Frank Marocco Jazz Accordion

Uploaded on Feb 20, 2011

Frank Marocco " After you have gone" Las Vegas Accordion Convention 2010
Dedicated to Art van Damme
Video: Mike Roche

Frank Marocco dies at 81; jazz accordionist

By Don Heckman, Special to the Los Angeles Times

March 6, 2012

Frank Marocco, a rare jazz accordionist, a first-call studio musician and one of the most recorded accordion players in the world, has died. He was 81.

Marocco died Saturday at his home in the San Fernando Valley, after having been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for complications following hip replacement surgery, according to his daughter Cynthia.

Marocco's wide-ranging career embraced every genre of music. His accordion can be heard on hundreds of movie soundtracks, recordings, musical theater, television series and specials, commercials, video games and theme park music. The film, television and recording composers he's worked with include Henry Mancini, John Williams, Quincy Jones, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand and dozens of others.

But Marocco was always quick to describe jazz as his passion.

The accordion has almost never been viewed as a principal jazz instrument and was often reviled by jazz musicians as something appropriate only for German beer gardens and Argentine nightclubs. But Marocco spent a lifetime disputing the limitations of that view, bringing jazz authenticity to the many groups he began leading while still a teenager.

"Since I grew up listening to people like Zoot Sims and Charlie Parker, I play accordion like a jazz horn player, with horn-like lines," Marocco told The Times in 2000.

He also applied his rich compositional skills to the sounds, the timbres and the harmonic textures he drew out of the accordion, banishing such dismissive labels as "squeeze box" and "organ grinder."

As many critics and musicians observed, Marocco was a gifted musical artist who simply happened to play an unusual instrument.

"Frank's playing," said guitarist Larry Koonse, who worked frequently with Marocco, most recently on his latest CD, "was always so lyrical, warm and full of the kind of harmonic richness that just invited you to step in and participate in the beauty of the moment. There were no equals on his instrument. And the warmth he exhibited in his playing was mirrored by the kindness he exhibited as a human being."

Frank L. Marocco was born Jan. 2, 1931, in Joliet, Ill., the eldest of six children, with a sister and four brothers. Growing up in the town of Waukegan, he began to take accordion lessons at age 7. He later added piano, clarinet, music theory and composition to his interests.

At 17 he was awarded a first-place prize in a Chicago music contest, winning a guest appearance at Soldiers Field with the Chicago Pops Orchestra, performing Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu on the accordion. For the next few years, he worked with a trio in the Midwest, where he met his future wife, Anne, in South Bend, Ind.

In 1959, the couple moved to Los Angeles, where Marocco formed another band, concentrating on appearances in nightclubs and hotels in Las Vegas and Palm Springs.

By the mid-'60s, he had become well established as a studio player, valued for his technique as well as his versatility. The range of his hundreds of film score appearances reaches from such assignments as playing one of the two accordion parts in Maurice Jarre's 1965 orchestral score for "Dr. Zhivago" to the more recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" pictures, for which he played accordion, bass accordion and musette.

His pop-oriented highlights included participation in the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album and Tracy Chapman's "Crossroads."

Marocco was also a busy composer, publishing study books for the accordion, as well as collections of his own diverse songs and compositions. Gifted with a wry sense of humor ,he often gave whimsical titles to his own works, among them "Bossame Mucho," "Road to Marocco," "I Got Rh-Rh-Rhythm" and "Samba de Van Nuys."

The Frank Marocco Accordion Event, directed by Marocco, was held annually in Mesa, Ariz., bringing together accordionists from across the U.S. and Canada for three days of accordion-related seminars, rehearsals and performance.

Marocco received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Accordionists' Assn. in 2006. He was nominated eight years in a row for the Recording Academy's Most Valuable Player Award, receiving the Award in 1985 and 1986. And he was inducted into the Accordion Hall of Fame in Vicenza, Italy, in 2000.

Marocco is survived by his wife of 60 years, Anne; his daughters Cynthia, Venetia and Lisa; and eight grandchildren.

news.obits@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-frank-marocco-20120306,0,4520946.story?track=rss

Frank Marocco....

Frank Marocco was born in Illinois and grew up in the town of Waukegan, a suburb of Chicago. When he was seven years old, his parents enrolled him in a six-week trial program on the accordion. His first instructor, George Stefani, was a source of inspiration to him. Marocco studied with him for nine years. His training was
in the classics but his teacher encouraged him to explore other areas: he played the piano and the clarinet, he studied music theory, harmony, conducting, and he was a member of his high school band. The next year, he studied with the legendary Andy Rizzo, a master teacher who has influenced many of this country's accordion artists.

At age 17, Marocco took first place in a national music contest, performing his winning solo with the Chicago Pops Orchestra for a huge crowd at Chicago's Soldier's Field. This might have encouraged him to see a full-time career in music. He formed a trio which went on tour in several Midwestern states. During his travels, he met his future wife, Anne, in South Bend, Indiana. Together they decided to head west to make their home in the Los Angeles area.
Marocco organized a new group which toured the hotel and club circuit of Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Palm Springs. But Hollywood was beckoning. Being close to the movie and the TV studios offered opportunities never available in the Midwest. He was launched on an unbelievable career - the list of his credits is endless.

Highlights: Traveling with Bob Hope visiting the servicemen in many countries; being featured on the Les Brown Band, including six Love Boat cruises. More recently, he has been very busy with studio work: movie soundtracks, TV movies, TV series, records and advertising jingles. Along the way, he has managed to find time to compose and arrange both jazz and classical music.

Frank and Anne Marocco have three daughters, Cynthia, Lisa and Venetia. Cynthia pursued a music career. She studied the flute and at age 13, had the distinction of being the youngest player in the American Youth Symphony, a group of high school and college musicians directed by Mehli Mehta. Lisa, attracted to dance, became a professional pair skater and toured for several seasons with the Ice Capades. Venetia was a physical Therapy instructor and is now a school teacher. The three Marocco daughters are married. Frank and Anne have eight grandchildren in all.

Personal Philosophy

Marocco is soft-spoken. His manner is unassuming. But he becomes almost fervent when he expresses his personal philosophy about being a musician. He says: "Although I've made a comfortable living, my primary goal has never been to make a lot of money.
It has been to be the best I could possibly be. This takes integrity, hard work, and dedication.
"You must have respect for what you do."
Written by Peggy Milne

Marocco & Zanchini - The Flintstones

Frank Marocco and Simone Zanchini in a live concert performance held in Castelfidardo, Italy - Spring, 2007 More videos and CD and sheet music available at www.frankmarocco.com