Pianist Frank Signorelli (May 24, 1901 – December 9, 1975) started the band the Original Memphis Five with Phil Napoleon in 1917. It was one of the most prolific bands of the 1920s. They put out hundreds of records under a variety of different band names, besides the Original Memphis Five. He also played briefly with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1921 and then rejoined the Original Memphis Five until 1926 when he then played and recorded with Joe Venuti, Adrian Rollini, Eddie Lang and Bix Beiderbecke, among others.

Signorelli had a light sophisticated sound, that worked well with the so called “Chamber Jazz” crowd like Lang and Venuti that played in New York of the late 1920s. This little movement in the words of Paul Whiteman, ” tried to make a lady out of Jazz.”

In 1936 some of the original members of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band tried to stage a comeback by reviving the band, and Signorelli was among them. In 1938 he joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. He continued to play music in New York in the 1940s and 1950s.

Frank Signorelli and his Orchestra