Michael Sonata & Dave Banks Big Band

Actor and singer, Michael Sonata, was born and raised in Canton, Ohio in a wonderful Irish Catholic family. The eldest of seven children, Michael graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School and went on to earn a Business Management Degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Speech from Kent State University. Throughout his educational life, he was always involved in various aspects of performance by participating in plays, choirs, and the University of Notre Dame Glee Club where he traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe.

After school, Michael pursued acting professionally, working in theaters in Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Chicago for about seven years. He eventually came back to the Canton area to work in his family’s lumber and construction business. He made the Canton Players’ Guild his home base and was seen in many leading dramatic, comedic, and musical roles including the Guild’s annual rendition of A Christmas Carol.

In 2004, Michael decided to make a career change and to go back into the performing arts for a living. He auditioned for a role in a local murder-mystery play called The Contraltos by Jan H. Kennedy. Being a spoof of the hit HBO series The Sopranos, it called for a character loosely based on the “Chairman of the Board” himself.

Michael’s preparation for that role led him to reinvestigate Sinatra’s music and unique style of singing. And with weeks of research, meticulous observation and rehearsal, he came up with a very life-like recreation of “Old Blue Eyes” himself. Audiences wondered aloud if Michael was really singing or merely lip-syncing to Sinatra’s classics.

After the show closed, a local music producer suggested that he should expand his repertoire of Sinatra and work up a one-man show to take around to local venues. And after a couple of months of more intense rehearsal, research and preparation, Michael’s Tribute to Frank opened to amazed and very appreciative audiences in March of 2006. His shows reflect a wide range of Sinatra’s styles: the young innocence of The Columbia years, his swinging revival of The Capitol years, and the supreme confidence of the Chairman during The Reprise years. Michael’s repertoire now includes over 100 songs that Sinatra recorded with more being added all the time. This helps to keep the show fresh and also allows him to often take requests from the audience.

The Dave Banks Big Band is a powerhouse, 17 piece, swingin’ big band based out of Akron, Ohio and is in its 20th year of making music. The band includes some of Ohio’s top jazz musicians and is led by Ohio native and 20 year Las Vegas veteran trumpet artist, Dave Banks. Dave’s desire is to bring some of that Las Vegas excitement to their concerts! They have performed across the Midwest, including The Palace Theatre, Music Box, and The Bop Stop in Cleveland, BLUJazz, The Tangier Cabaret, The Carousel Dinner Theatre in Akron, the Kent Stage in Kent, Robins Theatre and the Packard Music Hall in Warren, the Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, as well as many jazz clubs and major conventions in Northeast Ohio. Their vast library of music ranges from standard big band swing, to contemporary big bands, Sinatra to Buble, and even Big Band rock and soul. Dave fronts the band with his soaring trumpet, reminding audiences of the sounds of Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson and Harry James. They also feature compositions by several arrangers that are associated with the band including Don Turoso, Chas Baker, Paul Ferguson, Chris DeMarco, Jeremey Poparad and Dave Banks. While they have been busy backing entertainers such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City Rat Pack Shows, The Temptations, Four Tops, Michael Sonata, and The FlyGals in themed shows, they frequently present programs that pay tribute to the top big band arrangers and artists from both yesterday and today. The band’s ongoing mission is to provide the audience an exciting, uplifting dose of big band music, which challenges our musicians, yet keeps our audience tuned in and turned on!