Jerry Bruno

Jerry Bruno (January 10, 1920—June 22, 2020) was an American bassist and musician of swing and mainstream jazz. He performed with many famed musicians of the time, including Tony Corbiscello, Vaughn Monroe, Red Norvo, Louis Prima, Don Costa, Joe Wilder, Marlene VerPlanck, Al Caiola, and Tony Mottola.

As a studio musician, he worked with Frank Sinatra, Carmel Quinn, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, and Liza Minnelli. He also toured with Joey Heatherton, Liza Minnelli, Benny Goodman, Steve Lawrence, and Eydie Gorme.

He was a member of the American Federation of Musicians (Local 802).

Jerry Bruno was born Frank Bruno in Rochester, New York, on January 10, 1920.

Born into a musical family, Bruno had an early start in music. He started his music journey playing piano, guitar, banjo, and bass, with his brothers, Santos and Al. He ultimately went with the bass guitar as his instrument of choice. Growing up, he listened to Rudy Vallee, Art Tatum, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Fats Waller, Earl Hines and Teddy Wilson.

Bruno enlisted in the Army 404th Artillery and served from February 1942 to November 1945. He volunteered for the 77th Division band with trumpeter Eddie Zandy in the Ina Ray Hutton band.

After being discharged from the army in 1945, Bruno heard about Louis Prima looking for a bass player for his upcoming performance at Palace Theater in his hometown of Rochester. He was selected after the audition and played for Prima's band for a night alongside saxophonist Morty Lewis, pianist Moe Wexler, and drummer Jimmy Vincent.

After that, Bruno joined Coon-Sanders Orchestra (drummer Carleton Coon and pianist Joe Sanders) in Chicago for over a year. Around that time, he received a telegram from Louis Prima to play with him and Keely Smith at The Capitol Hotel in New York City.

After his gig with Prima ended in 1947, Bruno worked with Vaughn Monroe's band until 1953, playing bass with Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar), Frank L. Ryerson (trumpet), Ray Conniff (trombone), Don Costa (arranger), Marion Evans (arranger), and Marilyn Duke (vocalist). He became good friends with Costa and Pizzarelli, with whom he worked for years in his career.

While working with Monroe's band, Bruno, in early 1951, worked with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He can be heard on Dorsey's recordings of "Sweet Adeline", "Diane", and "Marcheta" on Decca Records. Around the same time, he also worked with The Mills Brothers and Bing Crosby. With The Mills Brothers, he recorded "You know you belong to somebody else" and "Please Don't talk about me when I'm Gone", and with Crosby, he recorded "The Girlfriend", "Without a Word of Warning", "You gotta show me", and "Then you've never been blue" (Decca Records).

After leaving Monroe's band, Bruno moved to New York City. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked as a freelance musician and performed at various venues. In 1956, he played bass on Doug Duke's recording of Sounds Impossible. He also worked with Dick Garcia and Leo Anthony.

In May 1957, Bruno played bass on Paul Anka's recording of the song "Diane" and got to work with his friends from Vaughn Monroe days—Don Costa and Bucky Pizzarelli. It was recorded at Costa's studio in New York City and Bruno was accompanied by George Barnes playing lead guitar, Pizzarelli playing the "Calypso" riff on the guitar, Irving Wexler on piano, and Panama Francis on drums, with Artie Ripp as backup singer.

As a studio musician in Costa's studio in New York, Bruno worked with many popular musicians, including Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gormé, Mimi Hines, Vic Damone, Kenny Rankin, Johnny Mathis, and Barbra Streisand.

In 1967, Bruno moved to New Jersey, living in Englewood for three years before settling in Fort Lee.

He also worked with Bucky Pizzarelli's trio and recorded with Red Norvo. In 2001, with Pizzarelli, he recorded the album Christmas Time Is Here with an NYC vocal jazz group called "Monday Off" (Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner, Richard Roland, and Raymond Sage.)

Starting in 1979, He performed at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall in New York.

In 2005, Bruno and Pizzarelli played with French guitarist Patrick Saussois on the album Swingin' American Songs (Djaz Records). The same year, the two recorded Oh' Lady Be Good with Michele Ramo. In 2008, he played bass on Dave Bennett's album Celebrates 100 Years of Benny Goodman accompanied by Ed Metz Jr., Pete Siers (drums); Bucky Pizzarelli and Hugh Leal (guitar); Bill Meyer and Dick Hyman (piano); and Jim Cooper (vibraphone). The same year, he and Pizzarelli also recorded FourxFour with saxophonist Carmen Leggio and drummer John Cutrone.

In 2013, Bruno played on Derek Smith's album I'm All Smiles with Rick Visone.

Movie appearance

In Woody Allen's 1997 feature film Deconstructing Harry (starring Allen, Judy Davis, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Bruno appeared as a musician playing bass in the Stebbins Hall Band.

Bruno was married to Ilion, with whom he owned and operated a restaurant named Bruno's Inn in Sparkill, New York, from 1957 to 1967. Many of his musician friends visited his restaurant: Don Costa, Bucky Pizzarelli, Eydie Gorme, Nick Perito, Joe and Carmel Malin, Bobby Rosengarden, Moe Wexler, Tony Bennett, Nancy Sinatra, Tommy Sands, Al Caiola, Frank Junior, Rudy Van Gelder, and Dick Hyman.

Bruno died in New York, on June 22, 2020, at the age of 100.