Gene DiNovi – Renaissance Man

Gene DiNovi – Renaissance Man

Gene DiNovi

I was driving in to work recently, mentally preparing for the day as I normally do, when I was distracted by a program on our local jazz station. I was listening to ‘Benmergui in the Morning ‘ and he had on a pianist Gene DiNovi. I was completely mesmerized by his playing and discussion of Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

According to one synopsis:

“Gene DiNovi was a promising jazz pianist during the heart of the bop era who chose the security of working in Hollywood and backing pop singers to provide a stable income to support his family. Following his move to Toronto, he sought to rebuild his jazz career and this 1993 studio session with Canadians Dave Young on bass and drummer Terry Clarke clearly signals that time hasn’t stood still for this keyboardist.” — Ken Dryden (not of hockey fame)

In this sense, he’s sort of a renaissance man. His story is inspirational to me as I hope to one day advance my music career. I’m not in DiNovi’s league, but you never know what could happen given enough time.

My music can be found here.

Here are some samples of DiNovi’s recordings:

‘Laura’:
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,319166-2707183-WMLO,00.html

‘My Old Flame’:
http://www.emusic.com/samples/m3u/song/10961396/14515384.m3u

‘Bill’:
http://www.emusic.com/samples/m3u/song/10961396/14515380.m3u

For anyone in the Toronto listening area, he’ll be on again, Thursday Feb 22nd 2008 from 6am to 10am on 91.1 Jazz FM.

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