In the 1970s and ’80s, the New Jersey Jazz Society held summer festivals at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ, sometimes as part of a New Jersey arm of the Newport Jazz Festival in New York. Guitarist Frank Vignola remembers playing there 40 years ago, as a 19-year-old, with such guitar giants as Bucky Pizzarelli and Tal Farlow. “There were also other legends,” he recalled, “like (pianist) Jay McShann and (bassist) Milt Hinton. So, I sort of got my start with the New Jersey Jazz Society.”
On Sunday, December 7, Vignola (left in photo above) and fellow guitarist, Vinny Raniolo, will be performing at NJJS’ Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center. To Vignola, that’s just continuing a tradition. Vignola and Raniolo have performed more that 1,000 concerts together in 17 countries. A typical repertoire can range from music by Rimsky-Korsakov to standards from the Great American Songbook.
When they played at the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival in August 2019, Vignola paid tribute to one of his jazz heroes, Pizzarelli. “Without Bucky Pizzarelli,” he said, “we would not know jazz guitar as it is today. Bucky always had a great way of starting a show, usually with a medium tempo song that everyone knew. This would draw the audience in and give the band a chance to get comfortable on stage. Then, the second song, he would swing it a little, and the third one, bingo! Knock it out of the park. What a great performer and man.”
In January 2021, during the pandemic, Vignola and Raniolo honored Pizzarelli and four other New Jersey jazz guitar icons — Lou Pallo, Les Paul, Tony Mottola, and Al Caiola — in an NJJS “virtual concert” from Vignola’s home in Warwick, NY.
When Vignola and Raniolo released an album called Swing Zing! several years ago, JazzWeekly‘s George W. Harris called it a “wonderful summit meeting . . .They’ve been together in a variety of settings and forms, and this one delivers at least 12 strings of joy on every bite. Their sense of joyful jamming and lyricism is in evidence from the swinging and infectious ‘Cheek to Cheek’ to the frenetic fretwork on ‘Tico Tico/Djangomania’ which has the strings tying themselves up in a Reinhardt of a knot. Together they can also create swooning melodies as on the swooning ‘I’m Getting Sentimental Over You’ and nostalgic ‘Stardust’”.
Four years ago, Vignola began a regular Wednesday night gig at New York’s Birdland Theater called Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night. Guests in November included Raniolo, guitarists Mark Whitfield, Gray Sargent, Pasquale Grasso, and Rodney Jones; pianist Ted Rosenthal; and vocalist Tatiana Eva Marie. Broadway World‘s Rob Lester described Vignola’s regular Wednesday night performances as “A cool series . . . Depending on which week you pop in, you’ll find him with different fellow talents . . .The atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming, and I liked the Vignola vibe of comfortable, cheerful modesty: He doesn’t hog the spotlight, but generously shares it with his colleagues. Whether mellow or more energized, I loved being enveloped by the sounds in various combinations and in solos.”
In addition to performing, Vignola conducts four Big Jersey Guitar Camps every year at the Best Western Plus Executive Inn in Fairfield, NJ. The next one is from February 1-6. Instructors, in addition to Vignola, include such guitarists as Raniolo, Grasso, Jimmy Bruno, and Ulf Wakenius.
At Jersey Jazz LIVE!, Vignola and Raniolo will be preceded by a Rising Stars opening act featuring a quartet from Summit High School led by alto saxophonist Luka Milinkovic, a member of this year’s New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble (photo below). Other members of the quartet are: drummer Jeremy Oh, bassist Gavin Lowenberger, and pianist Nicolas Solis-Negron.
The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $15 for NJJS members and $20 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase. To order tickets in advance, click HERE
: Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts.
