Biography
The New Orleans Italian enclave has long supplied a steady stream of working musicians, with the Assunto name surfacing whenever the roster is compiled. Trumpeter Frank Assunto’s siblings included two sisters accomplished on piano and woodwinds and trombonist Fred Assunto; each received instruction from their father, banjoist Jacob “Papa Jac” Assunto. The brothers themselves generated the greatest local stir when they formed the Dukes of Dixieland in 1949. What began as an impromptu entry in a talent contest staged by producer and bandleader Horace Heidt led to an invitation to tour; once back in New Orleans the group essentially commandeered the Famous Door.
A streamlined Dixieland revival that avoided the rhythmic turbulence of the 1920s reached its commercial height in the 1950s, lifting the Assuntos to national visibility through club dates, a sequence of albums, and spots on television variety programs. Their 1958 release marked the first jazz album recorded in stereo, giving listeners the novel effect of hearing one brother in the left channel and the other in the right. Frank Assunto’s trumpet playing naturally reflects the pervasive influence of Louis Armstrong, whether encountered in mono, stereo, or quadraphonic formats, yet it also incorporates the comparatively spare timbre associated with Bunny Berigan and the brighter, more extroverted attack of Bobby Hackett. Theatrical presentation formed a central part of the band’s draw; the Assunto brothers stood at the opposite pole from jazz musicians who performed with their backs to the crowd. Frank additionally handled vocal features and has occasionally been named as composer of the standard “St. James Infirmary.” If every claimant credited across some 500 recorded versions were to settle the matter by force, the resulting casualties would surely exceed the death toll recounted in even the most exhaustive rendition of the song itself.
A streamlined Dixieland revival that avoided the rhythmic turbulence of the 1920s reached its commercial height in the 1950s, lifting the Assuntos to national visibility through club dates, a sequence of albums, and spots on television variety programs. Their 1958 release marked the first jazz album recorded in stereo, giving listeners the novel effect of hearing one brother in the left channel and the other in the right. Frank Assunto’s trumpet playing naturally reflects the pervasive influence of Louis Armstrong, whether encountered in mono, stereo, or quadraphonic formats, yet it also incorporates the comparatively spare timbre associated with Bunny Berigan and the brighter, more extroverted attack of Bobby Hackett. Theatrical presentation formed a central part of the band’s draw; the Assunto brothers stood at the opposite pole from jazz musicians who performed with their backs to the crowd. Frank additionally handled vocal features and has occasionally been named as composer of the standard “St. James Infirmary.” If every claimant credited across some 500 recorded versions were to settle the matter by force, the resulting casualties would surely exceed the death toll recounted in even the most exhaustive rendition of the song itself.