Ray Santisi (1 February 1933 – 28 October 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, recording artist and educator. Santisi has played as a featured soloist with

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was , so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" an ...

Mel Torme Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

Irene Kral Irene Kral (January 18, 1932 – August 15, 1978) was an American jazz singer. Life She was born to Czechoslovak parents in Chicago and settled in Los Angeles, California, in the early 1960s. She died from breast cancer in Encino, Los Angeles. ...

Herb Pomeroy Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Early life Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...

and

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut ...

. He has also performed with Buddy DeFranco, Joe Williams, Gabor Szabo, Milt Jackson, Zoot Sims & Al Cohn, Carole Sloane, Clark Terry and

Bob Brookmeyer Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer (December 19, 1929 – December 15, 2011) was an American jazz valve trombone, valve trombonist, Jazz piano, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public ...

Career

Santisi created his own ensemble, The Real Thing In the 1960s, he performed with the Benny Golson Quartet. He has performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

and Boston's Symphony Hall. Santisi was professor of piano and harmony at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in Boston where he taught from 1957 until his death in 2014. He won an honors scholarship to Schillinger House. He was awarded grants from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

in composition and performance. He taught at Stan Kenton's summer jazz clinics throughout the US, performing in Europe and Asia. Santisi performed at the first Jazz Workshop, the jazz room of Stables nightclub. In 2008 he was nominated to IAJE Jazz Education Hall of Fame. Many of his former students have since become jazz musicians; these include

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, ''Billboard (magazi ...

Makoto Ozone is a Japanese jazz pianist. Career Ozone was born in Kobe, Japan. He began playing organ at two and by seven was an improviser. He appeared on Japanese television with his father, himself a pianist and club owner in Kobe, from 1968 to 1970. At ...

Joe Zawinul Josef Erich Zawinul ( '; 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007) was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to bec ...

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

Jane Ira Bloom Jane Ira Bloom (born January 12, 1955) is an American jazz soprano saxophonist and composer. Early years Bloom was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joel and Evelyn Bloom. She began as a pianist and drummer, later switching to the alto saxophon ...

Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television an ...

Alan Broadbent Alan Leonard Broadbent (born 23 April 1947) is a New Zealand jazz pianist, arranger, and composer known for his work with artists such as Sue Raney, Charlie Haden, Woody Herman, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Natalie Cole, Warne M ...

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...

John Hicks Sir John Richard Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics ...

, Danilo Perez, Hiromi and

Mikolai Stroinski Mikolai Stroinski (or Mikołaj Stroiński, ; born 3 June 1979) is a Polish film, television, and video game composer. Life and career He comes from a musical family. His father, Wojciech Stroiński, was a trumpeter and pianist in the Royal Rag J ...

. Fourteen of his former students have received

Grammy awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

. Santisi authored ''Berklee Jazz Piano'' (published by Berklee Press in 2009, distributed by

Hal Leonard Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Curre ...

), available at Amazon.com, and his instructional book, ''Jazz Originals for Piano'', Santisi's trio played the first Sunday of each month for eleven years at Ryles Jazz Club until the month of his death, showcasing standards of Tin Pan Alley and Harlem renaissance. Compositions with BMI # ''Pendulums'',1162959, inspired by the famous " Jitterbug Waltz" of

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

. ''Less Talk'', 850876 ''Like Blues'', 871895 ''Little Sue'', 883296 ''Minstrel Eyes'', 994378 ''Moon Mist'', 1007633 ''Mose Knows'', 1013249 ''Perrys Parasol'', 1167560 ''Sam Speaks'', 1285483 ''Sapphire'', 1289924 ''Take Two'', 1452520 ''Theme For John'', 1484664 Santisi has recorded on

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

, Sonnet Records,

Roulette Records Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed ...

, and

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

labels. He has also recorded on Bethlehem, Transition and Rasan record labels (see Discography below). Santisi graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1954 and earned his masters from Boston Conservatory in 1956. REVIEWS "The most exciting piano player I've heard since those first sessions with

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland Order of the British Empire, OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire, . PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of ...

and

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

". ''Raleigh, N.C. News and Observer''. “As anyone familiar with the Boston scene knows, there are few things finer than hearing Ray take on an acoustic piano. This night, he decided to put on a clinic. It was a master indulging in the sheer joy of tackling the possibilities (maybe the impossibilities) of the instrument.” Stu Vandermark, CADENCE Magazine

Discography

With Boots Mussulli, Max Bennett (b) and Shelly Manne (d) *'' Boston Blow-Up'', (Capitol Records, 1955 and reissued 2001 by Toshiba EMI, Japan With Serge Chaloff (bs), Boots Mussulli (as), Herb Pomeroy (tp), Everett Evans (b) and Jimmy Zitano (d) *''

Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill ''Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill'' is an album by trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded at Steve Fassett's Home on Beacon Hill in Boston in 1956 and originally released on Tom Wilson's Transition label in 1957.Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few h ...

, Doug Watkins (b) and Jimmy Zitano (d) With

*''

Life Is a Many Splendored Gig ''Life Is a Many Splendored Gig'' is an album by the Herb Pomeroy Orchestra. Recording and music The album was recorded in New York in June 1957. The arrangements were written by various band members. Release The album was released by Roulette ...

'' (Roulette, 1957) *''

The Band and I ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (United Artists, 1958) with

*'' Borinquin'', (Sonnet Records, 1975) With Buddy DeFranco (clarinet) and John Chiodini (guitar) *'' Spellbinder (Ray Santisi album)'' (Rasan Records,1990) With Whit Brown (b) and Fred Buda (ds/perc) *'' The Transition Sessions'' (Blue Note, 2002) With

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few h ...

Doug Watkins Douglas Watkins (March 2, 1934 – February 5, 1962) was an American jazz double bassist. He was best known for being an accompanist to various hard bop artists in the Detroit area, including Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean. Biography Watkins ...

, Jimmy Zitano,

Joe Gordon Joseph Lowell Gordon (February 18, 1915 – April 14, 1978), nicknamed "Flash", in reference to the comic-book character '' Flash Gordon'', was an American second baseman, coach and manager in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Y ...

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige Records, Prestige, Blue Note, Verve Records, Verve, CTI Records, CTI, Muse Records, Muse, and Concord Records, Conco ...

Hank Mobley Henry Mobley (July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986) was an American tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone, that was neithe ...

Duke Jordan Irving Sidney "Duke" Jordan (April 1, 1922 – August 8, 2006) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Jordan was born in New York and raised in Brooklyn where he attended Boys High School. An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regul ...

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

Art Taylor Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".Watrous, Peter (February 7, 1995)"Art Taylor, 65, Jazz Drummer Who Inspired Young Musicians" ''The Ne ...

and

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

*''

Dick Wetmore Dick Wetmore (January 13, 1927 – January 4, 2007) was an American jazz and bebop violinist. He played several musical instruments including the cornet, trumpet and string bass. Wetmore worked primarily as a sideman, but also led his own jazz ...

'' (Bethlehem Records) With Bill Nordstrom (b) and Jimmy Zitano (dr) *'' Meet Me In The city'' (1620 Jazz Records, 2004) With Johnny Sousa, Barry Smith and Gene Roma *'' Live @Ryles Jazz Club'', (Independent, 2005) With Patricia Adams, Dave Zox,

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

*'' Symbio Obbligato'' (Independent 2011) With Patricia Adams, Dave Zox,

*'' Live @Ryles Jazz Club, Set 2'' (Independent, 2005) With Patricia Adams, Marshall Wood, Bob Moses *'' Live @Ryles Jazz Club, Set 3'' (Independent, 2005) With Marshall Wood, Bob Moses

References

The Boston Jazz Chronicles, Faces, Places, and Nightlife 1937-1962 by Richard Vacca (c)2012: Santisi, Ray 213-214 Berklee faculty 121-122 early 1960s 225 Jazz Workshop 211 mid 1950s 133, 199 with Herb Pomeroy Orchestra 214, 217

External links

* *
Berklee Faculty Profile: "Staying Young" as told to Peter Gerstenzang

Tributes

*
Boston Jazz Scene History - Jazz Journal 2014
*
The Last Of The Stablemates by Rick Vacca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santisi, Ray American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists American jazz educators 2014 deaths Jazz musicians from Boston Berklee College of Music faculty American people of Italian descent American jazz musicians 1933 births 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians