Pianist Found the Right Key to the Stars

To hear Joe Massimino tell it, he would never have impressed Tommy Dorsey, or gone on to a career as pianist to the stars, if his father hadn’t sat him down at an early age to listen to “T.D.’s Boogie.”

“My father was a musician,” Massimino, 56, said during a recent phone conversation from his home in Tustin, “and he used to sit me in front of the hi-fi and play all these bands, all these piano players. And one of the things he loved was the tribute album to Tommy Dorsey which had Oliver Nelson’s ‘T.D.’s Boogie’ on it.”

At 14, Massimino-- who plays tonight at El Matador in Huntington Beach--already had a promising career in his hometown of Providence, R.I., working with saxophonist Art Pelosi’s band. “Pelosi, had a segment where the musicians would do different things, the drummer would do Gene Krupa, the saxophonist would do Illinois Jacquet, Massimino said. “My mother loves boogie-woogie, so I learned ‘T.D.’s Boogie’ for her, to do as my part of the show.”

Massimino traveled with Pelosi’s band to Upstate New York and as far away as Bermuda in the summers. Then, “at age 17 1/2, I get a call from a friend in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He said, ‘Tommy fired the piano player, and they want you to come and do the gig.’

“Now, Tommy Dorsey was a complete and total tyrant. He would test guys immediately, and if you couldn’t measure up, you were gone. I flew to Cleveland to meet the band and Jerry Arlio, the band boy--he must have been 60 years old at the time--picked me up. He must have known I was green and wet behind the ears and said, ‘Let me tell you a little bit about Tommy Dorsey. He’s very tough, but I’ll stand behind you and pull music for the first couple of nights.’

“So the first night, I got on the bandstand with the uniform on and all--I’d never rehearsed with the band, hadn’t even seen them--and Tommy came out. He never warmed up, never said much to the guys on the bandstand. He’d just come out and call the numbers. So the very first thing he calls is ‘T.D.’s Boogie.’ ”

Massimino was stunned to find that the entire piano solo was written out. “Very intricate. There wasn’t a white space left on the page.” But when the band started to play, he realized the chart was exactly the same as the one that he had learned back in Providence.

Dorsey “was testing me, standing right behind me. And after I played it as I learned it from the record, he said, ‘You’re OK, kid. You’ll do all right.’ Nobody had ever come in and sight-read it before. So I never told him I knew it by heart before I got there.”

Dorsey died several months after Massimino joined the band. But the contacts the young pianist made during that time turned out to be invaluable. His friendship with singer Julius LaRosa, for instance, led to a steady gig on “The Mike Douglas Show.”

“I’ve worked with Julius LaRosa for 35 years,” Massimino said. “We’re like brothers. Even today I still do arrangements for him.” Massimino, who had moved to New York, also would accompany Florence Henderson, Diahann Carroll, Vic Damone.

“And I used to do ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ whenever I was in Cleveland or (later) Philadelphia. So when Joe Harnell (Douglas’ regular pianist) left the show, he suggested, ‘Why don’t you get that guy with Julius LaRosa, that little short guy with the fat fingers?’ He couldn’t remember my name.

“During the first few weeks I’m there, I’m in the office talking to Mike about the music and all, and he looks at my hands--my hands aren’t small--and he says, ‘Joe, do you play pianos or do you move them?’ ”

Less than six months after he joined the Douglas orchestra as pianist, Massimino was appointed musical director of the show, a gig that lasted 14 years. It was there that he worked and developed friendships with such performers as Tony Bennett and Ben Vereen.

“My gig was like Doc’s (Severinsen). It was quite an honor, seeing that there were only five jobs in the country like it. I met everybody in the business through that show. As far as notoriety, that’s where I came into existence.”

He followed the Douglas show to California when it came here in 1978 and remained as musical director until the show went off the air in 1982. Disillusioned by then with the television business, he opened the San Remo Italian Deli in Tustin. He would hold regular jam sessions in front of the store.

About two years ago, at the encouragement of his wife, Paula, he got into the recording studio business. Singers such as Stephanie Haynes, Cathy Segal-Garcia and LaRosa all have all worked at the studio, Sierra Digital, that Massimino operates with partner Alan Kraemer.

Meanwhile, Massimino is making a record of his own, with bassist Luther Hughes (who will be with him at El Matador) and a host of different guests.

“I’ve always encouraged young jazz talent to come in,” Massimino said.

“I love the aggressiveness of young players. When you get to be my age, it’s easy to step back and just do what you’ve always been doing. But I’ve always felt you can never stop learning in this business. I’ve been playing for 45 years now, and I’m still learning. That’s why this business is so wonderful. There’s always something innovative happening.”

Joe Massimino plays tonight at 8:30 and 10:15 with Luther Hughes and Frank Potenza at El Matador, 16903 Algonquin St., Huntington Beach. Free. (714) 846-5337.