JAZZ GUITARIST

Jazz Guitarist Frank Vignola Plays Gershwin on New CD Coming April 17

Frank Vignola. Photo by J. Bruce Summers.Frank Vignola’s 12th CD as a leader and his first for Mel Bay Records, Vignola Plays Gershwin (10122CD), is a spirited tribute to George Gershwin, one of America’s greatest composers, Vignola Plays Gershwin will be released through CD stores and online retailers on April 17, 2007.

Frank was joined on the recording by Joe Ascione on drums, Tom Kennedy on bass and Corey Christiansen on guitar. While typically a Benedetto player, Frank went with a Saga Blueridge flattop guitar for this project.

Vignola Plays Gershwin features 14 of the composer’s most popular tunes. All of the tracks were laid down on a single day (July 21, 2006) at Music Masters Recording Studio in St. Louis, Missouri.

The actual studio time was around four hours, which helped to give the project the crisp sound of a CD that seemed to be waiting to be made. After the session, Tom Kennedy remarked that the music was just flowing out of the instruments. No more than two takes were needed for any of the tunes. The pace of the session was especially impressive because it was the first time Frank and Corey had played together, not to mention the first time Frank and Tom had even met.

Vignola Plays GershwinThe CD was produced by William Bay, president of Mel Bay Publications, who helped Frank with the challenge of choosing songs from the more than 1000 compositions in the Gershwin catalog. They decided to focus on the most popular tunes, reasoning that Frank’s unique style would bring new life to familiar standards such as “Summertime” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”.

A popular Mel Bay author, Frank is also featured on two previous DVDs for Mel Bay Records: Bucky Pizzarelli: Favorite Solos featuring Frank Vignola (21225DVD) and Frank Vignola’s Gypsy Jazz Jam (20087DVD).