The Accordion World Lost a Great Musician and Friend Frank Marocco: January 2, 1931 – March 3, 2012

By Joan Grauman, AAA Historian

It is with deep sadness that Ifind myself writing in the pasttense about someone withwhom I worked so closely forsix years and who hadbecome one of my dearestfriends. It is also an honor forme to have the opportunity toshare my cherished memoriesof this endearing man withthe accordion world, and to

share the memories of others whose lives FrankMarocco touched so deeply. I will begin with abrief biography of this world-renowned and verymuch loved and respected musician, husband,father, grandfather and friend.

Frank Marocco was born on January 2, 1931 inJoliet, Illinois and grew up in the small town ofWaukegan, near Chicago. The eldest of six children,he began to study the accordion at the age of seven. Frank described his first instructor, George Stefani,as being the one who inspired the young boy to notonly learn the classics, but to also explore as muchin the world of music as he could. Frank studiedpiano and clarinet, along with music theory,harmony and conducting. He played clarinet in hishigh school band. He later studied accordion withAndy Rizzo, a well-regarded teacher of many of thefinest players in the Chicago area.

At the age of 17, Frank won first place in a nationalmusic contest. He performed his winning solo withthe Chicago Pops Orchestra to a huge crowd atChicago’s Soldier’s Field. Frank said that thecomments from the judges of this contest were thewords he needed to move toward the style ofplaying that he loved so much: jazz. The judgestold Frank that his “musicality” and creativity werewhat set him apart from all of the others. It was alsoat this time that he decided to make music his careerand he formed a trio which toured the Midwestern states. The trio played jazz and popular standards.

It was during one of these tours that he met his wife,Anne, in South Bend, Indiana. “Anne moved withme wherever the music took me. When Anne wasexpecting our first child, Cynthia, we decided tosettle down. We chose the Los Angeles area.” Thisproved to be a good move for Frank as, by the early1960s, he became one of Hollywood’s most prolificand sought-after studio musicians. A list of Frank’smovie, television, and numerous other credits canbe found on his website, www.frankmarocco.com.

When asked about thehighlights of his early career,Frank would always say howmuch he enjoyed traveling allover the world with Bob Hopeand visiting the servicemen. He also enjoyed playing withthe Les Brown Band at manyvenues, including on six LoveBoat cruises. Through theyears, Frank’s studio workkept him busy with movie soundtracks, TV moviesand series, as well as jingles for commercials. He isconsidered one of the most recorded musicians inthe world. Frank also found time to record onmultiple media, including vinyl records, tapes andCDs, compose and arrange both jazz and classicalmusic, and to work with other composers such asHenry Mancini, Quincy Jones, Michel LeGrand andJohn Williams. His love of people kept him playing

private parties all overthe country, as well asperforming and givingworkshops at accordionc o n v e n t i o n s a n dfestivals. In jazzcircles, Frank wasconsidered one of thefinest, not just as a jazzaccordionist, but as ajazz musician.

Reprinted from the 2012 American Accordionists’ Association Festival journal

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Frank received many awards through the years. Nominated eight years in a row for the RecordingAcademy's Most Valuable Player Award, he receivedthe award in1985 and 1986.F r a n k w a sinducted into theAccordion Hallo f Fame inVicenza, Italy, in2000. In 2006,he received thecoveted LifetimeA c h i e v e m e n tAward from the American Accordionists’Association (AAA). The event brought friends andcolleagues from as far as Texas (Nick Ballarini, whoplayed during the dinner in Frank’s honor) andCalifornia (Sylvia Prior and Sandy Martin). Frankspoke often of this award ceremony as it meant somuch to him to see so many of his peers and closefriends there honoring him for his lifelong efforts toshowcase the accordion as an instrument whosecapabilities are extraordinary and limitless.

In 2006, Frank approached my husband, Dan, and meand asked us to direct an accordion orchestra camp

for him. We chosethe winter monthsin Mesa, Arizona asa good time andplace for thispopular four-dayevent, the FrankMarocco AccordionEvent (FMAE),

which has sold out annually. Frank lovedconducting, composing and arranging, and he

enjoyed sharing good timeswith accordionists from allover the US, Canada and Italyat these camps. His 80th

birthday was celebrated at the2011 FMAE with a five-hourgala tribute that included af a m i l y s l i d e s h o w ,p e r f o r m a n c e s a n dpresentations by some of thecountry’s finest accordionistsand a performance by twoterrific singers: his younggranddaughters, Chelsea andTory.

In 2008, at age 78, shortly after surgery to replacehis hip, Frank embarked on a European tour with hisnew agent, Elke Ahrenholz, co-owner of VictoriaAccordions in Castelfidardo, Italy. This was a newbeginning, as he was soon performing and givingworkshops to sold-out audiences in China, Japan,Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Germany,Switzerland and Italy. He was an adjudicator at theI n t e r n a t i o n a lPrimus IkaalinenA c c o r d i o nCompetition inFinland in 2010. Frank’s reputationas a stellar jazzmusician spreadquickly worldwide. He p e r fo rmed

AAA Lifetime Achievement Award dinner, l to r: Faithe Deffner, Linda Soley Reed, AAA

President and Frank Marocco

Rehearsal at the FMAE

Anne & Frank Marocco enjoying anevening event at FMAE

Some 2011 FMAE participants pose for a photo with Frank, l to r: LennyFeldmann, Karen Lee, Lynn Ewing, Amy Jo Sawyer, Dick Myking, Donna

Massey, Gail Campanella, Frank, Joan Grauman, Stas Venglevski

Celebrating Frank‘s 80th atFMAE

Frank, Richard Galliano and Coba , Japan,2009

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overseas with other world-renowned accordionistssuch as Coba from Japan, Richard Galliano fromFrance, celebrated Italian bandoneon player, Danielede Bonaventura and many others.

After attending the 2010 and 2011 FMAE camps,Elke Ahrenholz asked Frank and the Graumans if shecould take the camp to Castelfidardo, Italy. Shereceived an enthusiastic, “YES!”, and the FMAE

European Edition tookplace June 2-6, 2011. With accordionistsfrom Italy, Germany,Austria , US andCanada, the event was aresounding success.

Shortly after returningto the US from Italy in

late June, 2011, Frank began to suffer withsymptoms from what was diagnosed months later asmetal poisoning from his 2008 hip replacement. Before his untimely death at the age of 81, on March3, 2012, and with yet undiagnosed symptoms, Frankperformed beautifully in Italy, Lithuania, China andat the Las Vegas Accordion Convention in the fall of2011 and received standing ovations at each of thosevenues.

A sweet, generous, soft-spoken gentleman to the veryend, Frank will be missed worldwide for years tocome. He leaves behind his wife of 60 years, Anne,three daughters Cynthia, Venetia and Lisa and eightgrandchildren.

Many of my personal memories of Frank revolvearound our frequent phone conversations. Frankworked well with Dan and me, and we were like

family to eachother. How doI write about somany funnyconversations(Frank had anexcellent senseof humor)? DoI share themany sweetphone calls ofconcern for uswhen Marylandwas experiencing bad weather, or his frequent paniccalls when he would have “issues” with hiscomputer?

Visits to Frank’s home and the time spent togetherin Mesa, at the Las Vegas Conventions, in Italy andat our home, bring floods of cherished memories aswell. What I saw from spending time with Frankwas a tremendously appreciative person who livedin the present, not in the past at all. He wouldtotally “soak in” what was happening around himand thoroughly enjoy the moment. He lovedwatching all of us play the accordion. It nevermattered to him how well we played, just that wetried hard. His beautiful beaming smile would sayit all. Frank also showed his appreciation for everylittle thing anyone did for him. He so appreciatedthe work we did to prepare for the camp in Mesaeach year. In early 2008, Frank learned that Danand I were preparing to celebrate our 15th

anniversary. On the morning of our anniversary,Frank and Anne called with best wishes. ThenFrank said, “Check your computer. I just sent youan anniversary gift.” There was an MP3 of Frankplaying an arrangement, that he created for me theprevious day, of Jerome Kern’s, “All the ThingsYou Are.” It ended with Frank’s sweet voicesaying, “Happy Anniversary, Joan and Dan.” Thesame email also had an attachment containing thesheet music, beautifully engraved by RonOstromecki. Wow – Dan and I felt so blessed justto know this man. There was nothing that wewouldn’t do for him.

2011 FMAE-Europe orchestra performance, Castelfidardo, Italy

Frank entertains at the hotel inCastelfidardo

FMAE staff, l to r: Assistant Music Director,Stas Venglevski, Dan & Joan Grauman, Frank,

Bruce Lawrie

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Frank didn’t teach the accordion for many years. Then, in early 2007, just before the first FMAE, aman named Frank Petrilli contacted us about comingto our event. One thing led to another during thatfirst conversationand soon wediscovered that hea n d F r a n kMarocco werep r a c t i c a l l yneighbors. A callwas made and therest is history. Frank Petrilli haswritten some of hismemories that I would like to share with you:

“There are people who come into our lives whoseeffect is so profound, that they become ‘life changingevents.’ Frank Marocco was one of those people tome.

I met Frank and started taking lessons from him onlya short five and half years ago. From the first lessonwe made a connection not only through our love ofthe accordion and jazz music, but on many otherlevels too we became great friends in a very shortperiod of time. We just clicked.

Frank became a huge musical inspiration for me ashe generously shared as much as I could absorb withhow he approached playing jazz accordion. It wasa very humbling experience at times as Frank was atrue genius. The greatest lesson Frank taught mewith regard to music was to get oneself (my ego) outof the way, and let the music be primary. For Frank,it was always about the music first. He taught me tofocus on the musicality and story of the song and totell that story as tastefully as I could.

Frank taught this to me primarily by example. Wewould meet on Saturdays for two hour sessions andwe would just play together and he would let meknow what he didn’t like and praise what he did like. But, more importantly, he would share his genius byplaying right next to me, and we would play the samepiece back and forth and over and over. Eventually,over a couple of years, that rubbed off and Frank letme know how proud he was of my playing which

gave me the confidence to move forward. Hisgenerosity with his music was unlimited and he heldback nothing. I was blessed to have theseSaturdays with Frank where I could play, learn andexperience pure musical joy with one of the greatestjazz accordionist ever.

That was only part of our relationship though as weshared our lives with each other openly andhonestly and we became very close. Frank was veryhumble, easy going, and extremely funny at timesespecially with his self-effacing manner. We oftenshared great laughter, we also confided in eachother during difficult times. Our lessons and timespent together were not just filled with our passionfor music and the accordion, but often therapeuticin the way that a true non-judgmental friendshipcan be.

I will always considermy relationship withFrank Marocco as oneof the greatest blessingsin my life, and the giftsI’ve received fromFrank still continuebeyond his passing. Iloved Frank and willmiss him the rest of mylife. His music and hispresence will be withme forever and that Iwill always cherish.”

Frank Marocco enjoyed teaching Frank Petrilli somuch that he agreed to take on a few more studentswhom he had met at our first FMAE. DonnaDouglas Massey writes her feelings about thoselessons and about Frank:

“In my mind, super stars like Frank Marocco were‘untouchable’ to the real world. But after attendingthe first Frank Marocco Accordion Event inJanuary 2007 , i t w a s a p l e asan tsurprise to discover Frank's genuine humblenessand his personal interest in all the participants. Hewas indeed approachable. I could hardly wait forthe next year to attend the event. (Thank you, Joanand Dan Grauman. I give you the credit for creating

Frank performing with Frank Petrilli atFMAE

Frank & Frank in Italy

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and running the event so that Frank had the freedomto relax and be himself).

A few months later I was fortunate enough to becomeone of Frank's private students. My lessonscontinued for the next 4 years. Here is where Idiscovered Frank's incredible gift of patience, andhis laid-back personality, which would take the edgeoff a stressful lesson. He encouraged me to ‘get outand play for yourself...have fun and enjoy yourmusic; then others will enjoy it too’. His uniquearrangements found in his books are such a pleasureto perform. Hey...it's the closest I will ever come tosounding like a jazz player. He's left all of us withwonderful unforgettable memories, and there willnever be another like Frank Marocco. I will alwaysremember him.”

Frank respected the work of others in the accordionfield. He expressed these feelings openly andregularly, endearing himself to all. AAA VirtuosoAccordion Champion (1955) and retired accordionistfor the US Air Force Strolling Strings, Lou Coppolawrote for Frank’s 80th birthday, “I think you are aprince of a guy. I know I am not alone in thisopinion. In fact, it is shared by everyone who hasknown you. This is quite a tribute to who you are. Your body of work is something even God wouldenvy, and we mere mortals cannot begin to touchyour gifts. Whether you are performing for themovies or whipping up magical jazz, you stand aloneas a true artist and fine musical craftsman.”

Manny Bobenrieth,accordionist for theUS Army StrollingStrings and a goodfriend of Frank’s,came to Arizona tocelebrate Frank’s 80th

b i r t h d a y a n dpresented him with aflag that flew overthe US Capitol on

Frank’s birthday in his honor. Manny wrote, “Youembody everything I have aspired to be musically. You continue to perform at a level that is beyondreproach. As I continue my career as theaccordionist in the US Army Band, I want you to

know that you are the yardstick by which excellenceis measured.”

Renowned jazzaccordionist, EddieMonteiro, flew toArizona for thecelebration and wasthe 2011FMAE guest artist. Hewrote, “Over theyears, we hadplayed together ona few impromptuperformances and Iwas always honored to share the stage with him. Ialways left the stage wishing that we could have justplayed song after song – just he and I – conversing,going back and forth with musical ideas like manybefore us, in that beautiful language we call‘music’.”

J o a n C o c h r a nSommers is not onlya fine accordionist,but also an acclaimedteacher, adjudicator,conductor, arrangerand all-around terrificambassador for theaccordion. Frankreally liked andrespected Joan. Hereis her tribute toFrank:

“I became acquainted with Frank Marocco at anAccordionists and Teachers Guild Festival held inthe Chicago area one summer. Since that time wemet upon numerous occasions at various accordionevents throughout the USA. Frank was always sucha quiet and thoughtful gentleman, respectful of allthose around him and offering both encouragementand praise for everyone. When he walked out on thestage to perform, he was still that quiet, unassumingperson but once he began to play it was a trueartist, a giant with tremendous finesse in everythinghe did; there was never a time when the music wasnot beautiful. Frank never made noise; he just

Manny Bobenrieth & Frank jam at theGraumans’, 2006

Eddie Monteiro & Frank, 2006

Frank & Joan Cochran Sommers, LasVegas, 2010

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captivated everyone with his blending of sounds intothose lovely chords. He could play all the fast notesbut that didn’t seem to be his goal as a musician. Frank wanted beautiful sounds to emanate from hisaccordion and he always succeeded.

He never forced a sound beyond its limit but hecertainly had lots of dynamics in his playing. Frankcame up with some beautiful, interesting andarresting tunes, too, but he didn’t take any more carein performing those than he did the tunes ofothers…another sign of his respect for his fellowmusicians.

Today we miss him. We will continue to miss him fora very long time but, luckily for all of us, we stillhave his music both in written form through his manypublications and in recorded form through hisrecords, CDs, and live performances captured allover the world. And, of course, we cannot forget allthose soundtracks for so many movies. We will haveall of that wonderful music forever.

Thank you, Frank, for being so generous with yourmusic and for sharing your artistry. Everyone lovedyou!”

“Young accordionists are our future,” Frank wouldsay. At the 2009 FMAE concert, we met a youngjazz pianist who came to see his friends, our bassplayer, Sean Brogan, and our percussionist, WesAnderson, perform with the accordion orchestra.

Gabe Hal l -R o d r i g u e simpressed Dan,Frank and meimmediately. He had justdiscovered theaccordion andwas “blownaway” by the

evening’s concert. Frank invited him, on the spot, toattend our camp the following year and gave Gabeone of his CDs, Be-Bop Buffet”. Gabe remembersthat evening. “I could not believe what I heard. Words cannot describe the feeling I had discoveringnot just Frank Marocco’s music, but accordion jazzin general. His playing seemed effortless and his

amazing sense of time and rhythm created aninfectious swing that I have yet to hear from anyaccordionist.” The talented Gabe worked hard and,within 16 months of that first meeting with Frank,and with the help of master accordion teacher, IlmarKuljus, became the 2010 AAA Virtuoso Champion.

Frank had a close friendfor decades, RalphStricker from NewJersey. They spoke onthe phone weekly for over30 years. The accordionbrought them together,bu t i t was t he i rwillingness to share andtheir appreciation for theother’s thoughts, viewsand music that kept themtogether as close friends.

They collaborated on a book that jazz musiciansconsider one of the best, “Jazz Theory andImprovisation Studies for Accordion,” andrespected each other tremendously. Ralph recentlysaid, “There will never be another Frank Marocco. His playing, sharing, attitude and the love ofplaying which reflected in his playing, can never beduplicated by anyone”.

Yes, there will neverbe another FrankMarocco. Frank’sm a n a g e r , E l k eAhrenholz told me thatin the first week afterFrank’s death, shereceived over 400expressions of griefover his passing and ofp r a i s e f o r t h i sirreplaceable man, and they still come in almostdaily. Elke writes about her memories and of thetime spent with Frank:

“In the last 5 years I worked as Frank´s manager,concert organizer as well as road manager, whichgave me the possibility to spend a lot of time withhim during our travels. I have lost my friend, mymentor, a great gentleman - but I did not lose his

Frank performing with Gabe Hall-Rodrigues,2010 FMAE

Frank with Ralph Stricker, AAALifetime Achievement Award

dinner, 2006

L to r: Elke Ahrenholz’s children,Martin & Lisa Breccia, Frank and

Elke, 2011 FMAE

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music and spirit! Frank was such an inspiration tome and to many, many others as well, from beginnersto seasoned professionals - he was not just a greataccordionist but a great musician and a greatperson. I feel very lucky to have gotten to meet him,talk to him and most of all get to know him. I feelprivileged to know that he considered me a friendand felt honored to be in his company. He was atruly great man in many different ways. During thelast 3 months I got more than 2000 E- mails from allover the world, from people that did know Frankvery well, that only met him once, from people whonever met him - the tenor in all these letters was thelove and respect for a great man, musician andaccordion player and of course a deep sadness abouthis passing away. We did many CD productions inthe last 4 years and looking back, I am happy that hislegacy is saved in the publishing of CDs and printedsheet music, and I will work to go ahead to letyounger generations get the possibility to know themusic of the legend, Frank Marocco. His eyesreflected great humanity, generosity, passion andclearly a strong personality, which he reflected in hismusic; the desire and passion to tell stories throughmusic, to tell it honestly and with heart and passion. Frank Marocco influenced my life in many goodways, and I will never forget him and never stopwork to keep his legacy alive!”

When Frank died, a part of all of us died with him. For me, he was the “wind beneath my wings” andnow I need to push myself along the musical paththat Frank would want me to take. Fellow AAAGoverning Board member and one of Frank’sfavorite FMAE regulars, Marilyn O’Neil, wrote tome the day of Frank’s passing, “Today, the accordionworld was stabbed in the heart.” How true. I willconclude with a beautiful quote from Gabe Hall-Rodrigues:

“We will all miss Frank. The personal and musicalvoid he leaves is impossible to fill. However, Ibelieve that he would want us all to keep learning,working hard and practicing.

Photo credits: Bruce Lawrie, Elke Ahrenholz, Lou Coppola, Joan Grauman

A wonderful radio interview of Frank Marocco conducted in 2010 can be found at

http://www.susanmccray.com/Archives2010.html (scroll down to June 29, 2010).

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