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Bliss Rodriguez

Bliss Rodriguez was born in NYC on April 2, 1945 to Dominican immigrant parents. He grew up in Hamilton Heights, between Harlem and Washington Heights, on the west side. Bliss was born visually impaired, having no vision in his right eye and partial sight in his left. At the age of 17 he became completely blind.

He attended the only school in NY at the time for the visually impaired, a Catholic grammar school run by nuns. The sisters wanted their charges to be well rounded, so as a child Bliss received ballroom, tap dance, music and drama lessons in addition to a standard primary education.

His parents bought him a piano at age nine, and he began playing it by ear. By high school he met fellow musician José Feliciano, and together they formed an instrumental trio ( guitar, piano and drums.) They gravitated musically to whatever was popular on the radio at the time: jazz influenced pop tunes like Back Home in Indiana and Steppin’ Out With My Baby, as well as R&B and early rock and roll melodies championed by the likes of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. The trio got their fifteen minutes of fame when they appeared on television’s “The Amateur Hour” hosted by Ted Mack ( still viewable on You Tube!,) before Feliciano was “discovered” and went on to his own pop recording career. Bliss’ musical world was turned on it’s ear, literally, at the age of seventeen when he first heard John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things and Bill Evans’ classically informed jazz harmonies. He would never again hear or create music in the same way.

After high school he spent two years taking classes at Julliard and studying privately with John Mehegan, before entering the Mannes College of Music in 1964. There he studied music history, theory, and keyboard harmony with Jerome Bronstein, among others, before graduating in 1969 with a BS in Music.

Still hungry for more education, Bliss entered the Masters of Music program at SUNY’s Harpur College at Binghamton in 1970 ( now called University of Binghamton,) where he concentrated in Performance and Composition. Before he completed his degree two years later, he had played in their jazz laboratories with visiting artists such as Slam Stewart, Frank Wess, Manny Album, and Eddie Daniels.

Following his graduation and restless with his life in New York, Bliss set out with a college friend on a lark to what was then the “land of opportunity”, oil- rich Houston, Texas. It was there he met up and coming Texarkana-bred jazz vocalist Roseanna Vitro. Together they formed a working jazz quartet - which broadcast live for three years from a nightly gig at the Green Room - and a life long friendship.

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Album Review

Roseanna Vitro: Listen Here

Read "Listen Here" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Roseanna Vitro is a singer's singer in the same way as Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. She is a studied practitioner of the jazz vocal arts, an interpreter, performer, educator. Her repertoire, taste, and vocal chops are beyond compare. Vitro's ability has evolved horizontally and vertically over 14 recordings and nearly 40 years. The singer's most recent release, Tell Me The Truth (Skyline, 2018), was thematically devoted to the rich music of the American South where Vitro capably migrates from ...

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Recording

"Lovely Days," New Duo Album By Vocalist Sherri Roberts With Pianist Bliss Rodriguez, Due Jan. 15

"Lovely Days," New Duo Album By Vocalist Sherri Roberts With Pianist Bliss Rodriguez, Due Jan. 15

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

On her three previous albums, San Francisco vocalist Sherri Roberts collaborated with jazz masters like Phil Woods, Chris Potter, Lew Soloff, and bassist Harvie S, who also presided as producer/arranger for the highly-regarded small-group sessions. Roberts takes a different tack on Lovely Days, her fourth album as a leader and her second for Blue House Recordings/Pacific Coast Jazz. On the new CD, which will be released January 15, she chose to work in a duo setting with Bliss Rodriguez, a ...

"Rodriguez proves to be the most gracious and effective accompanist of recent memory." - C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz

"Rodriguez shows himself to be very much a two-handed pianist full of subtle creativity.” - Scott Yanow, L.A. Jazz Scene

"A startlingly gifted improvisor." - Andrew Gilbert, The Monthly

"Bliss shines in a blistering impassioned piano solo" - Dan Singer, In Tune International

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Listen Here

Skyline Records
2021

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Lovely Days

Unknown label
2013

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Videos

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