Frank Strazzeri
Biography
Frank Strazzeri (b. April 24, 1930, Rochester, New York) is an American jazz pianist.
A solid pianist long based in the Los Angeles area, Strazzeri has been in demand for straight-ahead sessions for decades. Although he originally started playing tenor and clarinet when he was 12, Strazzeri soon switched to piano. He attended the Eastman School of Music, then took a job as a house pianist in a nightclub in Rochester in 1952. While there he accompanied visiting musicians such as Roy Eldridge and Billie Holiday.
Read full biography ↓
He relocated to New Orleans in 1954, playing with Sharkey Bonano and Al Hirt in a Dixieland jazz setting, but his main focus since has been bebop. He played with Charlie Ventura in 1957-58 and Woody Herman in 1959.
In 1960 he moved to Los Angeles. There he worked extensively as a studio musician on the West Coast jazz scene, and toured with Joe Williams, Maynard Ferguson, and Les Brown (1971-74). He has also played with Terry Gibbs, Herb Ellis, the Lighthouse All-Stars, Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Cal Tjader, Louie Bellson, and Chet Baker, in addition to working with his own trios.
--Discography as Bandleader--
* Thats Him and This Is New (Revelation Records, 1969)
* Taurus (Revelation, 1973)
* View from Within with Don Menza (Creative World, 1973)
* Frames with Don Menza (Glendale Records, 1975)
* After The Rain (Catalyst Records, 1976)
* Straz (Catalyst Records, 1977)
* Relaxin (Sea Breeze Records, 1980)
* Kat Dancin (Discovery Records, 1985)
* Make Me Rainbows (Fresh Sound, 1987)
* I Remember You (Fresh Sound, 1989)
* Little Giant (Fresh Sound, 1989)
* The Very Thought of You (Discovery, 1990)
* Wood Winds West (Jazz Mark, 1992)
* Franks Blues (Night Life Records, 1992)
* Moon and Sand (Discovery, 1993)
* Somebody Loves Me (Fresh Sound, 1994)
* Nobody Else But Me (Fresh Sound, 1997)
* Live in Sorgues France (Jazz Mark, 2002)
* Funk and Esoteric (Fresh Sound, 2004)
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.