Happy Birthday To New Rochelle’s Joey Calderazzo

Calderazzo, who was born in New Rochelle, turns 49 on Thursday.

Joey Calderazzo, a jazz pianist, was born Feb. 27, 1965. Inspired by a friend who lived next door, Calderazzo began his piano studies at age seven. He progressed rapidly in a house where other family members were also playing drums and singing, and at 14 became the youngest member of brother Gene Calderazzo's rock band.

Michael Brecker, the saxophonist, produced Calderazzo’s first disc, "In the Door" (1990) and played on it along with two other tenor saxophonists whom Calderazzo had met in Boston, Jerry Bergonzi and brother Gene’s Berklee roommate Branford Marsalis.

Calderazzo’s  was one of the first artists to sign with  Branford’s Marsalis Music label in 2002. His growing interests in the sounds to be extracted from a piano and the entire spectrum of jazz history initially surfaced on "Haiku" (2002), his first all-solo disc, were in full flower during his first solo piano tour of Europe early in 2006 and define his current album, "Amanacer," featuring duo and trio performances with singer Claudia Acuña and guitarist Romero Lubambo as well as solo tracks.

Click here to follow Daily Voice New Rochelle and receive free news updates.