The Phillies camera operator who brings you the best slo-mo shots from the ballgame just released a stellar jazz album

Greg Farnese always loved to sing.

“I had a tape recorder I would sing into,” said the South Jersey jazz vocalist.

“I was one of those kids holding a brush in the mirror, singing Billy Joel songs. I was that kid.”

But it was a roundabout route to the stage for Farnese, whose debut album, Oh No, I’m In Love Again, was just released on Grammy nominated Philly pianist Orrin Evans’ Imani Records.

First he followed his father Aldo Farnese — the star of Philadelphia children’s television shows Dickory Doc and Adam Android in the 1960s and 1970s — in pursuing an acting career. After a stint in Hollywood working in production and scoring some small movie and TV roles, he came home to Philly in the mid-1990s.

And since then, Farnese has had a day job — actually, usually a night job — as a TV camera operator for the Phillies, first at Veterans Stadium and, since 2004, at Citizens Bank Park. He operates a super slo-mo camera from the left field power alley in front of Ghost Energy Deck (formerly Harry the K’s).

By 2012, Farnese was long settled into that job, and also working Sixers and Flyers games for NBC Sports Philadelphia. In 2002, he won an Emmy for his work on the World Series.

But then he felt — as he puts it speaking via Zoom from his home studio in Woolwich Township in Gloucester County, while his golden retrievers Bailey and Oliver lounge on a sofa behind him — “a tap on the shoulder.”

“When I was a kid, my father would sing throughout the house. We would say ‘Dad, you’ve got a great voice, you should be a singer,’” Farnese said. “And he would go, ‘Meh,’ and kind of blow us off.”

Then one day, he said, “I was singing while putting my son’s air hockey table together.” His wife Laurie said “Greg, you’ve got a beautiful voice. You should sing.”

“I started to go ‘Meh …’ — and then I stopped myself. Because I remembered that as a child, I thought my father was wasting his talent.

“So I said: ‘Get me a karaoke machine for Christmas, and I’ll start working on my voice. And that’s what I did.”

Farnese, who will perform at Tim McCloone’s Supper Club in Asbury Park on Oct. 4 and the Exit 0 Jazz Festival in Cape May on October. 23, is a poised vocalist and skilled song interpreter. Oh No! I’m In Love Again features two originals, including the title cut, both written with Alan Gardner, a former collaborator with Farnese’s father.

The album, whose polish belies that it was recorded in a single day at MorningStar Studios in Montgomery County, features Philly jazz players like drummer Leon Jordan Sr. and horn arrangements by trumpeter Eric Bild.

Along with a delicate version of Johnny Mercer’s “Dream” accompanied by guitarist Paul Bollenbock, the album includes Green Day, Oasis, and Tears for Fears songs; all artfully rearranged to make familiar sound fresh.

It’s been a long road of confidence building for Farnese to work with a musician as accomplished as Evans, a three time Grammy nominee who this spring was named artistic director of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. (He’ll split his time between Seattle and Philly.)

Speaking between innings during a recent Phillies-Astros game — an 11-7 win, thanks to a Kyle Schwarber grand slam Farnese’s camera followed into the stands — Farnese calls Evans “so smart and honest, and a great pianist. It’s like having Quincy Jones in my corner.”

“I started out singing in pizza parlors,” said Farnese, 62. “My wife is a psychologist and she used to work at nursing facilities. She called me one day and said, ‘The magician canceled, can you come down and sing a song?’

“I told her no, I’m not ready yet. She said, ‘Get the hell down here, just do it!’ I was afraid, and I was so self conscious about being good.”

But as Farnese sang the 1940s standard “Moonlight in Vermont” to an elderly audience in Egg Harbor Township, he had a revelation.

“The two ladies in the front started crying. I was bringing them back to when they were young. That moment I realized that it wasn’t really about me. It was about the effect the music had on the audience. I saw them crying and I thought: This is what I want to do.”

Since then, Farnese has surrounded himself with first class musicians and sung in Philly area jazz clubs and private events, while also traveling for gigs in New York and Chicago.

Working with the Phillies suits his ambitions. Knowing his schedule months in advance, he books shows when the team is on the road.

“We’ve brought him on a couple of times to sing ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame,’” said Phillies TV play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy. “I love his energy. He just brings so much professionalism and creativity and knows how to get the crowd involved. He’s an entertainer.”

Farnese put an exclamation point on one of the Phillies most memorable wins this year.

“Schwarber hit a home run to center field onto Ashburn Alley,” McCarthy said of the walk-off win on Aug. 23. “It was an amazing comeback, and there was elation from the Phillies fans. But then Greg’s camera moved over to the Cardinals fans who had the total opposite reaction. It really buttoned up the story. It was just awesome.”

Evans wasn’t all that familiar with Farnese’s music before he decided to produce Oh No, I’m In Love Again and put it out on his label, that’s home to artists like Philly keyboard player Luke Carlos O’Reilly and Los Angeles drummer Tina Raymond.

Choosing who to work with isn’t about “it has to be the best vocalist, or the best saxophonist. It’s if somebody asks me to help them, and I believe in them as a human being.”

» READ MORE: Philly’s Orrin Evans is up for a Grammy for ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoe’

Though he “wasn’t super duper familiar with Greg’s singing,” Evans said, “I knew some of the people he was playing with. So I know this person doesn’t play with slouches, so he can’t be a slouch.”

The key to success in recording, Evans says, was trust.

“I just like working with people I like. And I know that if we can vibe off the bandstand, there’s no way we’re not going to vibe on the bandstand.

“One of the best things I can say about Greg is his desire and ability to learn. He has an inquisitive spirit. He’s not done evolving. I really love this record, and I’m excited for the next one because of him.”

“I love jazz and swing music,” Farnese said. “You know, Bennett, Bublé, Sinatra. That’s my wheelhouse. But growing up I was exposed to all these different styles. Everything from Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles to Curtis Mayfield and Puccini.

“So I’m creating a vocal style that combines songs I really love in jazz arrangements. What would Ray Charles do with a Green Day song? What would Duke Ellington do with a Blood, Sweat & Tears song? I want to be my own artist that creates my own music in my own style.”

“I have a great job at NBC Sports Philadelphia. But when I got that tap on the shoulder, that was God saying. ‘This is not what you’re supposed to be doing.’ And being a middle-aged man, this is not a dress rehearsal. This is it. Now’s the time.”

Greg Farnese will perform Oct. 4 at Tim McCloone’s Supper Club, 1200 Ocean Ave N, Asbury Park, timemcloonessupperclub.com and Oct. 23 at the Exit 0 Jazz Festival, Cape May, exit0jazzfestival.com.