By Diane Russell
When Frank Gagliardi was a kid in Denver he
used to tag
along when his older brother, Vince, went out to play a gig with a band.
His brother played the instrument that was, according to Gagliardi, the instrument of first choice for Italian families in those days - the accordion.
Vince would lug his instrument down to rehearse for a job playing at a dance or a wedding, and Frank would go along to watch.
But his attention wasn't on Vince and his accordion. In young Frank's eyes there was only one instrument worth watching, regardless of who was playing it: the drums.
When he was 8, he persuaded his mother to let him take lessons.
Time went by, and the Gagliardi boys grew up. Vince put away his accordion and went to work as a computer specialist for a railroad company.
But Frank, he stuck with the drums.
That early interest in music parlayed itself into a lifelong career for Gagliardi - a career that has allowed him an impressive array of opportunities, including jobs playing as a percussionist with a symphony orchestra, teaching music, playing in showroom bands on the Las Vegas Strip, writing music, and forming and leading the award-winning UNLV Jazz Ensemble.
Gagliardi retired from UNLV in May, 22 years after accepting an offer to "daylight" as a part-time music instructor at the university while keeping his night job in the pit orchestra at the Sands Hotel.
Before leaving UNLV for the sunny climes of Mexico where he and his wife, Charlene, plan to spend several months a year, he sat down to talk about his life and his career.
Those music lessons at the age of 8 were the
beginning of it
all, he says. Thanks to a determined music teacher who insisted - over
Gagliardi's objections - that the youngster learn to play all the
percussion instruments as well as the drums, Gagliardi gained a broad
base of musical knowledge that was to prove pivotal more than once in his
career.
At 17, Gagliardi joined his hometown orchestra, the Denver Symphony, as its percussionist - a job he was to hold for 15 years. While playing in the orchestra, he earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in music education from Denver University.
After he graduated, he was back on campus one day when a group of student musicians spotted him and asked if he could give them a hand with a jazz arrangement they were trying to play. He stopped to help. Then, he returned to campus to help them again and again. Before long, they had formed a jazz band, which eventually evolved into a class offered in DU's curriculum that Gagliardi was asked to teach.
After two or three years he entered the group in a national competition at the University of Notre Dame, primarily to see what such a competition was like. To his surprise, the group placed fifth. The following year they entered again and won.
Gagliardi was a contented man. He played in the symphony at night. During the day he worked with his students. At home, he and Charlene had two children, Ric and Susan.
Then the unexpected happened.
"I was offered the greatest job that someone could dream of - that was to be the drummer and percussionist at the Sands," Gagliardi says. At that time the Sands wasn't just a Las Vegas hotel, Gagliardi points out, it was the Las Vegas hotel. It was the Strip home to such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin.
Gagliardi couldn't believe his good fortune.
The offer to join the Sands showroom orchestra came unexpectedly. One day
he and some friends were attending a meeting in Denver at which Antonio
Morelli, the conductor at the Sands, was also present. One of his friends
knew Morelli and asked what he was doing in town.
Morelli replied that he'd been to New York and Los Angeles looking for a musician who was both an excellent drummer and an outstanding percussionist, but he couldn't find anyone who could handle both jobs.
According to Gagliardi, his friend told Morreli, "Well, Tony, there he is, right over there," and pointed at Gagliardi.
The next thing he knew, he had been offered a four-week trial stint in the Sands showroom orchestra.
It worked out so well that he and his family left Denver behind and moved to Las Vegas.
"I loved being in the pit with an orchestra playing and the stars behind me," Gagliardi says of his dream job. "I'm not one to try to be a drum star like a Louie Bellson. That wasn't my cup of tea."
Gagliardi played for many live recordings made at the Sands, including ones with Sinatra, Davis, and Patti Page. He and the showroom orchestra also accompanied many other stars, including Dean Martin, Lena Horne, and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.
While playing in the orchestra he indulged a hobby in photography, snapping shots of many of the stars on stage from his seat in the drummer's chair.
Then, when he was in his 10th year at the Sands, a new trombonist named Ken Hanlon joined the band. Hanlon, who by day was the chair of UNLV's music department, asked Gagliardi if he would take a part-time job as a music instructor at UNLV. Gagliardi, who missed working with college students, jumped at the chance.
Two years later in 1976, Gagliardi's UNLV job became full-time, but he hung on to his night job playing in hotel orchestras until 1988.
At UNLV, Gagliardi's mission was straightforward - to build a jazz program. And build a jazz program, he did.
It started as something of a rag-tag outfit. Some students would show up one day, others the next. Gagliardi had to lay down the law, insisting that students attend every rehearsal. Before long, he says, the students saw the rewards of such dedication and developed some pride in themselves and their group.
Over the 22 years that Gagliardi headed UNLV's jazz program and its Jazz Ensemble, that dedication and pride paid off again and again. The Jazz Ensemble has released seven albums, two cassette tapes, and one CD. A second CD was recorded in May and was released recently by Sea Breeze Records. The ensemble traveled extensively overseas, including trips to Brazil, Peru, Poland, Portugal, and Spain; they performed in Japan five times.
Jazz Ensemble alumni have gone on to play with big bands such as the Count Basie Orchestra. Currently, alums play with Sheena Easton and Paula Abdul.
In 1990, the Jazz Ensemble captured first place at Music Fest USA, a national competition sponsored by Down Beat magazine, the magazine that Gagliardi describes as the musician's Bible.
The following year the UNLV Jazz Ensemble recorded its first CD, Caliente, Muy Caliente. The title, which translates as "Hot, Very Hot," was chosen by Gagliardi and reflects his opinion of the performances captured on the recording. Apparently Down Beat agreed. Caliente, Muy Caliente was the only university recording awarded five stars that year by the prestigious jazz publication.
Those two events, according to Gagliardi, marked the UNLV Jazz Ensemble's entry into the big time.
"Down Beat magazine is merciless when it comes to calling it as it is," Gagliardi said. "There were CDs from Kentucky, there was one from North Texas State, which is a giant in collegiate jazz, and ours was the only one that got five stars. That did us a lot of good. That was our greatest recruiting."
More highlights were to come.
In 1994, the UNLV Jazz Ensemble played at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Two days later the group played at the Village Vanguard in New York City, a premier jazz spot and one rarely opened to college groups.
As the group continued to build a following,
Gagliardi continued to gain
the admiration of his colleagues. John Unrue, UNLV English professor and
former provost, has known and worked with Gagliardi for years. He cannot
say enough about him and his contributions to UNLV.
"There are probably four or five collegiate jazz programs in the United States on par with ours, and this one may well be the best in the United States," Unrue says. "I can't think of any better at this time.
"From the very first, I was always im-pressed by Frank's commitment and enthusiasm for any project he was ever involved in," he says. "I really believe that Frank recruited these young people with as much zeal as any athletic coach would."
Unrue says Gagliardi was also something of a father figure to many of his students. He says he remembers many times when Gagliardi stepped in to help students who were facing problems paying the rent or buying groceries.
"There's virtually nothing that Frank would not do to support these young people in his program," he says. "I don't think that we would ever have had such a distinguished jazz program had Frank Gagliardi not been here because his passion, his commitment, and his relentless dedication to the program and the university made this happen. His departure will be a loss to the music program and the university."
Gagliardi says he feels he's accomplished what he set out to achieve when he started the Jazz Ensemble and that his decision to retire was based on several factors, including his health and his feeling that it was time to turn the program over to younger hands.
Not all his time will be spent basking in the sun on Mexican beaches. He plans to spend more time arranging music for jazz bands and says he has a publisher who will publish all he can produce.
As for the future of the UNLV Jazz Ensemble - an institution that has been synonymous with the name Gagliardi lo these many years - the master's advice is not to worry.
As he planned his retirement over the past few years, Gagliardi was on the lookout for a successor. He found two: trumpet player Rocky Winslow, who came to UNLV in 1991 as a lecturer in the music department, and pianist Stefan Karlsson, who came to UNLV in 1994 as an artist-in-residence and stayed to become a permanent part of the jazz program.
"What I see in them was me 20 years ago," Gagliardi says. "I still love the band, and I think I'm still productive with the band, but there comes a time when you say, 'Maybe it's time.' I know these two gentlemen are ready. And, music progresses."
Gagliardi says he knows he's been incredibly fortunate in his career. Taking the UNLV Jazz Ensemble to the Village Vanguard and the Kennedy Center are two of the highlights, he says.
"The kids have the fun of playing and that's the greatest, but I have the pleasure and thrill of standing in front. I tell you, I've had so many thrills standing in front of that band.
"And, playing in the Denver Symphony I've played with some great conductors such as Stravinsky and Stokowski, and then I come to the Sands and play with Sinatra. I've had so many of these thrills. I'm a lucky, lucky fellow."
But even Gagliardi's own descriptions of the
thrills of
his career don't capture their essence quite as well as watching
one of them happen to him - especially when it's the one that officially
brings to an end his UNLV career.
It's May 7, 1996. UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre is filled to near capacity for Gagliardi's last concert as the leader of the Jazz Ensemble.
As he steps on stage to thunderous applause, the band stands to greet him. An obviously moved Gagliardi tells the audience that this concert is going to be difficult since, he admits, "I [even] cry at basketball games."
The concert includes Gagliardi's favorite Jazz Ensemble arrangements from the last 20 years. At one point between songs, the ensemble presents him with a plaque. Then, noted jazz vocalist Marlena Shaw, the concert's guest artist, makes her entrance carrying flowers for the conductor. Later, Joe Williams, a famous jazz singer, drops by for an unscheduled guest appearance that truly takes Gagliardi by surprise.
Near the end of the evening, Gagliardi introduces the audience to his family, including his brother Vince - he who once played the accordion. Saving the introduction of his wife until last, his voice is so choked with emotion that he can barely speak her name.
Then he turns to lead the band in one final number - a new composition of his own. Before the concert he had explained the title he has chosen for this medium-tempo blues number.
"When a director finishes a movie or a recording, he looks at the people and says, 'Well, that's a wrap.' So, that's what I named it, That's A Wrap."
With that number played, Frank Gagliardi's final concert at the helm of the UNLV Jazz Ensemble ends.
Except for one thing: the standing ovation, during which audience members rise nearly simultaneously to their feet to applaud and cheer vigorously.
Now it's a wrap, Frank.
