Jazz Accordionist
Frank Petrilli was born and still lives in Los Angeles California. Much of his energy has gone into the successful business he owns and operates, Petrilli Concrete Contractors, but his creative musical side has always been a strong drive as well. He started playing the accordion at age 7, and by age 16 was playing professionally. As the popularity of the accordion declined in the U.S., Frank switched to playing Hammond B3 Organ and saxophone for about 15 years. In 2006, he returned to the accordion and started playing with the César Mateus Latin Jazz Band at many jazz venues throughout the Los Angeles area.
In late 2006, Frank began intensive study with the great jazz accordionist, Frank Marocco which quickly evolved into a very close friendship. By virtue of their close relationship and mutual love of jazz, Frank Petrilli became Frank Marocco’s protégé, and Frank Marocco often commented that Frank Petrilli was like the son he never had. Unfortunately, this relationship ended far too soon with Frank Marocco’s untimely passing on March 3rd, 2012.
As Frank Petrilli became known as an excellent player in the jazz community, he began performing frequently in the Los Angeles area with artists such as guitarists’ Patrick Barrogain and John Chiodini at top venues such as the Vibrato Jazz Club. Frank has also performed at many of the major accordion festivals and clubs in the U.S. including the AAA Festival in Charleston 2011, and at the San Francisco Accordion Club on numerous occasions.
In October of 2011, Frank appeared on the TV series Mad Men. In May of 2012, he was invited to play in the spot that Frank Marocco had been scheduled for as a featured performer at the Accordion competition in Kiev, “Accofestival 2012.” He also was one of the judges for the jazz portion of the competition. Immediately following that, he performed at the Frank Marocco Memorial Concert in Castelfidardo, with many other stars of the accordion world. His debut CD, ”Totally Frank,” was recorded in Italy during this trip. It was produced by Elke Ahrenholz of “Artist Signed Records, ” and includes the playing of three fine Italian musicians; Felice Del Gaudio, Max Ferri, and Fabio Zeppetella.
In this CD you will definitely hear the influences of Frank Marocco. However, Frank Petrilli plays his own style which includes more focus on Latin grooves. As the booking agent and artistic director of Vibrato Jazz Club, Pat Sentator wrote, “Like his mentor, Petrilli gives new life to the accordion with impeccable phrasing and a smooth, fluid style.” You will enjoy the musical stylings of Frank’s accordion both in concert and in his CD, and can expect some very good music coming from him in the future.
