Published April 18, 2025

Sinatra Sings, Basie Swings Featuring Matt Mauser

by Chuck Reider

Join the Reno Jazz Orchestra (RJO) on May 10 at 4pm at UNR’s Nightingale Hall featuring Matt Mauser to experience big band swing at its finest. Reno has a rich history of big band swing as a part of its casino showroom legacy. So many great singers from Sammy Davis Jr., Rosemary Clooney, and Tony Bennett graced the casino showrooms but none held sway more than Frank Sinatra. I had the pleasure of backing all those artists but there was a special electricity when Sinatra hit the stage. We are familiar with the “tabloid Frank” who made his private life public for fifty years. But it is his voice that commands attention and is his true legacy.

Sinatra was a pioneering craftsman in interpreting the Great American Songbook. He influenced generations of singers including Vic Damone, Steve Lawrence, and Julius La Rosa who said, “He turned a 32-bar song into a three-act play. He taught us that lyrics had periods, commas, semicolons and question marks. He is number 1, and the next man in line is number 36.”

Composer Antonio Carlos Jobim said, “I had no notion that he would ever record any of mine. He recorded several of them. The first was Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars. I was in the studio the night he did it. As he discovered nuances of meaning in my words that even I did not know were there, I was enthralled, awed -- and honored.”

Sinatra was the first to use the microphone and recording techniques as instruments, emphasizing his voice and phrasing. Many singers tended to sound as if they’d just been flown in from another planet and had never met or worked with a big band before. But Sinatra always seemed to have been working with these guys on the bandstand all his life creating a unique bond between singer and musicians. Add his commitment to insisting black musicians perform with him and check out the House I Live In video and you see another side of Sinatra most don’t know.   

I am thrilled that the RJO is bringing Matt Mauser to join in embracing the craftmanship and passion of Sinatra. Mauser is a songwriter, solo artist, pop/rock bandleader, and Sinatra-style crooner, having spent more than two decades onstage and in the writing room. His band, the Tijuana Dogs, was often asked to perform at weddings, corporate parties, and events that required a more sophisticated style of music. It was during that time when Matt fell in love with the music of Frank Sinatra. Mesmerized by Sinatra’s smooth voice and unequaled phrasing, Matt memorized the subtleties in each song Frank sang. His Sinatra performances are critically acclaimed, reminiscent of a young Frank Sinatra at the height of his career, when singing with The Count Basie Orchestra at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Mauser has the unique ability to put a modern twist on Frank’s classic sound, while using his own style to entertain and educate audiences about Frank’s life. He has appeared on America’s Got Talent and has recently been signed by signed by legendary producer David Foster.

Much has been written and said about Frank Sinatra, but if you want to experience the electricity of a great vocalist with the seventeen-piece Reno Jazz Orchestra, join us on May 10! 

Some quick notes on upcoming RJO summer concerts:

A Tribute to Quincy Jones
7/21 Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival Monday Night Series – 7:30PM
7/22 UNR Quad – 7:00PM

Carson City Jazz and Beyond RJO Concert
8/15

The Music of Nina Simone Featuring Morgan James 
8/24 Nightingale Hall, UNR – 4:00PM
8/25 Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival Monday night series – 7:30PM

Tickets for Sinatra Sings, Basie Swings featuring Matt Mauser
https://renojazzorchestra.org/gigs.html

RJO Mauser Promo Video
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hZXJd53C_rA?feature=share

Matt Mauser Fly Me to the Moon
https://youtu.be/x0EHzmjEXns?si=IcqwiuAGoAyubYWM

Sinatra Bally’s Reno 1989 Ad
https://youtu.be/s8bcTWaXVq4?si=9VnWhTDCA8m2xeYb

Cal-Neva Lodge Frank Sinatra 
https://youtu.be/MNRahvD_gvc?si=e2d0yLf_lIh9jQcT

Frank Sinatra and the Count Basie Orchestra Pennies from Heaven
https://youtu.be/_11BAZlrNUs?si=-5PyssUPizynp8oH

Frank Sinatra – The House I Live In
https://youtu.be/ovwHkb1wEfU?si=c_GY_vBD4vvCTccJ

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