October 30, 2014
I got this email earlier today from
Eric Jackson
WGBH Boston
Dear Colleagues,
It is with much sadness that I write to tell you that long-time Berklee faculty member in the Piano Department, Ray Santisi, passed away last night [October 29].
Ray was an alum of Berklee College and Boston Conservatory of Music and taught at Berklee for 47 years (since 1957). . . .
Information about funeral arrangements will be communicated once those are known.
Regards,
Jay Kennedy
. . . Berklee College of Music
Excerpted, with a few edits, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Santisi:
Ray Santisi (c. 1933 – October 29, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, recording artist and educator. He played as featured soloist with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Mel Torme, Irene Kral, Herb Pomeroy and Natalie Cole, to name a few. He also performed with Buddy DeFranco, Joe Williams, Gabor Szabo, Milt Jackson, Zoot Sims & Al Cohn, Carole Sloane, Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer. He performed with his own ensemble, The Real Thing, and in the 1960s performed with the Benny Golson Quartet. He performed at Carnegie Hall and Boston's Symphony Hall.
Santisi was professor of piano and harmony at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he had taught since 1957. He was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in composition and performance. He taught at Stan Kenton's summer jazz clinics throughout the United States as well as performing in Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia. He was a founder of the early Jazz Workshops in Boston. In 2008 he was nominated to the IAJE Jazz Education Hall of Fame.
His students included many notable jazz musicians, among them Diana Krall, Makoto Ozone, Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, Jane Ira Bloom, Jan Hammer, Alan Broadbent, Arif Mardin, Gary Burton, John Hicks, Danilo Perez and Hiromi. To date, 14 of his students have received Grammy awards.
Santisi is the author of Berklee Jazz Piano and Jazz Originals for Piano.
R.I.P.
Thanks.