Signorelli, Frank
Signorelli, Frank
Signorelli, Frank, early jazz pianist, composer; b. N.Y., May 24, 1901; d. Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 9, 1975. Originally taught piano by his cousin, Pasquale Signorelli. Founding member of the Original Memphis Five (from 1917), worked briefly in the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1921, then resumed with the Original Memphis Five. From the mid-1920s, Signorelli did prolific freelance work for radio, the theater, and on records. He left the Original Memphis Five in September 1926, and joined Joe Venuti. Member of Adrian Rollini’s short-lived New Yorker Band from September-October 1927. Recorded with Joe Venuti, Ed Lang, and Bix Beiderbecke, among others; in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Signorelli enjoyed great success as a composer. During the mid-1930s, he played in the reformed O.D.J.B., then, starting in summer 1938, he joined Paul Whiteman. During the 1940s and 1950s he continued to play regularly; he worked with Bobby Hackett at Nick’s in 1947, then at same venue with Phil Napoleon from the late 1940s. Took part in television shows with specially reformed the Original Memphis Five, During the late 1950s he played solo spots in Greenwich Village. He was inactive from the 1960s to his death.
—John Chilton , Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter