Frank Grizanti - Guitar, keyboards and vocals
Frank Grizanti
Instruments: guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals
Composer, arranger, producer, recording engineer
Influences: Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Robben Ford, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Wes Montgomery
Awards: 2000 Buffalo Music Hall of Fame
(member of Weekend)
2004 NAMMA Lifetime Acheivement
2007 Buffalo Music Hall of Fame
(recording artist)
Frank is a self -taught guitarist greatly influenced by his parents who where both classically trained musicians (Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, OH). During his formative years, he performed regularly with a variety of cover bands.
In 1969 Frank joined OZ an all-original project. The band proceeded to write original material, which was greeted with strong interest by United Artist Records. In 1972, Frank was working with another original band, Hood Robin. John Pozer of United Artist Records took personal interest in this band and became its manager and producer.
During the winter of 1976 Frank moved to Los Angeles where he joined The Terry Williams Band, Terry was co-founder of The First Edition along with Kenny Rogers. The band was signed with Warner-Curb records.
Frank returned to Western New York in 1983, and during the last two decades, he has performed with many award-winning bands including NRG, Legend, Omega, The Barracudas, Slam, Zola, The USA Band, Stargazer, The Falls Street Rockers and The Frank Grizanti Band.
Frank was asked to join “Weekend” in 1998, an original band that ruled the Buffalo club scene in the early 70's. The band re-released its 1971 effort on CD with 5 new originals including “Magic Eyes” a very popular song in the bands repertoire. Currently, Frank is working with Weekend on their next CD.
Weekend was recently inducted into The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame.
Frank has recorded on projects for great local talents such as Ken Kaufman, John Valby, Bob and Diana Volkman, Pete Howard, Maria Sebastian, Mark Dixon, Tom Sartori, Pam Ryder, Nick DeStephano and Bass Reeves. He has done recordings in L.A., Toronto and Nashville as well. Frank was recently invited to record on the 2001 “Hot Guitarist of Buffalo” followed by a performance at The Tralf in October 2001. Frank is currently involved as a producer for artists such as Bass Reeves, Maria Sebastian, Rich Blend and Pam Ryder at Audio Magic recording studios. He recently produced a CD for The Fabulous USA Band.
Frank continues to wow crowds with his soulful and intricate guitar playing and performs regularly with The Frank Grizanti Band, The Falls Street Rockers, The Fabulous USA Band, Weekend and most recently Anatara
Awards:
“Top Guitarist- Runner-up” Buffalo Area Music Awards
Inductee to the Buffalo Hall of Fame as a member of Weekend
Recipient 2004 NAMMA Lifetime Achievement Award
Professional Memberships:
ASCAP, writer since 1975,
publisher since 1998