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Dave Frank

DAVE FRANK is one of the busiest solo jazz pianists and music educators on the scene today. He is the author of the best-selling Hal Leonard book and video series, JOY OF IMPROV and BREAKTHROUGH TO IMPROV, was an Associate Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1987-2004, and was a co-founder of the NEW YORK SCHOOL OF JAZZ (1983-86). In 2004 Dave moved to New York City to direct the Dave Frank School of Jazz in midtown Manhattan. The DFS of J offers private instruction for aspiring musicians at all levels, as well as frequent concerts/workshops for the general public.

Since 1994, Dave has been traveling worldwide, and to date has presented solo concerts and master classes in Spain, England, Holland, Belgium, Brazil, South Africa, Switzerland, Argentina, Nicaragua, Peru, Costa Rica, France, and throughout the US and Canada. He has been a featured performer and clinician at major jazz festivals worldwide including the 2002 North Sea Jazz Festival, the 2001 and 2003 Montreux Jazz festivals, and the 1999 Winnipeg Jazz Festival.

Dave Frank has been the subject of feature articles in the BOSTON GLOBE, KEYBOARD MAGAZINE, and THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER LEARNING. He can be regularly seen on the BET on JAZZ network and was recently the featured guest on the NPR radio show JAZZ INSPIRED with Judy Carmichael.

Dave has two critically acclaimed solo CD’s released on the JAZZHEADS label, BALLADS AND BURNERS, recently released in March, 2007, and POWER OF THE PIANO, released in 1997. Power of the Piano received extensive radio airplay in the US, Canada, Europe and South America, and made the top ten jazz list in 35 American cities.

Dave’s teachers include the legendary LENNIE TRISTANO and CHARLIE BANACOS, and John LaRosa.

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194
Album Review

Dave Frank: Portrait Of New York

Read "Portrait Of New York" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Twelve tunes inspired by or dedicated to the city of New York come together to form Portrait Of New York, only the fourth album by ex-Berklee Professor Dave Frank in a career as a musician and educator that stretches back to the '80s. Why Frank's recorded ouvre should be so brief is something of a mystery, based on the evidence on Portrait Of New York. He may not be pushing the envelope, but this is a quite beautiful album: a ...

212
Album Review

Dave Frank: Portrait Of New York

Read "Portrait Of New York" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Jazz and New York are like hot dogs and baseball, or peanut butter and jelly. The Big Apple has been the epicenter of so many important movements and moments in jazz, that it's hard to think of any other place--save perhaps New Orleans--that deserves the honor of being captured in song. Pianist Dave Frank, widely recognized as a premier jazz educator and performer, pays tribute to New York with solo piano paintings of various streets and locales, and four reworked ...

198
Album Review

Dave Frank: Portrait of New York

Read "Portrait of New York" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


New York-based Dave Frank is a piano style unto himself. With the most solid left hand playing jazz piano, Frank delights in composing and improvising the most devilish bass lines, defying Einstein's rule governing space and time. Frank's last recording, Ballads and Burners (Jazz Heads, 2007), amply demonstrated why Frank has a Jazz School named for him. Frank joins Alex Levin and his recent New York Portraits (Self Produced, 2010) in paying homage to the Cultural Center ...

140
Album Review

Dave Frank: Ballads and Burners

Read "Ballads and Burners" reviewed by Budd Kopman


The liner notes to Ballads and Burners states, “There are no pitch/speed alterations or edits on any of the tracks..."--because the pure physical speed of some of the playing is not to be believed. Chops does not music make, however. Fortunately, pianist Dave Frank is as much a musician as he is a technician. To some extent, technique can be learned, assuming the player's reflexes are fast enough, and he or she can learn to relax. Musicianship ...

175
Album Review

Dave Frank: Ballads & Burners

Read "Ballads & Burners" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Dave Frank is a professor of piano at Boston's Berklee College of Music, co-founder of the New York School of Jazz and best-selling author of The Joy of Improv. Over the past twenty five years, he has developed a highly personalized approach towards solo piano performance. Ballads and Burners is the follow-up to his 1997 Jazzheads debut, Power of the Piano.

What makes Frank's albums so interesting is the intensity and drive that he pours into his solo ...

180
Album Review

Dave Frank: Ballads & Burners

Read "Ballads & Burners" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


For pianist, composer, and educator Dave Frank, the magic is in the left hand. Ballads & Burners is a collection of original compositions that brims with muscularity and assertion, whether ballads or burners.

What makes Frank interesting is the complexity of melody and rhythm he composes into his up-tempo pieces. The opener, “Spirit of the Burn, illustrates this. Following the exposition of a complex low register figure, Frank then begins to improvise with his right hand, displaying considerable prowess and ...

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144

Education

Dave Frank School of Jazz opening full time on Sept. 8th in NYC

Dave Frank School of Jazz opening full time on Sept. 8th in NYC

Source: All About Jazz

Dave Frank School of Jazz opens in NYC

Renowned Berklee College of Music Piano Professor, jazz pianist Dave Frank has moved to NYC to direct the Dave Frank School of Jazz at 29 W 57th St., the premises of Frank and Camille's Fine Pianos on 57th. Located in the heart of Manhattan, the DFS of J will be a unique center for jazz education, focusing on developing the musical potential of piano/keyboard students at all levels of playing, and will ...

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