By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
There’s one basic difference – and it’s the eyes.
Dan Radank is a jazz singer and trumpet player who focuses mainly on the Great American Songbook.
The Bellevue resident will bring you all the favorites from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown and more.
“And that’s what caused me some problems,” the 47-year-old Radank told the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “I’m not an imposter.”
Well, when Radank was performing at The Reserve on the Levee sometime back, a woman told him he sounded like, Old Blue Eyes – Frank Sinatra. “I told her, I have green eyes,” he said.
And alas – not only the nickname, Old Green Eyes stuck, oldgreeneyes.com became Radank’s website.
Music and entertainment entered Radank’s life quite early – at birth. He was born on St. Patrick’s Day – in Milwaukee, Wis. His mother – Patty – was also a St. Patrick’s Day baby and the local news was there to tape her singing Oh Danny Boy to him on their birthday.
So, it was music – the first thing he heard – and it never left him.
His dad – Tom – was working as a professional trumpet player in Milwaukee – and by age 11 Dan was playing – the trumpet.
The family, however, moved to Kentucky when Dan was seven. “My dad was working at Sweco.”
But, if truth is known, Dan Radank actually fell in love with music in third grade.
“I went to a Maynard Ferguson concert; believe it or not at Scott High School,” he said. “I knew then and there I wanted to be on stage. His music painted my heart.”
His classmates, however, thought it was quite odd he would by-pass the music of the day for Miles Davis.
“I was a member of the Scott High School Band,” he said, “and performed with the University of Louisville band, as well as in all three jazz bands.”
At the young age of 15, Radank got his first paying gig – “It was just a little Christmas event in front of the McDonald’s in Latonia,” he said.
Bobby J and The Flying Martinis – a local Louisville group – was Radank’s introduction to the local jazz scene. “We played many of the great works of the American songbook,” he recalled, “in Sinatra-style.”
In fact, the group was the premier group in the Louisville jazz scene.
Now, it was time for singing.
“I began at jam sessions and open-mic nights,” he said.
He’s been in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area some 17 years now and works with some of the best musicians in the city. Piano players – Brian Batchelor-Glader (BBG), Steve Schmidt, Phil Degreg, Phil Burkead, and Don Steins.
“We work as a group, a duet or a Big Band – and anything in-between,” Radank said. “It just depends on how much sound people want to hear.”
It must be working – Old Green Eyes is booked at Juniper’s in Covington Sunday; Moerlein Lager House in Cincinnati on the 19th; Brew River Creole Kitchen, Cincinnati on the 20th; and a Christmas Show at dilly! Bistro & Bottle Shop, Cincinnati on the 23rd.
“We just sold out Memorial Hall in Over the Rhine last Monday evening,” he said.
“That’s a 3CDC project; and we’re hoping for a gig with Jazz in Washington Park and On the Square, with them.”
In the meantime, Radank holds on to his day job – a sales director for Strategic Value Publishing.
“We produce publications for the Department of Transportation and for Ports all over the country; and for the trucking industry,” he said.
Dan Radank may sound like him – but make no mistake – his eyes are green.