Frank Macchia

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Frank Macchia conducting, Los Angeles, CA

Frank Macchia (born October 12, 1958) is an American

folk songs
.

Early career

In 1976, Macchia attended

woodwinds with Joe Viola, Joseph Allard, and Steve Grossman. His composition and arranging teachers included Herb Pomeroy, Phil Wilson
, Tony Texiera, Ken Pullig, and Greg Hopkins.

In 1979, Macchia received DownBeat magazine’s award (second place) for best original big band composition. In 1980, he was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to compose a jazz/classical suite for large ensemble. After earning a degree in Traditional Composition, Macchia taught at Berklee from 1980 to 1981.

From 1981 to 1992, Macchia lived in the San Francisco Bay Area where he continued composing and performing with his own ensembles; The Gleets, Desperate Character, and The Frankie Maximum Band. He also performed with many other artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, The Temptations, Clare Fischer, and Chuck Mangione. Macchia produced and released two CDs of original music during this period: Introducing Frankie Maximum and Frankie Maximum Goes Way-er Out West which foreshadowed some of his later work. Voting Frankie Maximum Goes Way-er Out West one of the Top Ten Records of the Year in 1991 Larry Kelp of the Oakland Tribune said:

"A cult masterpiece. Those who have heard it agree, this is a monster of a record."

Film and television career

After touring Europe with productions of

Fox TV’s Night Visions. For several years (1992-2010), Macchia created music and arrangements for The Tonight Show band.[2]

Little Evil Things

From 1997 to 2001, Macchia and writer/actress Tracy London collaborated on a series of 5 orchestrated Spoken word productions called Little Evil Things. Original stories in the style of 1950’s horror comic books, were performed by actors including Dave Florek, Jim McDonnell, and Susan Hull, with artwork created by Guy Vasilovich. Each volume consisted of 4 to 5 stories with musical soundtracks by created by Macchia. Several pieces of music from this series were recorded by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

Billboard magazine described this unusual approach:

"What makes this audio unique is its film-like musical score. The audiobook's co-author Macchia, an award-winning composer, tailored the original music to the actors' performances. The result is a perfect marriage of words and music that sets an effective, creepy atmosphere."[3]

Los Angeles jazz composer

Macchia has recorded a series of eclectic original projects featuring some of the best musicians in Los Angeles as well as European orchestras.

In 2003, he released The Galapagos Suite, a set of 6 pieces, each capturing his musical impression of one of the species that inhabit the

trombones
). While this recording was generally received as a ‘new age’ project, Macchia had begun his exploration of unusual instrumental combinations, particularly low register brass and woodwind instruments.

In 2004, Macchia released Animals which continued to explore his interest in

drums
), is well suited for the technical challenges of Macchia’s music.

Mo’ Animals was released in 2006, and in many ways is a continuation of Macchia’s 2004 release. The recording uses most of the same musicians with the notable addition of the virtuosic Howard Levy (best known as a founding member of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones) on harmonica.

In 2006, Macchia released Emotions, another highly

50th Grammy Awards
.

Macchia followed up Emotions with another

51st Grammy Awards
.

In 2008, Macchia released one of his most unusual recordings, Saxolollapalooza

folk songs with arrangements of "Down by the Riverside", "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", and "Shortening Bread
".

In 2010, Macchia dove head first into his jazz treatments of traditional American

Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone), Tierney Sutton
(vocal, Red River Valley).

In addition to the unique choice of material, this recording showcases Macchia’s interest in unusual instrumental combinations and the use of high and low register members of the brass and woodwind families not typically utilized in big band music.

Macchia’s arrangement of "

53rd Grammy Awards
.

In 2011, Macchia released SON of Folk Songs For Jazzers, Chapter 2 of his 2010 big band project. This recording features the same musicians featured on the first release with the substitution of Michael Hatfield (Vibraphone, Marimba, Bass Marimba, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Tambourine, Shaker) for Ray Frisby.

Son of Folk Songs for Jazzers features Macchia’s arrangements of "

Michael Row Your Boat Ashore"; "Row, Row, Row Your Boat
").

In 2011, Macchia formed the electric six-piece band, Swamp Thang (Macchia composer, vocals, saxophones, and flutes, Ken Rosser and Eric Jensen electric guitars, John Rosenberg keyboards, Tommy Lockett electric bass, Frank Briggs drums). The group released two records, the self-titled Swamp Thang in 2012 and Fried Zombie Stew in 2013. "The versatile saxophonist takes a trip into a sonic landscape of bayou boogie, blues, funk, and New Orleans second-line with joyful and freewheeling attitude, letting the good times roll wild and crazy."[8] wrote All About Jazz critic Dan McClenaghan of the initial release. DownBeat magazine reviewer Michael Jackson gave Fried Zombie Stew three and a half stars.[9]

In late 2013, Macchia recorded a new large ensemble record for January 2014 release entitled Grease Mechanix, featuring Eric Marienthal, Brandon Fields, Bob Sheppard, Macchia, Sal Lozano, Jay Mason on reeds, Wayne Bergeron, Dan Fornero, Walt Fowler on trumpets, Alex Iles, Kevin Porter, Craig Gosnell on trombones, Bill Reichenbach on tuba, Ken Rosser on electric guitar, Peter Erskine on drums and Brad Dutz on percussion.

Macchia worked with drummer-percussionist Brock Avery to create Rhythm Kaleidoscope, which was released in November 2018. Brock created improvised drum solos that Macchia then took and composed music for, utilizing up to 40 woodwinds and added sampled orchestra in addition to guest soloists Stefanie Fife on cello, Alex Iles on trombone and Eric Jensen on electric guitar.

This has been followed up by another EP entitled Rhythm Abstraction:Azure along the lines of Rhythm Kaleidoscope where Brock created more improvised drum solos that Frank composed music to. This first of three EPs was released Jan 21, 2020 for digital downloads and streaming. The second EP, "Rhythm Abstraction: Gold" was released April 21, 2020. And the third and final installment of the trilogy, "Rhythm Abstraction: Ruby" was released for digital download and streaming on July 21, 2020.

Discography

  • 1990 Introducing Frankie Maximum
  • 1991 Frankie Maximum Goes Way'er Out West
  • 1997 Little Evil Things Volume 1
  • 1998 Little Evil Things Volume 2
  • 1999 Little Evil Things Volume 3
  • 2000 Little Evil Things Volume 4
  • 2001 Little Evil Things Volume 5
  • 2003 The Galapagos Suite
  • 2004 Animals
  • 2006 Mo' Animals
  • 2006 Emotions
  • 2007 Landscapes
  • 2008 Saxolollapalooza
  • 2010 Folk Songs For Jazzers
  • 2011 SON of Folk Songs For Jazzers
  • 2012 Swamp Thang
  • 2013 Fried Zombie Stew
  • 2014 Grease Mechanix
  • 2015 The Pale Emperor
  • 2019 Rhythm Kaleidoscope
  • 2020 Rhythm Abstraction: Azure(EP)
  • 2020 Rhythm Abstraction: Gold(EP)
  • 2020 Rhythm Abstraction: Ruby(EP)
  • 2022 Songs For Tracy
  • 2022 Bluesapalooza

Awards

  • 1979 DownBeat Award (second place) - Best Original Big Band Composition
  • 1980
    National Endowment For the Arts
    Grant
  • 1997 Publishers Weekly Listen Up! Award (Little Evil Things)
  • 2008 Nomination:
    50th Grammy Awards
  • 2009 Nomination:
    51st Grammy Awards
  • 2011 Nomination:
    53rd Grammy Awards

Selected filmography: composition

  • 2009 Bleeder (TV Series)
  • 2008 The HusBand (short)
  • 2007 Hideous (short)
  • 2006 The Axe Man (short)
  • 2004 Unearthly Harvest
  • 2004 White Chicks (stock music)
  • 2001-2002 Night Visions (TV series, 12 episodes)
  • 2002 The Boogerman
  • 2002 The Boy Who Cried Alien (TV short)
  • 2001 Homeland (documentary)
  • 1998 Oh Yeah! Cartoons (TV series)
  • 1997 Cold Case (television film)
  • 1996 Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders
  • 1992 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (TV series)
  • 1989
    America’s Funniest Home Videos
     (TV series)

Selected filmography: orchestration and arranging

References

  1. ^ Susan Frances, Jazz Review, ‘Frank Macchia: Looking to the Future’ http://www.jazzreview.com/article/review-6166.html Archived 2010-12-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Thomas Erdmann, Saxophone Journal, March/April 2009
  3. ^ Trudi Miller Rosenblum, Billboard, November 8, 1997
  4. ^ Susan Francis, Jazz Review, Frank Macchia: Capturing the World Around Him, http://www.jazzreview.com/article/review-6039.html Archived 2009-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Dan McCleneghan, allaboutjazz, Staff Picks 2008, http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=31665&pg=#33
  6. ^ Michael Nastos, allmusic, http://www.allmusic.com/album/frank-macchia-landscapes-r1334414
  7. ^ Perry Tannenbaum, JazzTimes, May 2009
  8. ^ "Frank Macchia: Frank Macchia's Swamp Thang album review @ All About Jazz". 12 January 2012.
  9. ^ http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2013/DB201304/_art/DB201304.pdf [bare URL PDF]

External links

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