His touring days may be winding down, but Frankie Valli is hardly retiring. The voice that launched a parade of hits beginning with No. 1 single “Sherry” in 1962 has been well preserved and, at 89, Valli still follows his muse wherever it takes him, including the Westgate Las Vegas, where he launches his new residency with The Four Seasons this week. He got in touch with his roots for his most recent studio LP, A Touch of Jazz, a collaboration with Joey DeFrancesco that turned out to be one of the final recordings of the late organ virtuoso.
“It was one of the things that I’ve done in my career that’s been most fun,” says Valli of the 2021 album. The influence of legendary jazz contralto Jimmy Scott, which carried over into recordings with the Four Seasons, was palpable. “It was where I started and what I really wanted to do because I never really wanted to be a pop singer. There was really no money, or not enough money, to make a living in jazz.”
Valli’s enthusiasm for singing was spurred by boyhood trips into Manhattan to see popular performers of the day. He was also influenced by the aural environment of Newark, N.J., where the soundtrack of the streets resounded from open windows in the days before air conditioning.
“Way back in the day when people came here from Europe, they brought their culture with them,” says Valli. “And music, people were listening to opera and classical music. That’s what I basically grew up on. … My favorite singing group was the Four Freshman.”
Destiny led Valli to cross paths with Bob Gaudio, the musical mastermind of the Four Seasons, who created foundations that allowed Valli’s trademark falsetto to soar. The Four Seasons dominated the charts after Elvis joined the army and before the Beatles invaded America, but Valli has made comeback after comeback in the decades since “Dawn.”
Valli’s most recent appearance on the charts comes via Pitbull and singer Chesca, whose single “Te Quiero Baby” pays homage to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” That song’s inclusion in an iconic scene from 1977 film The Deer Hunter came after the Four Seasons had their last big hits in the ’70s with songs such as “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night).”
Valli maintained the legacy of the Four Seasons with regular touring ever since, but while the desire to bring music directly to fans is still there, the lure of staying in place with an extended engagement inside Westgate Las Vegas’ venerable International Showroom was an offer he could not refuse.
None of this may had happened if Valli’s mother hadn’t taken her son to see Frank Sinatra at the Paramount in New York City. From there, he began frequenting one of jazz’s all-time greatest venues. “I used to go to Birdland on Sunday afternoons,” says Valli. “You could go to Birdland and sit in the bleachers for a buck. I saw some of the greatest musicians the world has ever known at Birdland. I got to see almost every big band that there was at least one time.”
Westgate Las Vegas, ticketmaster.com
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