Las Vegas is a new song written by retro style jazz vocalist Frank Lamphere. Las Vegas is the third cut on the new Frank Lamphere album America the Beautiful, Swinging. The very uptempo tune, Lamphere's first original; that he wrote in 2007, features a ten piece horn section. Lamphere's frequent accompanist Larry Harris wrote the powerful arrangement as well as playing the Yamaha grand on the session. A frequent Lamphere collaborator, the spectacular saxman Eric Schneider, plays in the ensemble and added a tenor solo, as only he can do.
"On Fremont Street you'll see old Vegas" Frank Lamphere sings Las Vegas
About the song "Las Vegas"
How did the song Las Vegas come about?
As I recite in the song's opening verse "I awoke one morning, had a vivid dream...
Had this song about casinos and music buzzin' through my head..."
That's exactly what happened. I awoke with 50% of the melody to Las Vegas.
I literally woke up, hummed the melody into a tape recorder (I was fearful that if I let even two minutes pass, I would have forgotten this song idea) I then spent the next several hours adding additional ideas, lyrics, wrote the bridge until I had a completed song. There were many lyric refinements since 2007, even right before the recording session in 2019.
What does the song say?
This songs speaks of the excitement and anticipation of going to Las Vegas for the first time. Aspects of the tune were written through the eyes of a nostalgic seeking 18 year old. That was me, on my first trip to Las Vegas. As well as having a desire to "conquer" the crap tables, I had a strong fascination for Las Vegas' musical entertainment legacy and the legends that performed there. In fact, I had a front row seat to Dean Martin's show (the overwhelming reason for my trip) at the MGM Grand. I did wind up losing all my cash after just a day-and-a-half of shooting craps. With my $300 or so a memory, I ended up clipping coupons offered by the hotel (one $2.00 bet at the crap table, one spin of the wheel etc...) to try to win back a few bucks, to at least buy breakfast. On the third and final day of my trip. I did win enough to buy breakfast, but not enough for the full cab fare to the airport. The cabbie left me at the airport's entrance and I walked with my suitcase, probably 10 minutes up to the gate. Nevertheless, I had a ball!
2019 Guitarist Andy Brown and bassist Dennis Carroll in the isolation booth, recording tracks for Frank Lamphere's "America the Beautiful Swinging" CD
Recording horns for Frank Lamphere's original song "Las Vegas" Eric Schneider, Mark Olen, Russ Phillips
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