Robert Tuttle Morris Frost died on March 25th of pneumonia complications in California, he was 89. Born in 1930 in Washington DC he was raised in Palo Alto California. His parents where patrons of classical music and he began training on piano at age six. He credits one of his earliest piano instructors, a Ms. King who had worked as a department store song plugger, with teaching him the proper emphasis and approach to melody in popular music. As a teenager he wrote for his high school orchestra, the Stanford Football Band, and the march for his high school graduation.
He went on to study composition under film composer Erich Zeisl an Austrian living in Hollywood. He has written many orchestral, chamber and choral works. Much of his career was in the commercial recording industry as an arranger and music director. He also taught music at the Marymount Day School and directed the choir at St. Anthony’s Seminary.
During the early jazz revival period he learned to play jazz by jamming with local youth bands. After service in Korea he played in clubs in the Santa Barbara area on both piano and cornet with Dixieland groups including the one led by Rosie McHargue. He gigged and toured with Spencer Quinn, a comedic banjo player before settling down in Santa Barbara to a more stable life of occasional club dates at local restaurants and involvement with the symphony.
He had always t
