FM
Biography
Right place at the right time? Absolutely. Luck? Definitely. But after Frank Catalano stepped in for a no-show tenor sax during jazz organist Charles Earland's set at Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago (a club the then 17-year-old slick-talked his mother into taking him to) it wasnt luck that made him the youngest solo artist signed to the legendary Delmark label, a tour buddy of Tony Bennett, a U.S. Patent-holding sax innovator or the youngest saxophonist ever voted into the DOWNBEAT Critics Poll.
Catalano, who bought his first sax at 12 with the money he saved mowing lawns, is a member of a small, but exclusive club: young musicians who have experienced and worked with the greatness of people like Charles Earland, Tony Bennett, Von Freeman and Randy Brecker. At only 28, his experience --which includes a degree in classical composition from DePaul--fused with and a raw, natural talent create a saxophonist with missile-speed fingering and a unique styling that has attracted even the likes of Santana, whom he toured with at the ripe age of 18. Stars like John Legend, Jennifer Lopez and Destiny’s Child all have invited Catalano to contribute to some of the top albums of the past 12 months, including Maurice Joshua’s remix of John Legends Grammy award-winning song Ordinary People.
