Born in 1961 in Wayland, Massachusetts, art and music played a big part in Frank’s life from an early age.
A local potter Margaret Hoenig taught classes for children that Frank attended, off and on, from age 6 through his teens. She was an incredibly inspiring woman who encouraged Frank at eleven to build a potter’s wheel, a rudimentary kiln, plus set up a clay studio in his basement. The excitement from various classes, along with his endeavors at home, eventually led to formal art training. He received a BFA from the Program in Artisanry at Boston University (1983) and a MFA from UC Davis in California (1987).
Frank started playing saxophone at age eight with group lessons once a week in school. In middle school, he was fortunate to meet another mentor – a young band director named Dave Faucher. Faucher was an accomplished musician on many instruments, but his main “axe” was the tenor saxophone. His enthusiasm for the saxophone in particular, and jazz in general, was infectious!
Frank and a few other fellow students were soon transcribing jazz solos, learning the beginnings of improvisation, and later in high school coming in for early morning jam sessions. Faucher also encouraged the students to attend some of his gigs and sit-in with experienced musicians. During high school, Frank played in concert band, jazz big band and also studied with Boston tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi. This led to a jazz quintet playing standards and writing his first songs.
“I always wanted to play music, but my father thought that it would be a stupid job and advised me to study art with the idea that later, after college, I would be able to teach at a university.”
In Boston, Frank met Robin Southall, whom he would later marry. They moved from Boston to Western New York, then later to California where he studied at UC Davis. They came to Asheville in 1987 where Frank taught sculpture, pottery and art history. Without trying to, he also fell into playing music. Frank’s first successful band was called Voice of the Turtle (which he co-led with Alan Childres) playing original music that focused on improvisation in a range of styles derived from the various backgrounds of the four musicians.
As Frank became more involved with music, he realized that there was much to learn professionally, plus that both music and art took a lot of time! Eventually he decided to stop making and teaching art and focus instead on performing and composing.
“After Jerry Bergonzi, most of what I’ve learned has been on my own and from what I’ve gotten from band mates. Some things I’ve just picked up, but I’ve also taken a few lessons here and there. As with most jazz musicians here in Asheville, pianist Bill Gerhardt has been a big influence. He’s explained certain music theory to me, but more importantly, has encouraged me in my own writing!”
Frank added, “Asheville has so many talented musicians and many genres of music with a rich history. Bluegrass, southern rock, singer-songwriter and maybe even classical chamber music have pretty deep roots here – yet in 1987 when I arrived there were only a handful of jazz musicians, and even fewer venues for hearing jazz. That has really changed over the last 25 years! Audiences have become larger and more appreciative too.
“I currently play with a few different bands on a regular basis in a variety of styles and sizes. I enjoy writing music and playing original music by others, so you can hear me most Tuesday nights at Tressa’s for the Asheville Original Music series. The last few years I’ve not had the chance to write for two or three horns except for commercial bands and I hope to do some of that this coming year.”
We all eagerly look forward to that!
“Frank’s has all the qualities I like in a jazz musician. He has technical command over all the saxophones, his improvisations are expressive and he doesn’t waste notes. On top of that, I also love his composing!” ~ David Wilken, Music Director of the Asheville Jazz Orchestra