THE SHORT STORY

    Franck Amsallem has been a professional pianist and composer for over 30 years. As a leader he has released eight cds under his name, all of which have received rare critical acclaim, as well as a major collaboration on Blue Note "New York Stories". His sideman credits have included some of the great names in jazz: Gerry Mulligan, Charles Lloyd, Gary Bartz, Sonny Fortune,  Bobby Watson, Jerry Bergonzi, Rick Margitza, Tim Ries, Joe Chambers, Maria Schneider, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Harry Belafonte. He has played many venues throughout the U.S. and Europe including the Village Gate, the Knitting Factory, Birdland, Blues Alley, Sweet Basil, Pizza Express (London), Porgy and Bess (Vienna), the Pori, Molde, Red Sea, Parc Floral de Paris, Nice and Antibes Jazz Festival (where he shared the bill with Earth Wind and Fire). The recipient of major awards (NEA composition fellowship, ASCAP award for young composers, Fondation de la Vocation) in both the USA and France, Franck recently toured throughout Germany, Mexico, Central America,  South America and South Africa, as well as major concerts in Holland, Portugal, Israel, Croatia, Spain, the Czech republic, Armenia and Lebanon. As a composer, he has worked with the National Jazz Orchestra of France, the Mel Lewis jazz Orchestra, the WDR, and several symphony orchestras

    2008/9 tours include China (solo), Algeria, Holland/Belgium, Israel, a 5-city tour of Peru and a solo concert in Vilnius. Franck was a featured performer at the Jazzavienne festival in a 6-piano program with Martial Solal, then returned to Algiers with his trio. His newest opus "Amsallem Sings" showcases his talents as a pianist-singer, featuring 12 songs from the Great American Songbook.

THE LONGER STORY

    Franck Amsallem was born in 1961 in Oran (Algeria), and then grew up in Nice, France. His parents,  having repatriated the family piano, started him on classical piano at seven, which he gave up a few years later. The large family, the cramped apartment weren’t at all  propitious surroundings for the old teacher’s stale lessons. Still, however, the family owned a large collection of 45 RPM records where Ray Charles mixed with Glenn Miller and the Four Tops. In all logic then, he was seduced in adolescence, by the sound of the blues and swing and started taking music lessons at the Nice Conservatory where, considered too old for the piano (!), he signed up for classical saxophone and soon earned a first prize.

    But the piano remained his first love. Soon the news spread on the Cote d’Azur, and he worked in Monte Carlo, learning hundreds or maybe thousands of jazz standards, "I have always, above all, loved all American music," and in 1979, at 17 years of age, John Lewis chose him to be his student for a French documentary "La leçon de musique". Having jammed offstage at the Nice jazz festival with Jerry Bergonzi, Mike Brecker, Arnie Lawrence and Richie Cole, he was then encouraged to move to the USA to hone his skills and learn. He made the move without a blink and entered Berklee College in 1981. "At 19, I did not see myself backing up pop singers in Paris and playing jazz on the side, which was what everyone was doing then. Like the song says, it was All or Nothing at All."

    Franck stayed three years in Boston and earned numerous awards, performing in Herb Pomeroy’s big band and attending his composition and arranging classes. Still the longing for more excitement was always there and at the beginning of 1986, he moved to New York City.

    "There are many good pianists out there, but good pianists who are equally good composers — that is what makes the difference". He then took, with Bob Brookmeyer at the Manhattan School of Music, lessons in composition for jazz orchestra, and lessons in classical piano with Phil Kawin. Their influence stayed with him for a long time. And the experience added up, the true New York Jazz Experience, as an accompanist, and then as a leader. To learn the art form of jazz like the greatest have done it before you. To confront your skills with the best musicians of their time. 2nd prize at Jacksonville’s Great American Jazz competition (3rd prize goes to Brad Mehldau).

    Franck has performed in many of the big festivals, from Antibes to Pori, Nice to Molde and has backed Gerry Mulligan, Charles Lloyd and Harry Belafonte, recorded with Bobby Watson, Roy Hargrove or Joshua Redman, performed in the bands of Maria Schneider, Rick Margitza, Jerry Bergonzi and Joe Chambers, has composed numerous pieces for big band, including a recent commission from the WDR, and pieces for strings and for chamber orchestra. His suite "Nuits" for jazz quartet and string orchestra has been performed in Romania, Bulgaria, France and in Los Angeles. "I love the variety of situations, learning as you go along, challenging every solution, nothing ever preset."