee Lewis as easily as Mel Torme. It was a pleasure to sit where we could see his hands.
  
  
  
  This is one talented firecracker. She’s likeable, a fine musician (an alto belter) with a band of fine musicians, and infectious in her zeal. A sound like The Little Big Band is unusual these days; something enjoyably old-school. Genecco and her comrades are a remedy for what ails you. It’s no wonder this is “the longest running nightclub act on Broadway.”
  
  *Billy Stritch, perhaps best known for his work with Liza Minnelli, and a strong performer in his own right, stepped up prepared, handed out charts and delivered a rendition of Teach Me Tonight (Sammy Cahn/Gene De Paul) with assurance and pizzazz down to his plaid sneakers.
  Johnny Rodgers, also invited up, sang what appeared to be an improvised version of Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek by directing when each musician should ease in…beginning with drums. “Bat me,” requested the young hipster asking the audience for finger snaps. It was great. Catch him at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola on December 11th. I know I will.
  
  www.teresegenecco.com
  
  CDs: Drunk With Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye—MAC Award for Best Recording 2008
  www.drunkwithlove.com
  
  If I Was A Boy 2010 www.cdbaby.com
  
  Other members of The Little Big Band:
  Joe Abba- Drums
  Sean Harkness- Guitar
  Mark Miller- Trombone
  
  Terese Genecco and Her Little Big Band
  The Iridium Jazz Club
  1650 Broadway at 51st Street
  212-582-2121
  The last Tuesday of every month
  Next: 11/30 w/ Klea Blackhurst; 12/28- with surprise guest stars
  
  SWING DETONATES ON 51ST STREET
  Friday, October 29th, 2010
  by Alix Cohen on Playing Around
  www.WomanAroundTown.com
  
  

• A GOOD PLACE TO START [+ Show ]
  

  EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE BY CHRISTOPHER PETKANAS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE IN HIS COLUMN "FAB...EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE BY CHRISTOPHER PETKANAS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE IN HIS COLUMN "FABULOUS DEAD PEOPLE / FRANCES FAYE."
  
  If you own nothing of [Frances] Faye’s, “Caught in the Act” is a good place to start. So is Terese Genecco, who performs songs identified with Faye at the New York club Iridium. PLEASE DON'T STOP READING. Genecco is no dumb tribute act. She does not want to be Frances Faye; she does make you understand why she’s so important.
  
  Frances Faye was that rare thing, a white chick who could not only shout but swing. She had a dry, gruff voice she put in the service of a deadpan, declamatory style, nudging listeners to consider standards in a different way: stripped of obvious sentiment. Is Faye’s brash recording of “Am I Blue” the most knowing version on the books? People who thought Teddi King and Mildred Bailey and Felicia Sanders said it all have concluded “yes.” Faye made more than a dozen albums, collaborating with the aristocrats of pop-jazz arrangers, Dave Cavanaugh, Marty Paich and Russ Garcia, and musicians like Maynard Ferguson and Herbie Mann. Faye was partial to a Latin beat, and Jack Costanzo, the great bongoist, often supplied it.
  

• OUT OF THE OFFICE, ONTO THE STAGE
  

  FEATURE LENGTH ARTICLE/INTERVIEW. Click on URL for content.

• TERESE GENECCO AND HER LITTLE BIG BAND WITH SPECIAL GUEST MARK WINKLER PLAY IRIDIUM [+ Show ]
  

  On Tuesday, July 27, 2010, Terese Genecco and Her Little Big Band made the Iridium Jazz Club their l...On Tuesday, July 27, 2010, Terese Genecco and Her Little Big Band made the Iridium Jazz Club their living room, filling the close space with hep cat Rat Pack tunes, plenty of sass and 50's style conga rhythms. The petite Genecco, in snazzy pantsuit, wasn't shy about her sexuality and shared self-effacing banter with the audience and her band. She starts off saying she'll provide "comedy, jokes and music" and that she does with charm and ring-a-ding-ding pizazz.
  
  Two special guests were a part of Terese's little big band, former Blood, Sweat & Tears member Lew Soloff and award-winning pianist, Barry Levitt. They all meshed well, creating a big sound in the cool basement club. They started off with the swinging "I've Got a Lot of Living to Do," followed up by "What is This Thing Called Love?" Terese, a contender for Liza Minnelli and Dean Martin's lovechild, sang with yesteryear brazenness and breezy showmanship. She sang Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home" in a Broadway-fashion that would have made Mr. Davis proud.
  
  Lyricist/singer, Mark Winkler, "West Coast swimming pool cool," then joined her on stage for a Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet number, "This Could Be the Start of Something Big." After Genecco left the stage, Winkler launched into some solo numbers, giving the audience cheeky dialogue and saucy songs, particularly "Sweet Spot," his first sexy song since the 80s. He did martini-in-hand versions of "Ain't that a Kick in the Head" and "'Til I Get it Right." "In a Lonely Place," based on the Humphrey Bogart/Gloria Graham noir flick, was a melancholy tune with a 40s era flair. He ended the set with a slick version of Van Morrison's "Moondance."
  
  Terese closed the show with a couple of personal songs, the vaudevillesque "In My Drag" and "If I Was a Boy," which is going to be released this fall, and a taste of R&B, Marvin Gaye's "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," and rock 'n' roll, Ray Charles' "Unchain My Heart." For a little woman, Terese certainly has big pipes and can go from 0 to 70 in no time. It's easy to see why she's Broadway's longest running night club act. Iridium is definitely one of the best jazz/blues/rock clubs in the city and is the perfect venue to catch a retro cool act like Terese Genecco's.

• TERESE GENECCO SINGS ELVIS PRESLEY [+ Show ]
  

  Surprise! Terese Genecco, who has made a name for herself as the very good good-time gal with the b...Surprise! Terese Genecco, who has made a name for herself as the very good good-time gal with the big band, bigger belt, biggest sassy-strut personality in town can do small. With just her band’s invaluable guitarist, Sean Harkness for musical accompaniment, she shows her sensitive and rootsy sides as the two re-imagine all the songs from Elvis Presley’s first album. Pre-icon status, Elvis’s material was eclectic and proves to be quite adaptable to adventurous re-shaping by this creative, magnetic pair. Her just-for-the-occasion jacket was bright white but her voice revealed new colors in the plaintive, moody and relaxed, simple country numbers. Playful with smaller-sized “Blue Suede Shoes,” they were in step with the audience’s anticipation of the more slowly-unspooled lyrics.
  
  They humanize the legend by doting on anecdotes revealing his insecurities, maternal attachment and missed opportunities (narration needs tightening but is interesting). Nailing songs like “I've Got a Woman,” we’ve got a woman capable of making us see Presley in a new, warm light. Guitarist Harkness, a gentle spirit and masterful player/arranger, is a true partner in the presentation. Some might have expected/wanted more assertive, carefree styles associated with classic Elvis (and “classic Genecco” whose monthly Iridium shows are packed with Rat Pack raucousness). Sure, they might add a couple of rockers, especially if they break out from the Under the Covers series concept’s assignment of doing one single album’s cuts from start to finish, but talented Terese’s stretch succeeds and delivers—with no stretch marks!
  
  Rob Lester
  Cabaret Scenes
  March 29, 2010
  www.cabaretscenes.org

• A RECIPE FOR A PERFECT SATURDAY NIGHT! [+ Show ]
  

  Here’s a recipe for a perfect Saturday night: go see a play, but make sure it gets out around 10, an...Here’s a recipe for a perfect Saturday night: go see a play, but make sure it gets out around 10, and then head to the Rrazz Room in the Hotel Nikko and see Terese Genecco and her Little Big Band’s Last Call show.
  
  I had the perfect Saturday night when I saw Shining City, a ripping Irish ghost story, at SF Playhouse, then sauntered a few blocks to see Genecco’s show.
  
  If you don’t know Genecco, you should. She’s a pint-sized dynamo and one of the Bay Area’s more recent contributions to the cabaret world. She’s neither precious nor twee – both conditions that too often afflict cabaret folk – but rather vivacious, funny and gifted with the need to swing in a big, bold way.
  
  Genecco and her Little Big Band (a septet of piano, bass, drums, bongos, saxophone, trumpet and trombone) are in residence late Saturday nights at the Rrazz Room (their next shows are Nov. 22, Dec. 13 and Jan. 24), and if there’s a better way to turn Saturday into Sunday, I don’t know it.
  
  On a recent Saturday night, Genecco was an unstoppable force as she grabbed hold of songs such as ” A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” and “You’re My Thrill” and wouldn’t let go until everyone in the place was at the very least tapping a toe.
  
  Genecco’s sharp sense of swing emanates from the sense of joy she brings to her material. She clearly loves what she’s doing, and she communicates that joy through every crisply sung note and judiciously snapped finger.
  
  With arrangements by bassist Daniel Fabricant and hot, hot sax man Tony Malfatti, Genecco never makes a misstep. She truly catches fire on an incendiary “Come Rain or Come Shine” – highlighted by the mad bongos of Jacob Lawlor – and then outdoes herself on “Unchain My Heart.
  
  The horns – Malfatti is joined by Max Perkoff on trombone and the amazing Rich Armstrong on trumpet – are, in every sense, a blast. Such a brassy burst of excitement could easily overwhelm a singer, but not Genecco. She feeds off the horns and their bright, blaring sensuality.
  
  Pianist Barry Lloyd, drummer Randy Odell and bassist Fabricant also provide solid support and get into the good-time groove that Genecco initiates.
  
  The generous Genecco aims to share her Rrazz Room roost with various guests, and last Saturday that spot was filled by Russ Lorenson (who has his formal Rrazz Room debut, Standard Time, on Sunday, Oct. 12 – visit www.russlorenson.com for info), another local who should be getting more attention for his powerful pipes and keen sense of crooner-style rhythm.
  
  Genecco reclaimed the stage with a fantastic “Drunk with Love” and even made time for a ballad (Maria Gentile’s aching, emotionally complex “If I Was a Boy”) before surrendering to the beguiling blare of the show-ending “St. James Infirmary” and “Kansas City.”
  
  It’s a gloomy world out there, but with Terese Genecco and her Little Big Band in the house, it’s a whole lot brighter.
  
  ~Chad Jones; October 2008
  Terese Genecco and her Little Big Band are in residence at the Rrazz Room in the Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St., San Francisco, at 10:30 p.m. Nov. 22, Dec. 13, 2008 and Jan. 24, 2009. Call 866-468-3399 or visit www.therrazzroom.com or www.teresegenecco.com.
  
  

• UNDER THE COVERS: TERESE GENECCO SINGS ELVIS PRESLEY [+ Show ]
  

  As a part of Under The Covers, the New York Nightlife Award winning series produced by Lennie Watts,...As a part of Under The Covers, the New York Nightlife Award winning series produced by Lennie Watts, Terese Genecco sings this ground-breaking album from start to finish, in a groundbreaking live performance, accompanied by Musical Director Sean Harkness on the guitar! From the lilting blues – ballad arrangement of "Blue Suede Shoes" to the rocking "Just Because," Ms. Genecco presents Elvis' self-titled first album, Elvis Presley (recorded in 1954, 1955 and 1956), track by track, with a twist – every song is sung to a different beat than the original.
  
  I warn you, this is not your mother's Elvis. Ms. Genecco conceived and arranged the show with the always amazing Sean Harkness. As a result, we are treated to a tone-poem version of "Blue Moon" and a slow jazz cover of "Tutti Fruiti." Add to the mix a blues guitar arrangement of "Heartbreak Hotel" (from the 1999 reissue with extra tracks), pepper the sauce with behind the scenes anecdotes of Elvis' personal life (Mama walked him to school every morning and walked him home every afternoon) and stories of the people he encountered along the way, and how these songs came to be included on this album, and you have a perfect evening Under The Covers.
  
  Full of unexpected rhythms, later in the evening Mr. Harkness treats us to a wonderful guitar solo of "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" (also from the 1999 release), and Ms. Genecco ended the evening with a rousing rendition of "Viva Las Vegas," with the entire audience singing along.
  
  Whether you are a devout Elvis fan, or a devout Terese Genecco fan, or both, this is a great show not to be missed.
  Terese Genecco and her Little Big Band perform the last Tuesday of every month at Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway (@ 51st St), which means this Tuesday, May 25th! There are two shows, 8pm and 10pm featuring special guest star, Grammy-Nominated drummer/conductor extraordinaire, MICHAEL BERKOWITZ. Cover charge is $25 with a $10 food/bev minimum.
  
  Reservations can be made by calling (212)582-2121.
  
  For complete info about the reviewer, please go to www.thekingofbroadway.com

• ONE YEAR AND COUNTING [+ Show ]
  

  There’s a meeting for hopeless addicts that happens once a month on 51st Street and Broadway, as tho...There’s a meeting for hopeless addicts that happens once a month on 51st Street and Broadway, as those souls who need their fix descend a narrow stair to a dark basement room. Huddling there by the glow of a blue sign, they can be seen shaking and howling with others who share the habit they can’t quit. “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” can be heard in the air, and all commiserate. That habit is attending the blazing musical performances of a dynamo named Terese Genecco and her band whose high-powered act and the happiness conveyed by them creates the desire to have more, more, more and they return, return, return, some staying for the early show and the late show. “Infectious energy” would be putting it mildly – it does get “under your skin,” with the drug of choice being pulse-quickening music.
  
  There are blaring horns, wild bongos and more, playing socko arrangements as Terese belts, wails, struts, swings, jokes and rocks the room in a way that makes her audiences willing victims of her seductive steamroller style. The aforementioned shaking is the Genecco-generated genuinely joyful jumping around, and the howling is whooping and cheering that comes with the applause and grinning. It’s easy to see why she has a following, especially as it’s never the same old same old, since she’s also introducing new numbers, guest performers, and when she does her commanding command performance on the last Tuesday of each month, the first and second set are totally different. No wonder she keeps getting held over, celebrates the first-year anniversary mark on March 30, and was voted as the Outstanding Female Vocalist by MAC, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, and also won a Bistro Award.
  
  This Tuesday, her one-year anniversary celebration at the Iridium will feature special guest Mark Winkler, the jazzy and wry singer and songwriter. Expect from Terese some slyness and sass, some samples of standards infused with quicksilver jazz and swing with her great band. Sets can be packed with Rat Pack punch, such as the zippy “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” and songs plucked from her repertoire of numbers tailored for her idol, the sassy and irrepressible night club entertainer Frances Faye. Her tribute show to Faye was a hit and, recorded live, became her first CD. References to that project on the internet have caused some Faye fans to stumble upon her and become Genecco fans, too. Terese has also recently acquired some orchestrations that began in the hands of Frank Sinatra. Not bad. Recent collaborators have included drummer/ bandleader Mike Berkowitz, who also works with another Genecco idol, Liza Minnelli. She likes the lady’s gene pool, too, with some Judy Garland in her musical cocktail mix along with some Sammy Davis, Jr. Sometimes, much more than some --- like borrowing his thrilling medley from West Side Story with just percussion accompaniment. With her band, she’s saucy and bossy (in a winking way) as she asks them in solos to play a “crazy” lick or drum roll or, “Go really, really low and then really, really high.” Or is it those rabid, cheering fans who get crazy and really, really high on all this high-flying crazy rhythm? It should be stressed that she doesn’t copy the vocal sounds of any of these singers, she just walks around or stomps around in their footprints or basic blueprints of their great arrangements.
  
  Terese_GeneccoHer specially-written revamp of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” created for the MAC Awards show, has been kept in her repertoire as microwaved Motown magic. Her latest identity theft is a show of Elvis Presley’s songs, working with just guitarist supreme Sean Harkness, whom she has also so wisely kidnapped to be part of her Iridium band.
  
  Not one to be content to rest on her laurels or ever phoning anything in (quite the opposite indeed!!), Terese is always looking for new ideas, new songs, new musicians, new guests and new ways to network and get work. When a regular musician is not available one Tuesday, she loves working in someone new and rehearsing with him, seeing how the new person brings a new flavor and personality to the family. And she’s welcoming and friendly as she works at winning over first-time audience members who might be tourists who wandered in out of curiosity while strolling along Broadway or were brought by a friend who is a returnee. And the addiction grows. Check it out. Come to a meeting.
  
  My name is Rob and I am a Geneccoholic.

• AN EVENING WITH TERESE GENECCO & SHAWN RYAN [+ Show ]
  

  The combination of these two MAC-Award winning performers and friends is a natural. Both are quite ...The combination of these two MAC-Award winning performers and friends is a natural. Both are quite adept at breaking the fourth wall and engaging an audience, both enjoy a little self-deprecating humor, and both have the gift of surrounding themselves with fine musicians and material. Add to the mix some gender-bending frivolity and it makes for one entertaining evening split between Ryan’s comic selections — “The Day Snow White Said the F Word,” “My Simple Christmas Wish” (“…I want to be rich, famous and powerful…”) — and Genecco’s retro big band belting with “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Unchain My Heart,” etc. With stellar backing by pianist Kelly Park, Genecco’s killer horn section (including Tony Malfati, Fil Lorenz, Rich Armstrong and Max Perkoff) and bongo player Dominic Cabrera, the two showed their range on some stylish ballads (Ryan’s cover of “Feels Like Home to Me” and Genecco’s lovely “If I Was a Boy”). Highlights of Shawn’s set were a racy rendition of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” and “I Wanna Do Bad Things With You,” and, for Terese’s set, “Washington Square” and a deconstructed “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” stood out. These two have enough energy and pizazz to light up any stage and their audience base obviously enjoys the affinity and chemistry between them.
  
  Steve Murray
  Cabaret Scenes
  January 29, 2010
  www.cabaretscenes.org

• DELIGHTFUL DeLARIA GUESTS WITH TERESE GENECCO & HER LITTLE BIG BAND [+ Show ]
  

  "Hmmm. Twin sons of different mothers?" was Terese Genecco's initial reaction to noticing the simila..."Hmmm. Twin sons of different mothers?" was Terese Genecco's initial reaction to noticing the similarities between her publicity photos and those of comic, actress, and singer Lea DeLaria. "So I e-mailed her via contacts and made a cute comment about who had dibs on 'the look' and she got back to me! I guess you could say I cyber-stalked her...but in a good way!" laughs Genecco. The upshot of this digital dalliance is that DeLaria is flying in from New York to make a one night guest appearance with Genecco and her "Little Big Band" at The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko this Saturday evening.
  
  "I’ve known about her ever since she hit the scene," says Genecco of DeLaria. "I went to see her perform at The Plush Room in 2004 and just admired the hell out of her. It surprised me, actually. I was shocked at how good she was as a singer because it had not been apparent in her earlier career as a comedian. "I didn’t know that she was on Broadway with On The Town and The Rocky Horror Show."
  
  It's true. From the chrysalis of “that trucking* dyke” - DeLaria’s earliest stand-up persona - was born a Broadway star and a jazz singer. “Ah, you’ve been talking to San Franciscans!” DeLaria laughs. “Yes, at the beginning of my career at the Valencia Rose when I was doing that character, being the really angry lesbian - as opposed to what I do now, of course - my comedy was fast and in-your-face. It still is. There aren’t many pauses, so either stay with me or don’t. Unlike some of my compatriots who would slowly build to a punchline, I'd rip 'em at you. You'd get a punchline every minute or so. Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom! People can only take so much of that. After about five minutes of it, they're like, 'Mommy, make it stop please!”
  
  Jazz empress and (now) part-time comic Lea DeLaria"So what I found was that I could lull the audience into sort of a false sense of security by singing a little jazz standard or Broadway song. They'd go: 'Oh isn’t that nice! She really is a good singer.' Then I'd start screaming 'dyke' and other words you can’t print at them again. As I became more popular and well-known I began to hire musicians to work the gigs with me and eventually the show became from 30-40% music. When I made that “groundbreaking” appearance on Arsenio Hall's show, at the end of the show they had me scat singing with the band over the closing credits And that’s what got me the audition for On The Town."
  
  "So there was always music, but now it’s all music. Very rarely does someone book me for just a comedy show anymore. People really prefer to hear me sing now and like all singers I patter between numbers. It’s just that, because I was a standup comic, when I patter it’s funny. I just have to pace myself when I’m doing someplace like Carnegie Hall because they don’t necessarily want that trucking* dyke stuff, but I still try to be edgy and out. I mean, it’s impossible for me not to be out."
  
  DeLaria has released three CDs to date. "“The first album - Play It Cool - really found me. I had jokingly come up with the idea of doing ‘The Ballad of Sweeney Todd’ as a swing version. Halfway through rehearsing it, my accompanist and I looked at each other and thought: Hey, this really works. So I was in Los Angeles doing The Boys From Syracuse and someone was producing this jazz tribute to Stephen Sondheim. I begged them to get on the bill. They said, 'Yes, of course you can be on the bill, but we can’t pay you.' Welcome to jazz!” she deadpans. “Everybody from Curt Elling and the Terri Trotter Trio to Terence Blanchard was in this. It was killer and we brought the house down with this number. Afterwards Dianne Reeves came up to me and said, “Who are you?” - which was amazing because I think she’s a goddess. I also had a really long conversation with Curt Elling, and then Michael Davenport came up to me and said “You need to have a record deal. I’m going to put you in touch with Matt Pearson, the head of Warner Jazz .” Davenport made good on his promise and after a meeting with Pearson, at which he requested she put together a showcase, DeLaria had her deal.
  
  Cool, released in 2001, was a critical and commercial success. She followed it up with Double Standards in 2005 and The Live Smoke Sessions was released last fall, from track recorded at the eponymous Manhattan club. "It's my favorite in the city and it's the act that I'm touring right now. I'm looking forward to working with Terese. Her Frances Faye album is wonderful and her band always does such great work. So I'm packing my charts and heading out there and we're going to see what we can do. I haven't been in San Francisco in awhile so it'll be fun!"
  
  * The word "trucking" is a rhyming euphemism!
  
  ~Robert Sokol; January 23, 2009

• TERESE GENECCO AND HER LITTLE BIG BAND AT IRIDIUM NYC [+ Show ]
  

  Powerhouse vocalist Terese Genecco is back on stage once a month for two sets at The Iridium this fa...Powerhouse vocalist Terese Genecco is back on stage once a month for two sets at The Iridium this fall and she’s shaking the rafters! Having recently moved to the Big Apple from California, she’s on her way to becoming a mainstay on the jazz/cabaret circuit here in New York.
  
  Along with “Her Little Big Band” comprised of a group of A-1 players including Barry Levitt, piano; Skip Ward, bass; Joe Abba, drums; Sean Harkness, guitar; Mark Miller, trombone; Kenny Lavender, trumpet; Jeff Lederer, tenor sax and Mayra Casales on bongo, she started her set with a rousing, swing version of “The Man I Love.” As my Italian grandmother would have said…”can yee imagine?”
  
  Terese, too, grew up in an Italian-Catholic family and told us that the Rat Pack music was playing all the time. She was inspired by and took her lead from Frank, Dean, Sammy and the “boys” and their influence serves her well. She showed her strong vocal technique and sturdy “chops” on songs like “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” and she demonstrated Louis Armstrong-esque phrasing finesse with bassist Daniel Fabricant’s arrangement of “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing” from Porgy and Bess. She brings strength, energy and joy to the stage and to her songs and her band clearly responds in kind.
  
  Other songs in her set featured particularly fine solos from her “Little Big Band.” “A Woman Is a Sometimes Thing,” for example, had a tasty solo from Kenny Lavender on trumpet. Sean Harkness showed his prowess on guitar on “If I Was A Boy” and tenor saxophonist, Jeff Lederer soloed on “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home.” Another highlight was the lone bongo accompaniment of Mayra Casales on the entire medley of “boy” songs from West Side Story. The ever-affable and extremely fine pianist Barry Levitt held all the players tightly together throughout and showed why he’s held in such high regard in both the jazz and cabaret communities.
  
  Terese returns to the Iridium on November 24 with some new songs and new arrangements and you don’t want to miss her!
  
  Lynn DiMenna
  Cabaret Scenes
  October 27, 2009
  www.cabaretscenes.org

• TERESE GENECCO SWINGS S.F. LIKE IT'S LAS VEGAS! [+ Show ]
  

  Terese Genecco doesn’t mess around, boy. She and her “little big band” are playing most Saturdays...Terese Genecco doesn’t mess around, boy.
  
  She and her “little big band” are playing most Saturdays through May at San Francisco’s Hotel Nikko in a rollicking retro show titled “Last Call,” but it might as well be named “Party Time.”
  
  Genecco’s sheer personality lights up the stage as much as her vocals in a Las Vegas-style performance that amusingly has a two-ballad limit.
  
  More is more with Genecco, who reprises some tunes from “Drunk With Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye,” her 2005 cabaret act at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.
  
  Between fun banter on opening night — she schmoozed with friends and local cabaret insiders in the audience — Genecco fit in swinging interpretations of everything from the Beatles (“A Hard Day’s Night,” “Yesterday”) to Cole Porter (“Night and Day,” “What Is This Thing Called Love” ) to Bacharach (“The Look of Love”) and Lieber and Stoller (“Kansas City”).
  
  Her appropriately-named band of awesome local musicians includes pianist Mike Greensill, saxophonists Fil Lorenz and Tony Malfatti, trumpeter Rich Armstrong, bassist Daniel Fabricant, trombonist Max Perkoff, drummer Rich Odell, and, last Saturday, special guest percussionist “Mr. Bongo” Jack Costanzo, who played on cult favorite/nightclub singer Faye’s 1958 live album “Caught in the Act.”
  
  When Genecco breezily describes herself as Judy Garland and Dean Martin’s love child, she gives an excellent impression of what she’s all about.
  
  Cabaret lovers won’t want to miss her “Last Call.”
  
  IF YOU GO
  
  Terese Genecco
  
  Where: Rrazz Room, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St., San Francisco
  
  When: 10:30 p.m. most Saturdays through May 24
  
  Tickets: $25
  
  Contact: (866) 468-3399 or www.therrazzroom.com
  
  Feb 27, 2008 6:06 PM by Leslie Katz, The Examiner
  

• KGO RADIO REVIEW 810 AM [+ Show ]
  

  "HERE'S SOMETHING YOU GOTTA DO ON A SATURDAY NIGHT. HEAD FOR THE NEW RRAZZ ROOM IN THE HOTEL NIKKO ..."HERE'S SOMETHING YOU GOTTA DO ON A SATURDAY NIGHT. HEAD FOR THE NEW RRAZZ ROOM IN THE HOTEL NIKKO WHERE, AT 10:30 EVERY SATURDAY, THE GREAT TERESE GENECCO PERFORMS HER LATE SHOW CALLED "LAST CALL!" THIS DYNAMIC ENTERTAINER IS BACKED BY HER LITTLE BIG BAND -- A FANTASTIC 7-PIECE BAND -- AND SINGS SOME OF THE BEST OLD STANDARDS -- THE MUSIC OF HENRY MANCINI, BURT BACHARACH, COLE PORTER, HAROLD ARLEN, THE BEATLES AND SO ON -- ALL IN HER VERY OWN ENERGETIC, JAZZY STYLE. I COULDN'T KEEP MY FEET FROM TAPPING AS DID EVERYONE ELSE. WE HAD A TERRIFIC TIME AND YOU WILL TOO. TERESE GENECCO IS PERFORMING HER LATE SHOW, "LAST CALL!" ON SATURDAYS AT 10:30 AT THE BEAUTIFUL NEW RRAZZ ROOM IN THE HOTEL NIKKO. TAKE IT FROM ME, YOU'LL HAVE A BALL. FOR KGO ENTERTAINMENT, I'M JERRY FRIEDMAN"

• TIME OUT NY MAG TOP TEN LISTS - BEST OF 2006 & 2007 [+ Show ]
  

  Named TOP TEN BEST CABARET OF 2006 and 2007 by Time Out New York Magazine. Details below. Named ...Named TOP TEN BEST CABARET OF 2006 and 2007 by Time Out New York Magazine. Details below.
  
  Named TOP TEN FAVORITE CABARET PERFORMER of 2007 and TOP TEN BEST CD of 2007 by Cabaret Hotline Online Members Choice Awards, NYC.
  
  2008 MAC AWARD NOMINATIONS FOR BEST FEMALE VOCALIST AND BEST RECORDING.
  
  TIME OUT NEW YORK:
  The Best Cabaret of 2007: Issue 639: December 27, 2007 -January 2, 2008
  "The high-octane Genecco and her swinging band toasted nightclub legend Frances Faye in marvelously high spirits."
  
  The Best Cabaret of 2006: Issue 587: December 28, 2006-January 3, 2007
  "Backed by an ace band, Genecco set the Met Room swinging with her zippy tribute to Frances Faye."~Adam Feldman
  
  Top Live Show in NYC, Issue 576: October 12-18, 2006
  “Bouncy, snappy, zippy swing…Frisky, retro fun!”~Adam Feldman
  
  Arts & Entertainment Editor (Elizabeth Vincentelli) blog:
  October 17, 2006
  “More wattage – and fun – than an entire evening of Rufus Wainwright at Carnegie Hall! Genecco's diction was impeccable, and she never got thrown off the runaway-train melodies; Genecco—who also played the piano on some tunes—was never less than supremely comfortable with the material. And the band looked as if it was having a blast, a statement in and of itself. Let's just hope New Yorkers will catch on enough to make it worthwhile for Genecco and her band to come back soon!"

• SOUND ADVICE (CD REVIEW) [+ Show ]
  

  TOP TEN VOCAL ALBUMS OF 2007: DRUNK WITH LOVE: A TRIBUTE TO FRANCES FAYE! 1/17/08 Red-hot and in...TOP TEN VOCAL ALBUMS OF 2007: DRUNK WITH LOVE: A TRIBUTE TO FRANCES FAYE! 1/17/08
  
  Red-hot and invigorating, Terese Genecco's sensational debut CD is a live recording of her super-high-spirited act, channeling and saluting the late iconoclastic nightclub entertainer Frances Faye. Brash, belty and bombastic, Terese comes out of the starting gate at a pace and energy some singers never even build up to, and she rarely slows down. With pulse-racing, smashing arrangements for a top-drawer band blaring away, they feed off each other, and the bravura celebration is truly exciting - and there's humor, too, in the offhand, cocky humor, too, a Faye trademark. Some of her one-liners and asides are in the patter. Terese has soaked up the raw style and "let's have fun" attitude, and it's contagious goodwill and good singing.
  
  This performance of Drunk with Love took place at The Metropolitan Room where she returned a few months ago for the "sequel," with more splashy material from the Faye heyday. The CD is a triumph.
  
  ORIGINAL REVIEW 5-18-07:
  In the most dedicated and triumphant case of identity theft in a long time, Terese Genecco hits the bull’s eye in saluting the object of her affection, the brassy and irreverent saloon singer, Frances Faye (1912-1991). The ebullient and emboldened Terese has a warmer and sunnier sound than her idol, and that just makes things all the more joyful. The Faye way fits her like a second skin as she comfortably takes on, or refers to, the late entertainer's sassy way with a song and a quip.
  Arrangements and phrasing have been studiously recreated, but sound fresh and natural rather than warmed over or timidly, tepidly copied. Her blaring, sizzling band is rough and tough and up to snuff. She strikes up the band and they strike up a relationship that finds them feeding off each other's energy.
  This goes from the sung greeting, "good eeee-vening, ladies and gentlemen, how do you do" and high-voltage, quick-tempo "The Man I Love" with its asides, to a fabulous finish with the Faye finale, her trademark "Frances and Her Friends" and a goodbye to a sated, gratefully cheering audience.
  The act was recorded live at New York's Metropolitan Room, the club that is celebrating its one-year anniversary this week. I was there during this engagement and frankly wondered if the electric chemistry between performer and audience (and performer and band) could be captured on CD. I need not have worried; the mutual admiration society is in full evidence, with just enough of the talk kept in to give the sense of the devilish good spirits.
  Radiating good humor and reveling in the company of the band, the audience, and the channeled spirit of Frances, Terese sings with abandon, wailing and belting. During the rare moments when she slows down, in "Drunk with Love" and "Purple Wine," she reveals a capacity for unguarded emotional singing. Otherwise, don't go looking for drama or storytelling through lyrics: this is entertainment, pure and simple and smashing, with artistic license taken with lyrics a la Faye with an eye to be provocative. Mostly it's a pulse-racing romp through material like Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and "Unchain My Heart" that feels like an intravenous dose of caffeine and adrenalin with pounding percussion and blaring brass. There are some playful winks at material such as "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" and little throwaways like a couple of lines of "If I Were a Rich Man."
  Listening to some old Frances Faye records in between exposures to Terese's Bistro Award-winning tribute made me appreciate again how refreshing this work is, and also how studiously the singer did her homework. The style and substance are recycled with relish, and the brazen, in-your-face but teasing attitude that sounds so off the cuff with Terese were all etched in vinyl.
  One need not be a student of the Faye heyday to appreciate the pure entertainment value of Terese Genecco and her very hot and swinging "little big band." She sometimes plays piano herself, and at other times leaves the keyboard in the very capable hands of Barry Lloyd, who musical directs many acts in San Francisco, where both are based.
  Terese is spending May 31 through June 9 at The Plush Room in San Francisco, alternating between this show and her new one, a tribute to composer Arthur Schwartz, which I also enjoyed when she premiered it in New York a few weeks ago. She is no one-trick pony, just a rollicking reincarnation of a rambunctious, rhythmic rebel.
  ~Music Critic, Rob Lester
  TalkinBroadway.com
  May 17, 2007
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST! [+ Show ]
  

  There isn’t a better match of performer to material than Terese Genecco’s ‘Drunk with Love’, a heart...There isn’t a better match of performer to material than Terese Genecco’s ‘Drunk with Love’, a heartfelt tribute to the music of the inimitable Frances Faye. Genecco, like Faye, enjoys a fluid comic banter with her audience, breaking the fourth wall, and possesses a powerful voice able to belt out the oft-bawdy material for which Faye was renowned.
  
  Assembling a “little” big band of crackerjack musicians and recreating the horn and bongo sound Faye incorporated into her shows, Genecco has successfully transported and updated a lost period of cabaret music, and for that we should all be thankful.
  
  Frances Faye was a favorite of mine, a one–of-a-kind openly bisexual performer who interjected sexual double entendres and the names of her friends into song lyrics, courted her ‘gay kids”, and played the rough saloons and speakeasy’s of the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. While greater fame eluded her, she was highly regarded amongst her musical peers. Her comic styling’s endeared her to her audiences and it suits Genecco’s abilities and personality in recreating Faye’s material and arrangements.
  
  Genecco’s show and CD rely heavily on Faye’s live 1958/63 club engagement, recorded and released as “Caught in the Act”. Included are all the Faye idiosyncrasies; the mid-song banter with the musicians, performing only a few bars to a song only to abandon it for a joke, including audience members’ names into a lyric, and the brassy bossa nova big band sound that the horn section and bongos afford. For this engagement, Genecco was blessed with special guest Jack ‘Mr. Bongo’ Costanzo, who played with Faye, and appears on the “Caught in the Act” recording! I asked Costanzo what he thought of Genecco’s tribute and all he said was “I flew 500 miles to be here, didn’t I?”
  
  Faye gems like “The Man I Love”, “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”, “Night and Day” and “Drunk With Love” seem written directly for Genecco. Her version of “Kansas City” was one of the finest performances of the year and brought her the first of her standing ovations. The band and arrangements are first rate for both the shows and on the live CD recording. Given that most people are unfamiliar with Frances Faye, those lucky enough to catch Terese Genecco will miss the obvious comparisons and be treated to a rising cabaret star totally at ease with her style and abilities. I know its only June, but Genecco’s “Drunk with Love” will be ranked one of the year’s best cabaret shows.
  
  
  
  
  

• WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING ABOUT [+ Show ]
  

  And just in case you think Terese can't do anything but hit it big with "Drunk With Love," here's a ...And just in case you think Terese can't do anything but hit it big with "Drunk With Love," here's a lovely review of her newest show, "Alone Together," an intimate celebration of the music of Arthur Schwartz, from Peter Haas of Cabaret Scenes Magazine on Apirl 27, 2007:
  "Reserve the brass band now! We'll want one next time Terese Genecco leaves her San Francisco home and returns to perform in a New York club. Those who saw her end-of-April three-night gig at the Metropolitan Room can tell you why. Leaving her customary eight-piece band behind, she took to the stage backed with just her talented musical director, Barry Lloyd, to celebrate the music of Arthur Schwartz. Bringing power, poise, and expressive interpretations to Schwartz's popular and film songs, she combined fine musicianship and story telling - thanks to lyrics from the likes of Howard Dietz, Lorenz Hart, Dorothy Fields, and Frank Loesser - to provide an evening of solid, warm-hearted, superbly sung numbers. No better proof was needed than the room's constant glow from patrons' smiles of pleasure throughout her set. To quote the title of a Schwartz-Dietz song: 'That's Entertainment!'"
  
  PLUS MORE ON "DRUNK WITH LOVE:"
  
  SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES:
  “One of the most engrossing, all-out talented performances I’ve seen in years!”~Gene Price
  
  CABARET SCENES MAGAZINE:
  “A class four hurricane…a truly rare performer…a drop-dead delight!” ~Peter Leavy
  
  TALKINBROADWAY.COM
  “This syncopated cyclone is able to tear a song to ribbons and put it back, with some filigree added…A voice like Betty Hutton mixed with Bette Midler, her phrasing and musicality is on par with the best of them. She is one of the most charismatic singers that you are ever likely to see!"~Richard Connema
  
  THEATERMANIA.COM
  “You know right away that you’re hearing something special!…Knocked out by her talent and craft!…Genecco puts on a terrific show!” ~Barbara & Scott Siegel
  
  www.talkinbroadway.com
  “Is it cabaret? Is it jazz? Is it rhythm and blues? When Terese Genecco sings, it’s all of the above, but more than that, it’s a party. Her high-voltage performance with a seven-piece band is happy, hearty, and hell-raising!…An entertainer with a capital E!”~Rob Lester
  
  www.edgenewyork.com
  “Genecco delivers showstopper after showstopper and has voice to burn. To say it is a high-energy show would be the understatement of the year…her audiences are ecstatic and Terese Genecco is FRAN-tastic!”
  
  GAY CITY NEWS, NYC
  “A thrilling voice that evoked no less than the great Keely Smith…a fit heir to the Faye Tradition!” ~David Noh
  
  SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER:
  “Don’t miss this fabulous singer in performance…run – don’t walk – to catch her live!”~Bruce Bellingham
  
  BAY AREA REPORTER:
  “Guaranteed to put a smile on your face…DRUNK WITH LOVE is intoxicating!” ~Richard Dodds
  
  www.cabarethotlineonline.com
  "The applause was deafening! One of the best New York debut performances of this or any year!"~Joe Regan Jr.
  
  www.edgeboston.com
  "Powerhouse Terese Genecco is bawdy, brash, funny, uninhibited, and a steamroller, whose voice and band are a blast...Talent is talent...We're in very good hands here!"~Rob Lester
  
  www.beyondchron.org
  "FAYE-TASTIC!...astonishing voice...utterly delightful and amazing...DRUNK WITH LOVE is spectacular!" ~Lee Hartgrave
  
  www.theatermania.com
  "Genecco is aided and abetted by a kick-ass band that she brought with her from the West Coast... What makes this show so special, is the way she effortlessly delivers Faye's signature style. The up-tempo numbers have a unique vibrancy; such standards as "The Man I Love" and "Night and Day" take on an entirely different complexion as hard-driving jazz numbers. You shouldn't miss it!"
  
  www.cabarethotlineonline.com
  "Ms. Genecco tore the place apart - just as Ms. Faye herself was known to do. it doesn't get much better than this!...I am quite certain, given the size and enthusiasm of the audience, this show will return. I most certainly want to see it again!"~Stu Hamstra
  
  www.talkinbroadway.com
  "A sudden burst of energy lit up the stage of the Tribeca Performing Arts center when Terese Genecco rocked the crowd, belting a high-energy number with lyrics proclaiming that 'this ain't your mama's cabaret!"
  
  www.beyondchron.org
  "It's a miracle - and the Mother Terese is Genecco! Not only is Genecco one of the most charismatic singers to come along in a long time - she is also devilishly fun. Give me more, more and more!"
  
  SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES:
  "Brassy and sassy, high energy, powerful voice with an all-BIG sound...She keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and has them howling in appreciation for this solid crowd pleaser! Genecco is fantastic...keep an eye out for her!" ~Tom Kelly
  
  www.talkinbroadway.com
  "Terese Genecco; a wild and wonderful singer/pianist, is backed by seven of the best musical artists in the Bay Area...Captivating!"
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• DRUNK WITH LOVE for TERESE GENECCO [+ Show ]
  

  "The theory that 'you can't please all the people all the time' is, apparently, dead wrong. The ver..."The theory that 'you can't please all the people all the time' is, apparently, dead wrong. The very pleasing and powerhouse Terese Genecco takes the challenge and wins, at least judging by the rave reviews she's already collected and the reactions of the opening night audience at her return engagement in New York City. Her show is a tribute to a unique figure in show biz history, Frances Faye: bawdy, brash, funny, uninhibited and a steamroller whose voice and band were a blast - and thought her audiences should HAVE a blast. Terese is of the same mind and has the same qualities. Familiarity with Faye is not a prerequisite - audience members with no familiarity of Faye's ways were perhaps quite surprised, but seemed just as royally entertained as those who came in knowing the sytle and material. Terese is justly proud of the fact that her act has won praise from the late Frances Faye's most dedicated fans and personal friends and musical associates, and has their support. But if you weren't part of the group, you won't feel out of the loop. Those who know the legacy just appreciate the show on an extra level. Talent is talent.
  Another feather in her cap is that she has the blessing and assistance of Teri Shepherd, the woman who was the icon's partner in business and life. Yes, Frances Faye was the rare "out" lesbian entertainer over 50 years ago. The show happily celebrates Frances' out-and-proud and the hell with everything else attitude, and Terese embraces that and everything else about Frances. And she embodies it herself. Some of the show is done more 'as' Frances, taking on her attitude and performances style, down to the highly quotable stage quips. ('Gay! Gay! Gay! Is there another way?') and the musical arrangements. Sometimes, she takes a few steps back and talks ABOUT Frances from her own well-researched point of view and sings more as herself. She says on-stage that the show is 'a recreation of the spirit' of the star she has come to refer to as 'Fran," though she never met her. (Faye died in 1991.)
  Working with a hot 7-piece band (she shared piano duties in New York with Barry Levitt,) Terese Genecco delivers show-stopper after show-stopper in a confident manner and has voice to burn. You can tell in the first thirty seconds as she bounds onto the stage and sings out in a clear voice that soars on open vowels and rings through the room. Pow! Pow! Pow! We're in very good hands here. In addition to bits of songs used as throwaways to make a joke, the songs include all-stops-out treatments of 'Night And Day,' 'I Ain't Got Nobody,' 'Unchain My Heart,' and a few Faye wrote herself. There are also selections from the Beatles' songbook - they were Faye fans - and some Gershwin. Many are delivered full force, with a determination to entertain and connect, the audience directly addressed, teased, and courted. To say it is a high-energy show would be the understatement of the year. The band in New York also included Brian Fishler (drums,) Joe Passaro (percussion,) Fil Lorenz on woodwinds, Max Perkoff on trombone and Bud Burridge on trumpet. Tom Hubbard was on bass on opening night, but Bill Moring also does some shows. These are top pros all, who are very much part of the celebration, as evidenced by the interplay and high flying playing.
  The show had the happy fate to be booked as part of the opening month at New York City's newest venue. The Metropolitan Room at 34 west 22nd Street. (It's already been booked with popular entertainment figures, including Karen Mason, reviewed favorably at this website in recent months.) The manager is Lennie Watts, a talented performer in his own right. The Room looks great and sounds great too; the sound and lighting for this show were especially effective. Bigger than many clubs, this showroom can handle a big act like this without feeling at all claustrophobic.
  Terese has also been alerted that she has pleased Frances Faye herself. She told me, "A recent musical collaborator in San Francisco, who claims to be clairvoyant, told me that Frances Faye drops in during my performances from time to time and really enjoys what I'm doing. He told me that she doesn't have a vested interest in the outcome but she totally digs what I'm doing. And he said we've lived a couple of past lives together, one including powdered wigs, which would explain why we both have a strong aversion to being told how to wear our hair!"
  It doesn't matter a bit how she wears her hair. The vivacious San Francisco-based entertainer wears her talent well, like her beloved Fran. Her audiences are ecstatic and Terese Genecco is FRAN-tastic.' ~ Rob Lester is a freelance writer living in New York City. He also writes on cabaret and the "Sound Advice" CD column for www.talkinbroadway.com and as far as music, he has a lifelong affection, collection, and connection.

• TERESE GENECCO: CABARET'S CLASS 4 HURRICANE! (FEATURE ARTICLE IN NATIONAL MAGAZINE) [+ Show ]
  

  She's hot. She's brassy. She's bold, and sexy. Terese Genecco (pronounced "Teh-REECE Jeh-NECK-oh"...She's hot. She's brassy. She's bold, and sexy. Terese Genecco (pronounced "Teh-REECE Jeh-NECK-oh") continues to attract critical acclaim and new audiences wherever she performs - whether it's San Francisco, Hollywood or New York City. She gives her horn section nicknames like "Stinky, Spitty, and Slide." Her energy is prodigious, and her banter between tunes is like jazz; a loose script, different every night.
  
  Whether in her solo shows or on stage at New York's Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention, Genecco wows the audience. Her tribute to Kate Smith at the 2007 Convention brought down the house. The applause had scarcely ended when she headed forty blocks south to offer her "Drunk With Love: The Sequel" to a late-night audience at The Metropolitan Room. As she'd done at the Convention, she captivated the audience with her vocal power, artistry and pure joy of performing.
  
  Genecco has enjoyed a dazzling amount of attention in the scant three years since the debut of her first solo show, "Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye!" The show's five week run in San Francisco was followed by a stand at New York City's Encore Room and her appearance at the Cabaret Convention that October. She was nominated as a MAC Award contender for best female debut, and earned an invitation to be the second act, sandwiched between Billy Stritch and Karen Mason, to help inaugurate New York's then-newest nightclub, the Metropolitan Room, in the spring of 2006. And that brought Genecco a 2007 Backstage Bistro Award plus a spot on Time Out New York magazine's Top Ten Best Cabaret shows.
  
  Who is this tempest of a performer, band leader, vocalist, and musician who is knocking everyone's socks off from coast to coast? Originally from an idyllic little town nestled into the Bristol Hills at the northern tip of Canandaigua Lake in upstate New York, she grew up with an older brother and surrounded by 12 close cousins and an extended Italian family. Her mother, Susan Genecco, noticed that at five years old, Terese was relentlessly plunking out melodies on the family piano in the living room, and convinced the local piano teacher to break her minimum-age rule and let the youngster begin lessons.
  
  Terese was a natural, and in addition to the piano, eventually learned to play the guitar, cello, saxophone, drums, and percussion. Throughout her high school years she played and sang in every school band, orchestra, chorus and ensemble available, and studied dance, acting, and music theory. One summer she was at the Fred Waring Choral Workshop and the next at the Carnegie-Mellon pre-college musical theater training program. There followed enrollment in and then graduation from Syracuse University's Drama Department, with a major in musical theater.
  
  Canandaigua Lake may have been home to her, but it offered little to hold an aspiring singer-actress. It was either New York City or Hollywood, and Genecco concluded her deliberations with a three-week journey, crossing the country California-bound on a motorcycle that was four hundred pounds heavier than her petite five-foot, 105-pound frame. "It was the coolest thing I've ever done," she says, "and I'm glad I got it out of my system at an early age. I've only crossed the country by land four times since then, and none of them on a motorcycle."
  
  While waiting for the big break, Genecco's day job took over her life, and a handful of years down the road, she was enjoying success in as workaday field as one could find, commercial insurance. She'd built an impressive roster of clients, and had a beautiful home high in the Oakland Hills with the family piano in the living room. The music career was on longterm hold, until a meeting with Broadway legend Barbara Cook finally set those musical wheels back in motion.
  
  "I'd first met Barbara Cook in London during my final year of college, immersed in a semester of music and theater studies overseas. A group of fellow students and I waited for Ms. Cook outside the Palladium after her performance, hoping to get her autograph. Instead of an autograph, we were invited home with Barbara and her long-time musical director, Wally Harper, where we gathered around the piano and sang with them until the wee hours of the morning! She was gracious, and beautiful, and encouraging to each of us. It was a magical night. I sang 'Chain Of Love,' which I had been rehearsing for an audition. It never occurred to me that I should be intimidated to sing a song that Barbara Cook had originated on Broadway. I truly just wanted her advice on how to make my version better! Ah, the blissful ignorance of youth!" Genecco laughs.
  
  "I met Barbara and Wally again in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 2000, and to my great surprise and pleasure, not only did they remember that night in London, but told me they had often commented on it to each other over the years and agreed that it was one of their fondest show business memories. Then they asked me if I was still singing and I told them no, I was too busy selling insurance. Barbara gave me a look and said, 'What are you waiting for?'"
  
  Genecco resolved then and there to resume her dormant singing career. A cabaret class was offered twice a year at A.C.T. in San Francisco, but with the winter/spring session already begun, she planned to take the class in the fall. Before she could, disaster struck. One sunny spring morning while Genecco was at the office, her house in the Oakland Hills caught fire, disrupting all her plans. Yet another New Year rolled around before she was back in her restored home, considering a return to her musical ambitions.
  
  While Genecco was seeking a seasoned accompanist for her first cabaret show, an internet search brought up an advertisement for a 2003 San Francisco Cabaret Competition. The next foggy Thursday night she set out to investigate the proceedings, and a week after that, with an assigned piano player, she belted out her first three songs. A panel of judges and an appreciative crowd put her on her way to the semi-finals.
  
  The three months of preliminary rounds provided Genecco with what she considers the strong foundation of her later success. She was in the audience every single performance, learning the craft and forging relationships. She met jazz/cabaret legend, Wesla Whitfield, and was encouraged by the competition judges to take one of Whitfield's master classes before the semi-final rounds, which she did. The relationship endures as a strong friendship between the two. Genecco also was introduced to "the Crown Prince of San Francisco Cabaret," Barry Lloyd, now a frequent collaborator and another dear friend. NYC jazz/cabaret vocalist Shaynee Rainbolt, still a resident of the Bay Area at that time, became an artistic and business collaborator. The two developing performers played mutual roles for each other, acting as personal assistant, publicist, errand runner, and/or the other's motivational counsel.
  
  During the competition, Genecco found an artistic turning point. Steve Murray, one of the competition judges (and now a Cabaret Scenes magazine reviewer and contributor) encouraged Terese to listen to Frances Faye and Faye's live 1958 recording, "Caught In The Act." The youthful Genecco had never heard of Faye, but ordered the recording. She put the CD into her car stereo and states that her life was altered on the spot. She instantly fell in love with Faye's style, charisma, character, double-entendres, and musicianship. She played the song "Drunk With Love" over and over until she memorized it, then went home and worked out the music at her piano. She brought the arrangement to rehearsal and she and Lloyd decided it would be a standout for her in the semi-final round. Lloyd added some finishing touches and at her performance, Genecco received the highest score of the entire competition, advancing her to the finals at The Herbst Theater the following week.
  
  Another random, and fortunate, event occurred that week during a visit from Amy "Bob" Englehardt, the female voice and songsmith for the a cappella group, The Bobs. Amy, a former college classmate of Genecco's, reminded her of a gem of a comic number. "Amy called her husband Alex in L.A.," Genecco recalled, "and had him locate and fax up the sheet music for 'Garbage' by Sheldon Harnick to us," and the winning song for the finals was decided upon.
  
  Not only did Genecco win the "debut" category in the Cabaret Competition, but the combination of her signature song, Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind," and Harnick's "Garbage," propelled her to the event's overall win. She received the Jo Carol Davidson "Entertainer of The Year" award to cap off the months-long competition, and set in motion the next phase of her musical development. "Once I returned to my first love - which has always been music - I realized it was time to give it my undivided attention," said Genecco. Selling insurance was transferred to the far back burner, and the flame soon was turned off for good.
  
  Singers and musicians seem to gravitate to Genecco personally and professionally. Percussionist Mayra Casales, working with Terese at the Metropolitan Room, terms her "absolutely fantastic, a very powerful woman, and a pleasure to play with." Drummer Randy Odell calls Genecco "dynamic...she pulls out all the stops." San Francisco trombonist Max Perkoff admires "her very flexible voice that's able to adapt to a wide variety of styles. She's as wonderful at singing sweet ballads as she is at up-tempo jazz, pop and rock." He adds, "she treats the band wonderfully." Jack "Mr. Bongo" Costanzo, joined Genecco performances at her San Francisco and Hollywood CD release concerts last summer. Performing with the legendary musician, Terese was treated to a rare onstage thrill, introducing him with the identical words Faye had on that 1958 album, "May I present, on my right, Jack Costanzo on bongos."
  
  What's next for Genecco? This February, she's booked at San Francisco's spanking-new cabaret/jazz venue the Rrazz Room in the posh Hotel Nikko. She and her "little big band" will be the regular late-night party fare on Saturdays. Her ability to please and emotionally connect to her audience members seems a 'given." She's got a great combination going for her - her music, her energy, her emotional attachment to the subject matter, her friendship and interaction with her adoring band members, and her deep devotion to the American popular song.
  
  Buy the magazine at www.cabaretscenes.org!

Setlist

Terese Genecco & Her Little Big Band are available for corporate, private, casino, festival, house concerts, and club dates around the world with several show formats including her Las Vegas style "Swingin' In The City," "The Rat Pack Tribute" and the original award-winning "DRUNK WITH LOVE:A TRIBUTE TO FRANCES FAYE!"

"Terese Genecco Sings Elvis Presley!" is available with duo partner Sean Harkness on guitar.

All performances can be tailored to your needs.

1) an 80-minute nightclub act...fully self-contained...

2) a two-act, two-hour theatrical production, with intermission.

3) two, 70-minute jazz club sets, focusing primarily on the music and arrangements, rather than storytelling and recreation of the Faye act.

4) a one or two-act version of the Elvis Presley show, including holiday material if requested

Songs with the band include up-tempo, high energy, treatments of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "Swingin' On The Moon," "What The World Needs Now" (with The Tropicabana Girls,) "Learnin' The Blues" (with Nicolas King,) "The Man I Love," "Night And Day," "Unchain My Heart," "Blueberry Hill," "St. James Infirmary," "Hard Day's Night," "Yesterday," "Tonight You Belong To Me," "I Ain't Got Nobody," "Somebody Loves Me," "There Will Never Be Another You," "Kansas City," "Lonesome Road," "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate," "Darktown Strutters Ball," "Frankie And Johnny," "Out Of This World," "You're My Thrill," "Little Girl Blue Medley," "Love Is Just Around The Corner," "The Thrill Is Gone," "Don't Blame Me," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "With Plenty Of Money And You," "Ain't That A Kick In The Head," "Big Man On Mulberry Street," "A Lot Of Livin' To Do," "Come Rain Or Come Shine," "All The Girl's Love Alice," "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," "West Side Story Medley," "Sunday In New York," "Mack The Knife," "Beyond The Sea" and lush, ballad arrangements of "Purple Wine," "You're Heavenly," "If I Was A Boy," "You're My Home," "All Of Me," "Who Can I Turn To" (with Nicolas King,) and "Drunk With Love."

The Elvis Presley show includes the entire debut RCA album of Elvis Presley, stylistically rearranged and performed in the same order as the recording. Additional Elvis hits are included in the second half of the show, including holiday songs associated with Presley.

Basic Requirements

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