I am on record, in various journals, as saying that there are only two vocalists who I've heard achieve the near-impossible feat of actually sounding like Frank Sinatra. One was the late MATT MUNRO and the other is Oldham born LAURIE ASH. The difference between the two is that Matt's sound-alike contribution was professionally contrived, in Laurie's case it is an entirely natural and uncanny occurrence which adds to pleasure of his concerts.
Very much a local-boy-made-good, Laurie presents a tribute such as this once a year either in or near his home town. However, the real power to his elbow comes in having a diary which records some very impressive nationwide venues over the years when his name was one of the biggest names on the northern club circuit.

On this particular night he was backed by the excellent fifteen-piece NORTHERN JAZZ ORCHESTRA under direction of PAUL J RIGBY. Laurie was in extremely fine fettle as he and the band concentrated on the many vocal eras of Sinatra, neatly drawing those superb and faithful swinging arrangements which were synonymous with NELSON RIDDLE, DON COSTA and BILLY MAY during those unforgettable Capitol days of the 1950's.

Also, when the scores of later years by such as COUNT BASIE and QUINCY JONES were included, it spoke volumes as to how much Laurie and his musicians had worked to produce and evening of remembrance to arguably this century's greatest popular singer.
Chosen from the vast wealth of material which Ol' Blue Eyes left behind for any hopeful contender to his throne, this concert programme was deliberately chosen to invoke an evening of Sinatra-type intimacy, and the cabaret-style setting of the hall provided just such an ambience for the capacity audience.

In fact, as numbers such as 'I've Got You Under My Skin' and 'Night and Day' got under way, many couples left their tables and took the floor to dance. Even after Laurie had finished his exhausting two and a half hour stint at the microphone, the band accomodated the delighted dancers with, among others, 'Wood-chopper's Ball' and 'Splanky'
TONY PARKER