Johnny Frigo

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Johnny Frigo (born December 27, 1916) is an American jazz violinist and bassist.

Frigo was born in Chicago, Illinois, and studied violin for only 3 years beginning at age 7. In high school he started to play double bass in dance orchestras, and would continue his career as a bassist for several decades. In 1942 he played with Chico Marx's orchestra and did a comedy routine on violin with Marx on piano. He entered the United States Coast Guard during World War II only to find himself playing in a band on Ellis Island with Al Haig and Kai Winding. After a brief turn at active service near the end of the war he toured with Jimmy Dorsey's band from 1945 to 1947 and formed the Soft Winds trio with guitarist Herb Ellis and pianist Lou Carter. During this time he wrote the music and words of the standard Detour Ahead, which has been recorded by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, and Bill Evans, among others. He become a studio musician and recorded numerous commercials on upright and electric bass. In the 1980s he started his career on violin after sitting in with Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, and Herb Ellis at Chicago's Jazz Showcase. He recorded with the trio on Triple Treat II and Triple Treat III (Concord 1987). He has performed as a jazz violinist at festivals worldwide, including the Umbria Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival. Frigo also is a published poet and artist.

[edit] Quotes

"I wanna take as long as I could in my life so I wouldn't have time to become a has-been" — in response to Johnny Carson's question about why he took so long to start his career as a violinist, on an appearance on The Tonight Show.