“How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?” (10/9/26)

Are you savoring the arrival of fall? Then turn off that air conditioner and follow me, because it’s time for another frankmarzano.com newsletter!

My records indicate that my last newsletter went out in July, 2025, so… we’ve got some catching up to do!

There is a story (probably apocryphal) about John Wayne playing the lead in Hamlet. The Duke is reciting the prince’s lines in his characteristic John Wayne accent. When the soliloquy is reached (“To be or not to be…”), the audience starts booing. The Duke, visibly annoyed, turns to the audience and demands, “Whaddya booing me for? I didn’t write this crap!”

Back in my “singer/songwriter” days, I took a real beating for my singing. Nearly every review of my music – positive or negative – had something critical to say about my vocals. Personally, I don’t think my singing was that bad, but I always suspected that, if my songs were sung by other people, they might have met with more success.

Now, I finally get to put this theory to the test. Seann Clark – a great friend who produced my jazz guitar album Stone Soup – has put together a project where musicians in northwest Pennsylvania (and farther abroad) contribute their vocals to songs that I wrote. The project – titled Senior Thesis: Songs of Frank Marzano – will be released digitally in the form of four EP’s. The first EP (Volume 1) can be found on Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, and other streaming platforms. For a link to (almost) all of them, check out

https://frankmarzanoandfriends.hearnow.com/senior-thesis-songs-of-frank-marzano-volume-1

The tracks on Volume 1 are:

1) “Childhood’s End” – Tim Moberly

2) “An American Soldier in Iraq” – Tommy Link

3) “June” – Mike Spagnolo

4) “Breathless” – The High Life

5) “When They Put My Body in the Ground” – Seann Clark

On a sad note, we lost jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins last summer, at the age of 95. Rollins produced a wealth of remarkable music; however, what I find especially inspiring is the following anecdote:

In 1959, Rollins was disappointed at what he perceived to be a lack of growth in his musicianship. He therefore took a two-and-a-half year sabbatical, during which he practiced on the Williamsburg Bridge, often for 8, 12, or 16 hours a day. And this was a man who was already famous!

I used to think that all I had to do was practice my ass off, and I’d become great. That attitude was necessary to get me started on my jazz guitar journey, but it hasn’t survived contact with reality. Some days, I actually feel like I’m getting worse.

When I explained this to another musician, he informed me, “Your fingers haven’t caught up to your ears yet.” In other words, my playing has gotten better, buy so has my perception of what good playing sounds like.

What exactly is the role of practice in musical excellence? When we hear a great musician, are we hearing God-given talent, or countless hours of practice? Maybe talent is nothing more than the willingness/ability to put in long hours of practice.

Upcoming gigs I have include:

Sun. 10/11       Luminary Distilling (Erie, PA), 6 – 8pm

Fri. 11/20          Jade Winery (Waterford, PA), 6 – 8pm

Fri. 2/12             Jade Winery (Waterford, PA), 6 – 8pm

And, with that, another newsletter limps to the finish line. As always, thanks for reading this. And if I don’t see you around here, I’ll see you around. Hear?

Rock long and prosper,

Frank