Biography
In 1954, Frank “Franny” Beecher anticipated a jazz-centered path that would have left him known only to a small circle of Philadelphia aficionados and occasional discographers. Instead, well past eighty, he continues to headline European tours before thousands nightly and still performs locally in his hometown, widely recognized as an early rock-and-roll guitar hero alongside Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup.
Beecher, sometimes listed as “Frannie,” had already worked as a jazz guitarist with Buddy Greco and Benny Goodman when, in summer 1954, he received an unexpected offer while holding a daytime job and leading a modest evening trio. The caller represented Bill Haley & His Comets, a regional outfit blending country and rhythm-and-blues that had just scored its first major success with a cover of “Shake, Rattle & Roll.” Lead guitarist Danny Cedrone had died in an accident, creating an immediate vacancy. Beecher joined first on a part-time recording basis. During an early rehearsal he began an improvised solo only to be halted by Haley, who instructed him, according to interviewer Bob Berman, to restrict himself to major scales and avoid flatted fifths or other jazz inflections. He adjusted quickly. By summer 1955 Beecher had become a permanent member just as the band’s signature hit “Rock Around the Clock”—originally cut with Cedrone more than a year earlier—climbed to the top of the charts. The guaranteed weekly salary of 175 dollars, later raised to 300, regardless of performance dates, plus separate recording payments and fully covered travel, lodging, and meals, placed him among the highest-compensated figures in the emerging genre.
Over the next six years he appeared on every concert, television broadcast, and film featuring the Comets, including multiple Ed Sullivan Show segments. Initially attempting to replicate Cedrone’s refined parts on the three key tracks the late guitarist had recorded, Beecher soon developed a freer, hybrid approach drawing equally from rockabilly, jazz, rhythm-and-blues, and country sources. Because the Comets issued more sides than nearly any other rock-and-roll act of the period, his work ultimately appears on roughly 160 tracks. Not every release matched the caliber of their biggest successes; the material on Rockin’ Around the World, for instance, proved uneven, yet Beecher and saxophonist Rudy Pompilli routinely supplied the strongest moments.
Beecher remained with the group long after its string of hits ended in 1958 and throughout the later period when tax authorities began garnishing Haley’s earnings. Chronic mismanagement, poor accounting, and withheld taxes repeatedly forced the band to seek overseas engagements that paid in cash. He departed in 1961 to protect his marriage, though Haley rehired him for a 1962 engagement at New York’s Roundtable club; Roulette Records eventually issued a dozen tracks from those shows. Beecher stayed near the music scene for years while successors such as Johnny Kay occupied the lead-guitar chair in later editions of the Comets.
During the 1970s he moved in and out of performing before reuniting with surviving original members Joey d’Ambrosio and Marshall Lytle; those appearances have extended into the twenty-first century. Ironically, Beecher, who had filled the chair left by Cedrone, has outlived Haley—who died in 1981—by more than two decades. In 2002 he was still drawing full houses across Europe with the Comets and continued to be cited as an influence by guitarists two generations younger, more than forty years after the band’s final major chart entry.
Beecher, sometimes listed as “Frannie,” had already worked as a jazz guitarist with Buddy Greco and Benny Goodman when, in summer 1954, he received an unexpected offer while holding a daytime job and leading a modest evening trio. The caller represented Bill Haley & His Comets, a regional outfit blending country and rhythm-and-blues that had just scored its first major success with a cover of “Shake, Rattle & Roll.” Lead guitarist Danny Cedrone had died in an accident, creating an immediate vacancy. Beecher joined first on a part-time recording basis. During an early rehearsal he began an improvised solo only to be halted by Haley, who instructed him, according to interviewer Bob Berman, to restrict himself to major scales and avoid flatted fifths or other jazz inflections. He adjusted quickly. By summer 1955 Beecher had become a permanent member just as the band’s signature hit “Rock Around the Clock”—originally cut with Cedrone more than a year earlier—climbed to the top of the charts. The guaranteed weekly salary of 175 dollars, later raised to 300, regardless of performance dates, plus separate recording payments and fully covered travel, lodging, and meals, placed him among the highest-compensated figures in the emerging genre.
Over the next six years he appeared on every concert, television broadcast, and film featuring the Comets, including multiple Ed Sullivan Show segments. Initially attempting to replicate Cedrone’s refined parts on the three key tracks the late guitarist had recorded, Beecher soon developed a freer, hybrid approach drawing equally from rockabilly, jazz, rhythm-and-blues, and country sources. Because the Comets issued more sides than nearly any other rock-and-roll act of the period, his work ultimately appears on roughly 160 tracks. Not every release matched the caliber of their biggest successes; the material on Rockin’ Around the World, for instance, proved uneven, yet Beecher and saxophonist Rudy Pompilli routinely supplied the strongest moments.
Beecher remained with the group long after its string of hits ended in 1958 and throughout the later period when tax authorities began garnishing Haley’s earnings. Chronic mismanagement, poor accounting, and withheld taxes repeatedly forced the band to seek overseas engagements that paid in cash. He departed in 1961 to protect his marriage, though Haley rehired him for a 1962 engagement at New York’s Roundtable club; Roulette Records eventually issued a dozen tracks from those shows. Beecher stayed near the music scene for years while successors such as Johnny Kay occupied the lead-guitar chair in later editions of the Comets.
During the 1970s he moved in and out of performing before reuniting with surviving original members Joey d’Ambrosio and Marshall Lytle; those appearances have extended into the twenty-first century. Ironically, Beecher, who had filled the chair left by Cedrone, has outlived Haley—who died in 1981—by more than two decades. In 2002 he was still drawing full houses across Europe with the Comets and continued to be cited as an influence by guitarists two generations younger, more than forty years after the band’s final major chart entry.