Frank Puzzullo
Associate Professor Emeritus of Piano (Jazz)
Frank Puzzullo joined the Ball State University School of Music faculty in December, 1982. His teaching responsibilities as an associate professor include jazz piano and jazz studies courses in history, appreciation and improvisation, and coordination of the jazz combos program. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Murray State University, Kentucky, and has completed work toward a doctorate in educational administration at the University of New Orleans and State University of New York at Cortland.
As a jazz pianist of considerable reputation, he has appeared with such noted performers as Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Chuck Mangione, Ray Brown, James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Marvin Stamm, Sal Nestico, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Pepper and many other jazz notables.
Prior to his teaching appointment at Ball State, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Loyola University, New Orleans. In 1984, he returned to New Orleans for the summer to play with Al Hirt at the New Orleans World's Fair. Each spring he traditionally plays the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fair, an international festival which rivals Mardi Gras in attendance.
Puzzullo received his bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Murray State University, Kentucky, and did doctoral work in educational administration at the University of New Orleans and State University of New York at Cortland. Prior to receiving a doctoral equivalency from Ball State, he did further study at Purdue University and Butler University. He also holds an associate of applied science degree in music from Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, New York.
One of the original organizers of the Art of Jazz series, a concert series co-sponsored by the Ball State University School of Music and College of Fine Arts and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Mr. Puzzullo combines both education and performance in his music schedule.
While at the University of Wisconsin and at Loyola, he developed and instituted two jazz degree programs, and, since coming to Ball State, has been instrumental in developing the curriculum for and in instituting a jazz studies minor on the Muncie, Indiana campus.
His public school experience includes teaching in the New Orleans Public Schools; Cleary Junior High School, Syracuse, New York, and Cadiz Junior High School, Cadiz, Kentucky.
In addition to his performance dates, he works annually as a clinician with the Stan Kenton Band Camp in Columbia, Missouri. He has recorded "Coaches Choice," an album of original music on ARTCO Records, and has recorded live with Ray Brown and Willie Thomas at the National Association of Jazz Educators conventions for National Public Radio.
His critique of Jerry Coker's Jazz Improvisation Book was published in Second Line Magazine, and he has worked on a jazz theory book to be published by Simon and Schuster in October, 1990. His professional memberships include the American Society of Composers, Authors, Publishers (ASCAP); National Association of Jazz Educators (NAJE), and Music Educators National Conference.