Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Note
Joe Roccisano was a jazz composer, arranger, saxophonist, and bandleader known for his textural sound and fondness for combining jazz with composition techniques frequently used in classical music. Throughout his career, he contributed to projects in many areas of the music business, including film, television, concert performance, and studio recording. He led multiple big jazz bands, including Rocbop and the Joe Roccisano Orchestra, the second of which consisted of seasoned New York City-based musicians. Both European and American orchestras commissioned his work, and his contemporaries considered him one of the most accomplished arrangers and composers in the industry. He began his professional music career at age fourteen, and by age twenty-five had toured twice (once internationally) with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Other notable performers and groups with whom Roccisano worked include Buddy Rich, Doc Severinsen, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennet, Mel Torme, Liza Minelli, Ray Charles, Louie Bellson, Don Ellis, Don Menza, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Nat Pierce, Bill Holman, Steely Dan, and Supersax.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1939 October 15 | Born Joseph Lucian Roccisano in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, to father Dominic F. Roccisano (1912-1999) and Elizabeth Langone (1918-1983) |
| circa 1953 | Graduated from Buckingham Junior High School in Springfield, Massachusetts Became the youngest member of the Hampden County Musician’s Association of Springfield, Massachusetts, at age fourteen |
| 1954 August 22 | Made professional debut on the clarinet with the Springfield Lodge of Elks Band performing at the concert in Blunt Park led by Alan Strohman |
| 1955 | Played clarinet with the Massachusetts All-State Band |
| 1956 | Studied privately with composer and arranger Harry Huffnagle |
| circa 1956 | Attended Springfield Technical High School in Massachusetts where he served as concertmaster; studied violin, trumpet, and clarinet; and played first clarinet in the Technical High Band Accepted upon graduation to the American International College as a liberal arts student |
| 1957 | Studied privately with Ascher Slotnick |
| 1957-1959 | Played alto saxophone with the touring Tommy Dorsey Orchestra led by Warren Covington |
| 1963 | Won a six-week scholarship to the New Hope Academy of Arts in Maryland Spent two weeks at the Picasso Club in Philadelphia as the winner of the third annual Villanova Intercollegiate Jazz Festival sponsored by Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania Graduated with a B. S. Degree in Music Education from State University College of Potsdam, New York |
| 1964 | Toured again with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, this time led by Sam Donahue, playing alto saxophone and travelling with them to Japan and Europe |
| 1966 | Moved to Los Angeles to play, compose, arrange, and eventually lead his own 12-piece band |
| 1967-1968 | Played lead alto saxophone on the road with Ray Charles |
| 1974 | Studied privately with film composer Albert Harris |
| 1976 | Formed and led his own 15-piece band, Rocbop |
| 1978 | Nominated for Best Instrumental Arrangement Grammy for Steely Dan’s "Green Earrings," recorded by the Woody Herman Band Arranged pieces for the album Apogee, produced by Donald Fagan and Walter Becker |
| 1980 | Performance of Roccisano’s Synthesis for Orchestra at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion by the New American Orchestra of Los Angeles led by Jack Elliot with tenor saxophone solo by Pete Christlieb |
| 1982 | Performed as part of the Hoops McCann Band for the First Annual Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz held on the campus of Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. The band performed Steely Dan arrangements by Victor Feldman, Gene Esposito, and Roccisano Recorded Sonorities, a chamber piece in two movements commissioned by Victor Morosco, for the album Double Exposure |
| circa 1982 | Synthesis for Orchestra performed on National Public Radio (NPR) as part of the Jazz Alive series hosted by Ben Sidran Composed and arranged roughly ten new songs for the Buddy Rich Band, two of which were performed during a two-hour television special featuring Frank Sinatra and the Buddy Rich Band in concert from Santo Domingo |
| 1985 January | United States Navy Band premiered Roccisano’s piece Contrasts in Washington, D.C., with saxophone soloists Pete Christlieb and Dale Underwood |
| 1985 April | Relocated to New York, New York, where he formed a new 15-piece big band, the Joe Roccisano Orchestra, that frequently played at Fat Tuesday’s and the Bitter End |
| 1987 July 31-August 2 | Performed at Fat Tuesday’s with Bob Brookmeyer on the trombone, marking Roccisano’s first major engagement on the East Coast since returning in 1985 |
| 1987 | Phil Woods Quintet recorded "Tenor of the Times," an original work by Roccisano |
| 1988 August | Released the Hoops McCann Band Plays the Music of Steely Dan album for which Roccisano conducted and wrote six of the eight pieces featured |
| 1989 July 13 | Performed at the Binghamton Summer Music Festival on the State Univesity of New York at Binghamton campus, New York |
| 1989 August 19 | Joe Roccisano Orchestra performed at the Sauconfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania |
| 1989 | Commissioned by the Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra for an unknown work |
| 1991 | Arranged music for Sting, Elton John, James Taylor, and Don Henley for the First Annual Rock for the Rainforest benefit concert held at Carnegie Hall |
| 1992 | Recorded works "Tear Filled Skies" and "Blue Lou" for the film Glengarry Glen Ross |
| 1993 November 10 | Performed at Yardbird Suite in Cooper Square, New York. The performance included Quill, Earth Day, Borderland, and others |
| 1993 November | Released the first album by the Joe Roccisano Orchestra, The Shape I’m In, with solos by Tom Harrell (trumpet) and Lou Marini (alto saxophone), on the Landmark Records label |
| 1995 June | Released the album Leave Your Mind Behind, which had a concert style rather than a dance band style, on the Landmark Records label |
| 1996 | Formed the nine-piece mini-big band Nonet to play jazz brunch events at the Blue Note club in New York City |
| 1997 November 9 | Died of a heart attack en route to a Blue Note Sunday jazz brunch gig |
| 1997 November 30 | Celebration of life held at St. Peter’s Church in New York City |
| 1998 | Posthumous release of the album Nonet on the Double-Time Records label |