{{infobox radio station | name

WCPN| image File:WCPN logo.png| area Greater Cleveland | branding 90.3 WCPN | slogan The Sound of Ideas,All Day Brain Food | airdate September 8, 1984(as WCPN)November 21, 1938(as WBOE) | frequency 90.3 (MHz) | format Analog/HD: Public radio/Jazz | erp 47,000 watts| affiliations NPRPublic Radio InternationalBBC World Service | class B | owner Ideastream | sister_stations WCLV, WVIZ | webcast Listen | website WCPN.org | former_frequencies 1941-1948: 42.5 MHz1938-1941: 41.5 MHz | former_callsigns 1978-1984: ''silent''1938-1978: WBOE | callsign_meaning W-"Cleveland Public Network" | }}

WCPN (90.3 FM) — branded 90.3 WCPN — is a public radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and serving the serving Greater Cleveland area.

The station's schedule comprises NPR news and informational programs during daytime hours, jazz in the evenings, and the BBC World Service in overnight hours. WCPN is owned by ''ideastream,'' which also owns Cleveland's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television station WVIZ and classical music station WCLV.

The station has the distinction as the first non-commercial FM radio station in the country (under the callsign WBOE) and, having fallen silent in the late 1970s, to re-emerge as one of the last full-time NPR affiliates to begin broadcasting in a major market.

History

WBOE

Origins

WBOE was initially licensed on November 21, 1938 to the Cleveland Board of Education to broadcast on 41.5 MHz with 500 watts using high-frequency AM (also referred to as Apex). Facilities were located in the Lafayette School on Abell Avenue. Two months later, the station moved to the sixth floor of the Board of Education Building on East 6th Street. The studios remained there until 1973-1974.

By 1940 it was joined by a few other educational stations, such as WNYE in New York, broadcasting in the spectrum of 41-43 MHz using AM, although it was presumed these educational stations would change to FM when such broadcasting became practical.

In September 1940, WBOE requested authority to relinquish its 41.5 MHz AM operation and change to FM operation on 42.5 MHz. In March 1941 WBOE became an FM station, broadcasting with 1,000 watts on 42.5 MHz, the first educational station to convert to FM. At the time FM broadcasting was in its infancy and only about a dozen FM stations were on the air in the entire country, most of them experimental stations.

In 1945 the FCC decided to shift all FM broadcasting up to the present spectrum of 88-108 MHz, with 88-92 MHz reserved for noncommercial broadcasting. Initially, WBOE changed its frequency to 44.5 FM on May 1, 1947. This change was necessitated by an FCC decision to allocate the 42-45 Megacycle band to non-government fixed and mobile services.

Emergence

WBOE moved to 90.3 MHz on August 3, 1948, increasing its power to 3,000 watts with an effective radiated power of 10,000 watts. The change to 90.3 FM caused quite a controversy due to the costs schools would incur to buy new radios and the time they needed to budget for it. Subsequently, WBOE requested reauthorization for 44.5 FM "for as long as possible" (original letter to FCC 07/13/1948). From September 1, 1948 to the end of the year, WBOE was licensed to broadcast on both frequencies.

On January 1, 1949, a Modified license authorized WBOE to broadcast solely on 90.3 FM. On December 9, 1959. WBOE increased power to 5,000 watts, with an E.R.P. of 15,000 watts. In 1973-1974 WBOE had new studio facilities built at 10600 Quincy Avenue in the eastern side of Cleveland. In 1975-1976 the station's power was increased to 50,000 watts with the transmitter and tower in Parma, Ohio, one of the southwestern Cleveland suburbs.

Until December 1976, WBOE's programming was limited primarily to instructional programming, mostly intended for Cleveland school classrooms. Generally the station broadcast from 7:55 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on school days; school programming would often end at 3:00 p.m. Light entertainment, public service or educational programs of general interest would conclude the broadcast day.

Under the direction of Dr. William B. Levenson, the station won national recognition for its use of radio broadcasts synchronized with lantern slides and playscripts, speakers on such topics as health and science, and student-produced programs on current events and student etiquette were aired. Cleveland school district teachers and curriculum administrators often hosted the shows.

Series/programs in most curriculum areas were featured. Most programs for in-school use ran for no more than 15 minutes. Until the use of reel-to-reel audio tape in the 1950s, programs were recorded onto 16" Electrical Transcription (E.T.) discs. Upon examination of these discs, it seems that many programs were broadcast live, and recorded simultaneously for repeat later.

For example, in the mid-and-late 1940s, the Social Studies department produced ''Current Topics,'' which discussed current events in the news. A duo of children's story-time series were called ''Once Upon A Time'' and ''The Story Lady.'' A practical science series was titled ''Electrical Living.'' Later on, a mathematics competition series, ''Get The Answer Right!,'' debuted. During the 1950s through the 1970s, 15-minute segments from the "All City Music Groups" performances were broadcast. Throughout most of its life, WBOE also aired non-commercial and educational programs from other producers and distributors. In the 1940s, these included series produced by other Cleveland radio stations.

Public Radio Involvement

By the mid-1960s, if not before, the predecessors to National Public Radio - NERN (National Educational Radio Network) and NAEB (National Association of Educational Broadcasters) - distributed programs produced by member stations for use on WBOE and other stations. An example of one of the general-interest programs was ''The Old Record Box,'' a 15-minute series featuring cylinder records from the turn-of-the-century, produced in the mid-1960s by WFBE, the station owned by the Flint, Michigan Board of Education. In the 1970s National Public Radio continued to provide this service to educational stations. Examples of educational programs for in-school use included ''What You See Is What You Get,'' a social studies/economics program, and the English-language program ''Fun From The Dictionary.'' The WBOE-produced series ''Drama On Stage and Screen'' was picked up and distributed nationally by NPR. This series featured interviews conducted by WBOE's best known broadcaster, Cecilia Evans. She interviewed people involved in stage, screen and television careers, such as actor Greg Morris of CBS-TV's ''Mission: Impossible'' series.

As educational television developed, the effectiveness of educational radio was reduced, and work began in the early 1970s to build WBOE into a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate. Progress was slowed by technical matters, including concern that WBOE's 50,000 watt signal might interfere with the TV audio of WVIZ/PBS channel 25. It has been estimated by WBOE's station manager of the time that this technical issue stopped the debut of NPR in the Cleveland market by over a year. From December 20, 1976 through December 31, 1976, WBOE increased its broadcast day until 6:30 p.m. for the airing of the popular NPR program ''All Things Considered.''

On January 1, 1977 WBOE increased to an 18-hour-per-day, 7-day-a-week schedule (6:00 a.m. to Midnight). Programming for in-school use continued on school days from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Adult, NPR, ethnic and other programming consumed the rest of the broadcast day and all day on weekends. Locally produced programming included ''Yes, You Can!,'' a weekly feature designed to encourage adults to continue their education; ''Parenting,'' a family life series; and ''Elementary School Highlights.''

Death of WBOE

In its final years, WBOE-FM's staff included station manager Jay Robert Klein (whose five-minute weekly feature ''You and Your Wheels'' featured up-to-date information about automobiles and discussed issues pertaining to automobile transportation); coordinator Charles Siegel (who produced shows like ''Cavities Don't Care'' and ''The Ins and Outs of Gardening''); Karl Johnson, the producer–host of the morning-drive show ''Thank Goodness, It's (name of day)'' which aired Monday–Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.; senior high school programmer Cecilia Evans, who was an award-winning Cleveland broadcaster providing theater reviews for WBOE and commercial station WERE-AM; Tom Altenbernd, who was the junior high school programmer; and elementary programmer Ervine Jaworski.

The technical staff included First Class engineers Bill Nelson, who died in 1976 and was replaced by Ed Shaper, Al Hrivnak and Dennis Batig (who hosted a 1950s and 1960s music show, ''Let The Good Times Roll''). Full-time board operators and production personnel were Ted Mazurowski and Richard Shenker. Part-time personnel included John L. Basalla, Jim Stincic, and Bruce Van Valkenburg. Basalla produced ''Rock Concepts,'' and Stincic produced ''Sessions In Swing,'' using the air name "Jim Matthews".

The Cleveland school system entered a difficult period in the late 1970s, as it was faced with a massive court-mandated desegregation order. Additionally, an ''ad hoc'' community group, believing that the in-school programming should cease in favor of full-time "adult" NPR fare, took steps to take control of the radio station. Due to a teachers' strike, school programming did not resume as scheduled in September 1978. The financially-strapped Board of Education finally took WBOE off the air the next month.

WBOE's final day of broadcasting was October 7, 1978. At the stroke of midnight, the final program was broadcast. Station manager Jay Robert Klein and Cleveland newspaper journalist Dick Feagler provided a pre-recorded eulogy. The 90.3 frequency fell silent until the fall of 1984, save for the sideband broadcast of the Cleveland Radio Reading Service (CRRS). CRRS temporarily ceased broadcasting in May 1982.

WCPN

Re-Birth

The non-commercial license was still available, and an effort was organized to re-start a public radio station for Cleveland. WKSU in Kent could be heard throughout most of the Cleveland area and had been, quite by default, northeastern Ohio's sole NPR station since the network's beginnings in the early 1970s (the station itself dates back to 1953). However, WKSU lacked programming directed specifically to the immediate Cleveland/Cuyahoga County region; the main city in its service area was Akron.

In 1979, the Cleveland Public Library bid $205,000 for WBOE-FM's license, which ended up beating out a $200,000 bid by the Northern Ohio Public Radio group ten days before. An attempt by Cleveland Public Radio to bid $234,360.87 was rejected because the group could not immediately make a minimum $200,000 cash payment. Plans were made for the station to be moved from the old WBOE eastside Cleveland studios to the main library downtown, with a proposed change in call letters to WCPL (Cleveland Public Library).

The effort by the library eventually failed, and the license wound up in the hands of Cleveland Public Radio anyway. By July 6, 1983, Cleveland Public Radio had changed the WBOE callsign to WCPN. WGAR, by then a country music outlet, donated its entire jazz record collection to WCPN, in order for the station to begin a jazz format. The side band service for print-impaired people was reactivated in May 1984. So transmission from WCPN began exactly as WBOE's had ended, with no sound on the main carrier, so persons with the special receivers could hear the radio reading service programming. A kick-off party with 1,200 people in attendance, was held for WCPN on August 5, 1984. By that September 8, WCPN officially started broadcasting with a live show featuring vocalist Mel Torme, and went to 24-hour service on January 1, 1985. A little-remembered side note is that just prior to the live Mel Torme show, WCPN broadcast an album by the Beatles, possibly for testing purposes and/or to have something on the air for people to hear when they dialed up 90.3 FM.

In 2001, WCPN merged with WVIZ to form ''ideastream''. The stations moved to new facilities in downtown Cleveland at Playhouse Square in the fall of 2005.

Programming

WCPN's daytime program has a heavy emphasis on news and informational programming, most of it originating with NPR, such as ''Morning Edition'', ''All Things Considered'' and ''Car Talk''. It also carries popular public radio programs from other sources such as ''A Prairie Home Companion'', ''Whad'Ya Know?'', and ''Marketplace'' from American Public Media. Much of this programming duplicates programming broadcast on WKSU which can also be heard throughout much of the Cleveland market. It also originates local news reports and an hour-long current events talk show at 9 a.m. each morning called ''The Sound of Ideas'' (formerly ''90.3 @ 9'').

In the evenings after 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., programming shifts to jazz, and then shifts to a simulcast of the BBC World Service from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. (Weekend overnights are filled with jazz music.) Since WKSU concentrates on a classical music format and since WCLV also broadcasts a classical music format, WCPN's programming in this respect is unique to the Cleveland market.

Ethnic Shows

On weekends, the evening programming consists almost entirely of nationality programming, with one hour blocks dedicated to programming of nationality-based music and discussion. These shows were added in as a requirement for WCPN to operate before it began operating, mostly because former ethnic stations WXEN and WZAK had abandoned these formats some years earlier.

Airing these shows has not come easy for WCPN; attempts to move these shows to different times (or reduce the number of hours altogether) in order to broaden the scope of the weekend lineup has resulted in significant protests by the communities targeted as audiences. The last attempt to change the lineup occurred in 1996, and resulted in threats by the Ohio State Legislature to cut off funding for WCPN, in response to which the station relented on its plans.

References

External links

Cleveland Broadcast Radio Archives: WCPN timeline

Cleveland Broadcast Radio Archives: WBOE timeline

Category:National Public Radio member stations Category:Jazz radio stations in the United States CPN

birth name	Harvey Lawrence Pekar
birth date	October 08, 1939
birth place	Cleveland, Ohio, United States
death date	July 12, 2010
death place	Cleveland Heights, Ohio,
occupation	Comic book writer, filing clerk, music & literary critic
nationality	American
genre	Underground comics
subject	Autobiography
website	http://www.harveypekar.com }}

Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.

Pekar described ''American Splendor'' as "an autobiography written as it's happening. The theme is about staying alive. Getting a job, finding a mate, having a place to live, finding a creative outlet. Life is a war of attrition. You have to stay active on all fronts. It's one thing after another. I've tried to control a chaotic universe. And it's a losing battle. But I can't let go. I've tried, but I can't."

Early life

Harvey Pekar and his younger brother Allen were born in Cleveland, Ohio to Saul and Dora Pekar, immigrants from Białystok, Poland. Saul Pekar was a Talmudic scholar who owned a grocery store on Kinsman Avenue, with the family living above the store. Harvey Pekar graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1957, then attended Case Western Reserve University, where he dropped out after a year. He then served in the United States Navy, and after discharge returned to Cleveland where he worked odd jobs before being hired as file clerk at Cleveland's Veteran's Administration Hospital. He held this job even after becoming famous, finally retiring in 2001.

Career

''American Splendor''

Pekar's friendship with Robert Crumb led to the creation of the self-published, autobiographical comic book series ''American Splendor''. Crumb and Pekar became friends through their mutual love of jazz records when Crumb was living in Cleveland in the mid-1960s. Crumb's work in underground comics led Pekar to see the form's possibilities, saying, "Comics could do anything that film could do. And I wanted in on it." It took Pekar a decade to do so: "I theorized for maybe ten years about doing comics." Pekar laid out some stories with crude stick figures and showed them to Crumb and another artist, Robert Armstrong. Impressed, they both offered to illustrate, and soon Pekar's story "Crazy Ed" appeared in Crumb's ''The People's Comics'', and Crumb became the first artist to illustrate ''American Splendor''. The comic documents daily life in the aging neighborhoods of Pekar's native Cleveland. The first issue of ''American Splendor'' appeared in 1976.

Pekar's most well-known and longest-running collaborators include Crumb, Gary Dumm, Greg Budgett, Spain Rodriguez, Joe Zabel, Gerry Shamray, Frank Stack, Mark Zingarelli, and Joe Sacco. In the 2000s, he teamed regularly with artists Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld. Other cartoonists who worked with him include Jim Woodring, Chester Brown, Alison Bechdel, Gilbert Hernandez, Eddie Campbell, David Collier, Drew Friedman, Ho Che Anderson, Rick Geary, Ed Piskor, Hunt Emerson, Bob Fingerman, Brian Bram, and Alex Wald; as well as such non-traditional illustrators as Pekar's wife, Joyce Brabner, and comics writer Alan Moore.

Stories from the ''American Splendor'' comics have been collected in many books and anthologies.

''American Splendor'' film

A film adaptation of ''American Splendor'' was released in 2003, directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman. It featured Paul Giamatti as Pekar, as well as appearances by Pekar himself. Pekar wrote about the effects of the film in ''American Splendor: Our Movie Year''.

In 2006, Pekar released a four-issue ''American Splendor'' miniseries through the DC Comics imprint Vertigo. This was collected in the ''American Splendor: Another Day'' paperback. In 2008 Vertigo released a second "season" of ''American Splendor'' that was collected in the ''American Splendor: Another Dollar'' paperback.

In addition to his autobiographical work on ''American Splendor'', Pekar wrote a number of biographies. The first of these, ''American Splendor: Unsung Hero'' (2003), documented the Vietnam War experience of Robert McNeill, one of Pekar's African-American coworkers at Cleveland's VA hospital.

Other comics work

On October 5, 2005, the DC Comics imprint Vertigo released Pekar's autobiographical hardcover ''The Quitter'', with artwork by Dean Haspiel. The book detailed Pekar's early years.

In 2006 Pekar released another biography for Ballantine/Random House, ''Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story'', about the life of Michael Malice, who was the founding editor of ''OverheardinNewYork.com''

Pekar was the first guest editor for the collection ''The Best American Comics 2006'' published by Houghton Mifflin, the first comics collection in the "Best American series" series.

In June 2007 Pekar collaborated with student Heather Roberson and artist Ed Piskor on the book ''Macedonia'', which centers around Roberson's studies in the country.

January 2008 saw another biographical work from Pekar, ''Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History'', released through Hill & Wang.

In March 2009 Pekar released ''The Beats'', a history of the Beat Generation, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, illustrated by Ed Piskor. In May 2009 he released ''Studs Terkel's Working: A Graphic Adaptation''.

In 2010, Pekar launched a webcomic with the online magazine ''Smith'', titled ''The Pekar Project''.

Theater, music and media appearances

In the late 1980s, Pekar's comic book success led to eight guest appearances on ''Late Night with David Letterman''. His confrontational style and overt on-air criticism of General Electric (which owned NBC) led to the show banning him as a guest until the early 1990s.

Pekar was a prolific record collector as well as a freelance book and jazz critic, focusing on significant figures from jazz's golden age but also championing out-of-mainstream artists such as Birth, Scott Fields, Fred Frith and Joe Maneri. Pekar won awards for his essays broadcast on public radio. He appeared in Alan Zweig's 2000 documentary film about record collecting, ''Vinyl''. In August 2007, Pekar was featured on the Cleveland episode of ''Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations'' with host Anthony Bourdain.

While ''American Splendor'' theater adaptations have occurred before, in 2009, Pekar made his theatrical debut with ''Leave Me Alone!'', a jazz opera for which Pekar wrote the libretto. ''Leave Me Alone!'' featured music by Dan Plonsey and premiered at Oberlin College on January 31, 2009.

In 2009, Pekar was featured in ''The Cartoonist,'' a documentary film on the life and work of Jeff Smith, creator of ''Bone.''

Personal life

Pekar was married from 1960 to 1972 to his first wife, Karen Delaney. His second wife was Helen Lark Hall. Pekar's third wife was writer Joyce Brabner, with whom he collaborated on ''Our Cancer Year'', a graphic novel autobiography of his harrowing yet successful treatment for lymphoma. He lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with Brabner and their foster daughter Danielle.

Death

Shortly before 1 a.m. on July 12, 2010, Pekar's wife found him dead in his Cleveland Heights, Ohio, home. No immediate cause was determined. Pekar had been diagnosed with cancer for the third time in his life and was about to undergo treatment. In October 2010, it was determined that Pekar's cause of death was an accidental overdose of antidepressants fluoxetine and bupropion. Pekar was cremated and buried in Lake View Cemetery, next to Eliot Ness.

Posthumous work

According to a September 2010 ''New York Times'' article, many Pekar works are planned to be released posthumously:

''Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland'' - A graphic history of the city of Cleveland, Ohio and Pekar's upbringing there. Illustrated by Joseph Remnant (Zip Comics).

''Huntington, West Virginia, "On the Fly"'' - Stories of Pekar promoting the 2003 ''American Splendor'' film (Random House).

''Harvey and Joyce’s Big Book of Marriage'' - Co-authored by Joyce Brabner (Random House)

''Not the Israel My Parents Promised'' - Pekar's thoughts on Zionism and Israel. Illustrated by JT Waldman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Awards

1987: American Book Award for the first ''American Splendor'' anthology 1995: Harvey Award Best Graphic Album of Original Work (for ''Our Cancer Year'')

Bibliography

''American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar'' (Doubleday, 1986)

''More American Splendor'' (Doubleday, 1987) ISBN 0-385-24073-2

''The New American Splendor Anthology'' (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1991) ISBN 0-941423-64-6

''Our Cancer Year'', with Joyce Brabner and Frank Stack (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994) ISBN 1-56858-011-8

''American Splendor Presents: Bob & Harv's Comics'', with R. Crumb (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1996) ISBN 1-56858-101-7

''American Splendor: Unsung Hero'', with David Collier (Dark Horse, 2003) ISBN 1-59307-040-3

''American Splendor: Our Movie Year'' (Ballantine Books, 2004) ISBN 0-345-47937-8

''Best of American Splendor'' (Ballantine Books, 2005) ISBN 0-345-47938-6

''The Quitter'', with Dean Haspiel (DC/Vertigo, 2005) ISBN 1-4012-0399-X

''Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story'', with Gary Dumm (Ballantine Books, 2006) ISBN 0-345-47939-4

''Macedonia'', with Heather Roberson and Ed Piskor (Ballantine Books, 2006) ISBN 0-3454-9899-2

''American Splendor: Another Day'' (DC/Vertigo, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4012-1235-3

''Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History'' (Hill and Wang, 2008) ISBN 978-0809095391

''American Splendor: Another Dollar'' (2009) ISBN 978-1-4012-2173-7

''The Beats'' (2009) ISBN 978-0-2856-3858-7

''Studs Terkel's Working: A Graphic Adaptation'' (2009) ISBN 978-1-59558-321-5

''Circus Parade by Jim Tully. Foreword by Harvey Pekar. Introduction by Paul J. Bauer and Mark Dawidziak. (Kent State Univ. Press, 2009) 978-1-60635-001-0

''Huntington, West Virginia "On the Fly"'' (2011) ISBN 978-0-3454-9941-7

References

External links

Harvey Pekar's official website Redirects to New Line Cinema's official website for ''American Splendor''

"Harvey Pekar, ‘American Splendor’ Creator, Dies at 70" William Grimes, ''The New York Times'', 12 July 2010

"His Everyday Life Was in His Comics" Stephen Miller, ''The Wall Street Journal'', 13 July 2010

Interview on The Sound of Young America: MP3 Link

New York Press Interview

Walrus Comix interview

Article by James Hynes about Pekar's last appearance on ''Late Night with David Letterman''

List of ''American Splendor'' collaborators

Archive of Pekar's Jazz Reviews for the ''Austin Chronicle''

Another archive of Jazz reviews

November 10, 2005 Interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

Profile of and Commentaries by Pekar on WKSU-FM, Kent, Ohio

Preview of "The Beats"

''Boppin' With Pekar'', a one-hour public radio program on jazz history with Harvey Pekar, Jerry Zolten and Phoebe Gloeckner

Online obituary for Harvey Pekar

"Harvey Pekar dead: American Splendor comic writer was 70" Terence McArdle, ''The Washington Post'', 13 July 2010

Video: Harvey Pekar talks about Toby Radloff

"Tribute in La Cucaracha"

Category:1939 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in Ohio Category:American comics writers Category:American Jews Category:American music critics Category:Comics creators Category:Drug-related deaths in Ohio Category:Harvey Award winners Category:Jazz writers Category:Jewish American writers Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:United States Navy sailors Category:Writers from Ohio Category:American autobiographers

cs:Harvey Pekar de:Harvey Pekar es:Harvey Pekar eu:Harvey Pekar fr:Harvey Pekar it:Harvey Pekar hu:Harvey Pekar mk:Харви Пикар nl:Harvey Pekar no:Harvey Pekar pt:Harvey Pekar ru:Харви Пикар fi:Harvey Pekar sv:Harvey Pekar

Frank Vignola (b. December 30, 1965, Long Island) is an American jazz guitarist.

Vignola began on guitar at age five. While he never listened to jazz exclusively, he has a wide range of influences, such as Les Paul, Eddie Van Halen and Frank Zappa. He later studied at the Cultural Arts Center of Long Island. He worked extensively as a sideman in the 1980s, with artists such as Madonna, Leon Redbone, and Ringo Starr. In 1993 he signed with Concord Jazz, when he was 27 and has released several albums under his own name since then. He has written 18 instructional guitar books and has recorded multiple instuctional CD-ROMs for Truefire.com.

Discography

''Appel Direct'' (Concord Jazz, 1993)

''Let it Happen'' (Concord, 1994)

''Look Right, Jog Left'' (Concord, 1995)

''Deja Vu'' (Concord, 1999)

''Off Broadway'' (Nagel-Heyer, 2000)

''Blues for a Gypsy'' (Acoustic Disc, 2001)

''Kong Man'' (VMD)

''Vignola Plays Gershwin'' (Mel Bay, 2007)

''Just Between Frets'' with Tommy Emmanuel (Groovemasters, 2009)

''Standards Live'' with Bucky Pizzarelli (Frank Vignola, 2009)

''100 Years of Django'' (Azica Records, 2010)

References

[ Frank Vignola] at Allmusic

Category:American jazz guitarists Category:Musicians from New York Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Concord Records artists

de:Frank Vignola