Frank Vignola

Frank Vignola grew up on Long Island, New York. His father played accordion and banjo and his brother plays trumpet. When he was five, he picked up the guitar, learning from his father and from records by Django Reinhardt, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joe Pass, and Johnny Smith. At 12 he started on the banjo, and two years later he won a national championship in Canada. On Long Island, he studied guitar at the Cultural Arts Center. Early in his career, he went to used record stores to buy albums by musicians whose work he didn't know so that he could study their music. In 1987, when he was 23, he formed the Hot Club Quintet, named after the Quintette du Hot Club de France. In the early 1990s, he was in New York City, playing in groups with Max Morath, Andy Stein, Herman Foster, Joe Ascione, and tuba player Sam Pilafian. He formed the Concord Jazz Collective with veteran guitarists Howard Alden and Jimmy Bruno. The roster of musicians he has worked with includes Leon Redbone, Ken Peplowski, Susannah McCorkle, Charlie Byrd, Joey DeFrancesco, Gene Bertoncini, Johnny Frigo, Bucky Pizzarelli, Wynton Marsalis, David Grisman, Jane Monheit, Mark O'Connor, and Donald Fagen. He has written over fifteen instructional books for Mel Bay, produced several instructional DVDs, and teaches courses on the internet. He appeared on the PBS television programs Tommy Emmanuel and Friends and Four Generations of Guitar.