Franck Amsallem - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Franck Amsallem is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

jazz pianist, composer and also singer. He was born in 1961 in Oran

Oran

Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...

, then in French Algeria

French Algeria

French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...

, but grew up in Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

, France

France

.

He started learning the piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

at age 7 and also took up the classical saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

at the local conservatory. As a young adult he moved to America, studied at the Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

and Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

while continuing his classical piano studies with Phillip Kawin and playing jazz in and around New York. He has collaborated with Gerry Mulligan

Gerry Mulligan

Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...

, Joe Chambers

Joe Chambers

Joe Chambers is an American jazz drummer, pianist, vibraphonist and composer. He attended the Philadelphia Conservatory for one year. In the 1960s and 70s Chambers gigged with many high-profile artists such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Lou Donaldson, Chick Corea, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Giuffre...

, Gary Peacock

Gary Peacock

Gary Peacock is an American jazz double-bassist.-Biography:After military service in Germany, in the early sixties he worked on the west coast with Barney Kessel, Bud Shank, Paul Bley and Art Pepper, then moved to New York. He worked there with Bley, the Bill Evans trio , and Albert Ayler's trio...

, Bill Stewart

Bill Stewart (musician)

William Harris "Bill" Stewart is an American jazz drummer. Stewart is a versatile player who has performed with a broad array of musicians, from Maceo Parker to Jim Hall...

, Joshua Redman

Joshua Redman

Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...

, Maria Schneider

Maria Schneider (musician)

Maria Schneider is an American arranger, composer, and big-band leader who has won multiple awards. In 2005, her album Concert in the Garden won a Grammy for "Best Large Ensemble Album"...

, Jerry Bergonzi

Jerry Bergonzi

Jerry Bergonzi is a jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator. Bergonzi received a B.A. Degree in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and is the founder of Not Fat Records....

, Charles Lloyd, Bobby Watson

Bobby Watson

Bobby Watson is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 26 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role...

, Kevin Mahogany

Kevin Mahogany

Kevin Mahogany is an American jazz vocalist who became prominent in the 1990s. He is known for his scat singing, and his singing style has been compared with jazz singers Joe Williams and Johnny Hartman....

, Herb Pomeroy

Herb Pomeroy

Irving Herbert "Herb" Pomeroy, III was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator...

, Bob Brookmeyer

Bob Brookmeyer

Robert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...

, Sonny Fortune

Sonny Fortune

Sonny Fortune is an American jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He also plays soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and clarinet.-Biography:...

, Sara Lazarus

Sara Lazarus

Sara Lazarus, born April 1, in Wilmington, Delaware, United States of America is an American jazz singer, who mainly performs in France.-Biography:...

, Tim Ries, Stephane Belmondo

Stéphane Belmondo

Stephane Belmondo is a French jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and drummer. Including recordings made with his brother Lionel Belmondo and Yusef Lateef, he won the best French album category in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and the best artist award in 2003 and 2004,...

, Rick Margitza

Rick Margitza

Rick Margitza is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Margitza began playing violin at age four; his grandfather was a cellist and his father played violin with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Following this he played piano and oboe, and settled on tenor sax while in Fordson high school...

, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte

Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...

, among many others.

Amsallem's composition "Obstinated" was performed by the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, now known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He has since written, conducted and recorded big band music for the Köln Radio Jazz Orchestra (WDR), the Orchestre National de jazz (France), chamber cross-over music for the Prism Saxophone Quartet, Chicago's chamber ensemble Fulcrum Point and cross-over symphonic pieces for the Mancini Institute. He has taught or given workshops at New York's 92Y, Paris' CNSM, CRR, the Royal conservatory in Den Haag, and in Israel, Bulgaria, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland. He has recorded a total of 8 CDs under his name. Amsallem has received several distinguished awards including a National Endowment for the Arts grant for composition, the ASCAP award for Young composers, a FAJE Award (French American Jazz Exchange) and the Fondation de la Vocation Award from France.
Franck's new cd is a solo showcasing his singing along with his piano playing.

Recordings

1992 Out a Day, OMD
1993 Regards, Freelance
1996 Is That So, Sunnyside Records
Sunnyside Records
Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record label.Sunnyside was founded in 1982 by Francois Zalacain and Christine Berthet. Its early releases consisted primarily of piano solo material and ensembles without drums, but in later years has broadened its selection of material.-Artists who have...
1997 Another Time, Challenge/A (reissue "Out a Day")
1998 Years Gone By, Challenge/A
2000 On Second Thought [live], Naïve
2003 Summer Times, Nocturne/Sunnyside Records
Sunnyside Records
Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record label.Sunnyside was founded in 1982 by Francois Zalacain and Christine Berthet. Its early releases consisted primarily of piano solo material and ensembles without drums, but in later years has broadened its selection of material.-Artists who have...
2004 Out a Day, Nocturne (reissue)
2005 A Week in Paris, Nocturne
2009 Amsallem Sings, Fram

Awards

1989: Fondation de la Vocation Award (France)
1989: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship to compose works for string orchestra.
1990: ASCAP Award For Young Composer
2010: FAJE Award (French American Jazz Exchange)

External links

Source

Richard Cook & Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings , 8th Edition, London, Penguin, 2006 ISBN 0-141-02327-9
John Swenson : The Rolling Stones Jazz Record Guide, 1999

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.