Biography
23 March 1917, New York City, New York, USA, d. 7 January 1985, Livingston, New Jersey, USA. Although he studied piano formally, Guarnieri’s musical future was determined through meeting Fats Waller, Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith, James P. Johnson and Art Tatum. Johnson told him, ‘After me and Fats, you’re number three.’ Although adept at playing stride piano, despite having remarkably small hands, Guarnieri’s breakthrough into the big time came when he played with the swing era big bands of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey. With Shaw, he played harpsichord in the band-within-the-band, the Gramercy Five. During the early 40s Guarnieri also worked extensively in the radio studios, making countless broadcasts, many with the Raymond Scott orchestra at CBS, and appearing on numerous recording sessions including those with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Don Byas and Louis Armstrong. Resident on the west coast from the...
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