FRANK LAMPHERE APPEARED AT JILLY'S

It’s true that we may never again see the likes of Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and company as they were in their heydays, but on a recent Friday night while checking out the new Jilly’s in downtown Naperville I wasn’t so sure. A roomful of both serious and casual listeners and myself, if not for the late model cars parked outside, may have thought that this was 1962 pre-Beatles America and that we were in a posh Las Vegas lounge.

A young looking and sharply dressed jazz trio visible despite the plumes of smoke, ripped through three medium to uptempo songs that included Night Train setting the stage for the entry of the main attraction, singer Frank Lamphere. Lamphere, with a self assured stage presence and impressive set of pipes, made a name for himself a few years ago, singing at the Peninsula Hotel and Countryside Flame. His set was laden with swingers like Tony Bennett’s Rags To Riches, On the Street Where You Live, and the jazz standard Cherokee, was performed at a lightning pace. Frank and trio then gave a delicate bossa treatment to Cole Porter’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin before he sang the Bacharach-David Wives And Lovers convincingly, with an organ accompaniment.

Lamphere, who can swing with the best of them, and usually has a steady stream of dancers to prove it, also rocked. Brightly singing the late 50's Bobby Darin hit Dream Lover, belting Tom Jones’ Delilah, also adding a delightful yet seldom heard Henry Mancini samba, It Had Better Be Tonight. Sung both in English and Italian, it put this writer in the mood to order the antipasto plate with extra olives and provolone cheese. At one point, after mentioning his fondness for Dean Martin, Lamphere warbled Memories Are Made of This and I Will sounding eerily like Dino.

In all, I found the wait staff friendly, efficient and the drinks "well-poured". Never dull, like it’s sister bar on Rush Street, Jilly’s is a smoker’s paradise, is full of people and can be loud. But it also appears to be the new place in the Western Suburbs for professionals and sophisticates to congregate, imbibe and experience high caliber music and people watching for the price of a drink.