John Cocuzzi is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, and swing musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 who specializes the vibraphone

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

 and 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...

, as well as drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s. His primary influences on vibraphone are Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

 and Red Norvo

Red Norvo

Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments...

, while his piano playing is influenced by piano greats from both the jazz and blues worlds.

Cocuzzi is originally from Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 but is best known in the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 area. He has been a member of Big Joe & the Dynaflows, and of the Big Three Trio with Big Joe Maher and John Previti in Washington, D.C. He also performs at jazz festivals

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 nationwide (and sometimes in Europe).

While on tour, he has shared the stage with the classic jazz musicians Harry Allen

Harry Allen (musician)

Harry Allen is an American jazz tenor saxophonist born in Washington, D.C.. Early on he was recognized in high school as an exceptional talent being able to uncannily play tunes such as Body and Soul in the style of legendary tenor players Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips, or Sam Donahue...

, Houston Person

Houston Person

Houston Person is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Person is also known for his distinctive sassy sound and his expressive style of playing...

, Eddie Locke

Eddie Locke

Eddie Locke was an American jazz drummer.Locke was associated with the Detroit jazz scene in the 1940s and 1950s, playing from 1948 to 1953 with drummer Oliver Jackson in a variety show called Bop & Locke...

, Barbara Morrison

Barbara Morrison

Barbara Morrison is an American singer of jazz music.Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan and raised in Romulus, Michigan, Barbara Morrison recorded her first appearance for radio in Detroit at the age of 10. Well known in the Los Angeles area for her duo and trio dates Ms...

, Peter Appleyard

Peter Appleyard

Peter Appleyard, is a Canadian jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer of English birth. He has spent most of his life living and performing in the city of Toronto where for many years he was a highly popular performer in the city's nightclubs and hotels...

, boogie-woogie

Boogie-woogie

Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...

 piano great Bob Seeley

Bob Seeley

Bob Seeley is an American boogie woogie pianist.-Biography:Seeley has played piano at Charlie's Crab in Troy, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, for over three decades. He has played Carnegie Hall several times, and major venues throughout Europe...

, Howard Alden

Howard Alden

Howard Alden is an American jazz guitarist born in Newport Beach, California. He has recorded a long series of albums for Concord Records. His performances were dubbed over Sean Penn as 'Emmet Ray' in the 1999 Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown...

, Dick Hyman

Dick Hyman

Richard “Dick” Hyman is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best-known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50 year career, he has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as composer...

, John Pizzarelli

John Pizzarelli

John Paul Pizzarelli, Jr. is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader. He has had a lengthy career as a recording artist, performing for a variety of labels that include Telarc Records, RCA Records and Chesky Records, among others...

, Johnny Frigo

Johnny Frigo

Johnny Frigo was an American jazz violinist and bassist.His son, Derek John Frigo, was the lead guitarist for the rock band Enuff Z'nuff. Derek Frigo died of a drug overdose on May 28, 2004....

, Jake Hanna

Jake Hanna

Jake Hanna was an American jazz drummer.Hanna first performed in his home town of Boston, and was the house drummer at Storyville for a number of years in the 1950s and 1960s. He played with Toshiko Akiyoshi , Maynard Ferguson , Marian McPartland , and Woody Herman's Orchestra...

, Butch Miles

Butch Miles

Butch Miles is an American jazz drummer. He has played with the Count Basie Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra, among others....

, Russell Malone

Russell Malone

Russell Malone is an essentially self-taught swing and bebop jazz guitarist. He began working with Jimmy Smith in 1988, and went on to work with Harry Connick, Jr. and Diana Krall throughout the 1990s...

, Joe Wilder

Joe Wilder

Joe Wilder is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He best known for his beautiful tone and lyrical style.Wilder was awarded the Temple University Jazz Master's Hall of Fame Award in 2006...

, Red Holloway

Red Holloway

James W. "Red" Holloway is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Holloway started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old...

, Bob Wilber

Bob Wilber

Bob Wilber is an internationally recognized American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and band leader living in Chipping Campden, England. Although his scope covers a wide range of jazz, Wilber has been a dedicated advocate of classic styles, working throughout his career to present traditional jazz...

, George Masso

George Masso

George Masso , born in Cranston, Rhode Island, is an American jazz trombonist, bandleader, vibraphonist and composer specializing in swing and Dixieland styles. Masso is most notable for his work from 1948-1950 in the Jimmy Dorsey band...

, Chuck Redd

Chuck Redd

Chuck Redd is an American drummer and vibraphonist. Chuck joined the Charlie Byrd Trio in 1980 at the age of 21. The same year, he joined the Great Guitars Chuck has done twelve European tours and five tours of Japan, with the Barney Kessel Trio, Ken Peplowski, Terry Gibbs and Conte...

, and a host of others, including jazz giants Louis Bellson, Barrett Deems

Barrett Deems

Barrett Deems was an American swing music jazz drummer born in Springfield, Illinois, probably best known for his work with jazz musicians Jimmy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong , Red Norvo, and Muggsy Spanier.Deems died of pneumonia in Chicago, in September 1998, at the age...

, Snooky Young

Snooky Young

Eugene Edward "Snooky" Young was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known for his mastery of the plunger mute, with which he was able to create a wide range of sounds.-Biography:...

, Marshall Royal

Marshall Royal

Marshall Royal was an American clarinettist and alto saxophonist best known for his work with Count Basie, with whose band he played for nearly twenty years....

, Billy Butterfield

Billy Butterfield

Billy Butterfield was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of Austin Wylie...

, Milt Hinton

Milt Hinton

Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:...

, and Keter Betts

Keter Betts

Keter Betts was an American jazz double bassist. Born William Thomas Betts in Port Chester, New York, he was nicknamed "Keter", a short form of the word mosquito.-Career:...

.

Cocuzzi has played piano for Jimmy McCracklin

Jimmy McCracklin

Jimmy McCracklin is an American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contains West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that has spanned seven decades, he says he has written almost a thousand songs and has recorded hundreds of them...

, "Weeping" Tommy Brown, Jimmy "T-99" Nelson, Floyd Dixon

Floyd Dixon

For the American football player see Floyd Dixon Floyd Dixon was an American rhythm and blues pianist and singer.-Biography:...

, and Earl King

Earl King

This article is about the musical artist. For the Earl King convicted of murdering a ship's officer, see Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner...

. Cocuzzi's piano influences include Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....

, Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

, Meade Lux Lewis

Meade Lux Lewis

Meade Lux Lewis was a American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement...

, Professor Longhair

Professor Longhair

Professor Longhair was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist...

, Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...

 and Erroll Garner

Erroll Garner

Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard...

.

Cocuzzi has recorded

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 with Randy Reinhart, Randy Sandke, Ed Polcer, Ken Peplowski, Allan Vaché, Dan Barrett, John Allred, Russ Phillips, Andy Stein, Skitch Henderson, Bucky Pizzarelli

Bucky Pizzarelli

John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli is an American Jazz guitarist and banjoist, and the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and upright bassist Martin Pizzarelli. Pizzarelli has also worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett and also ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in...

, John Pizzarelli

John Pizzarelli

John Paul Pizzarelli, Jr. is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader. He has had a lengthy career as a recording artist, performing for a variety of labels that include Telarc Records, RCA Records and Chesky Records, among others...

, James Chirillo, John Sheridan

John Sheridan (jazz)

John Sheridan is an American jazz pianist and arranger born in Columbus, Ohio, perhaps best known for his work with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band.-Biography:...

, Johnny Varro

Johnny Varro

Johnny Varro is a pianist with in the swing style of jazz. He also is a leader and arranger.-Commodore Music Shop:...

, Milt Hinton

Milt Hinton

Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:...

, Phil Flanigan, Frank Tate, Ed Metz, Jr., Joe Ascione, and Daryl Sherman.

On radio, Cocuzzi recorded a session for NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

’s "Riverwalk: Live at The Landing" with the Jim Cullum Band. It was a tribute to Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...

, "The Swing Shift: Jazz on Late-Night Radio," and featured Allan Vaché on clarinet with Nicholas Payton on trumpet.

For 15 years, he was the music director for the 219 Restaurant's Basin Street Lounge in Old Town, Alexandria

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. He was also music director for the Crystal City Jazz Celebration (from 2003 to 2006), a jazz party in the style of Dick Gibson's Jazz Parties in Denver, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

.

Select discography

With Bucky Pizzarelli

Bucky Pizzarelli

John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli is an American Jazz guitarist and banjoist, and the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and upright bassist Martin Pizzarelli. Pizzarelli has also worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett and also ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in...

 and Skitch Henderson

Skitch Henderson

Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.- Biography :...

• Skitch Henderson & Bucky Pizzarelli: Legends (Arbors Records
  Arbors Records
  Arbors Records is an independent American jazz record label based in Clearwater, Florida. It was founded by the family team of Mat and Rachel Domber in 1989, initially devoted to the recordings of their friend Rick Fay.-History:...
  
  )
• For All We Know piano/vocals (at CD Baby)

External links

• Artist's own site