About Tony
A Manhattan native, Tony started playing the bass guitar as a teenager. Mostly self-taught, he learned on the job and became an experienced professional musician in New York, doing a great variety of recording sessions and live work. He then followed his interests and expanded his skills into music production, recording, composition, and songwriting. Now, in addition, he helps others to acquire those skills through his teaching.
Band / Performing
Since 2010 Tony has been singing his songs and playing with his band (see directly to your right!) to a growing following in NYC clubs such as The Living Room, Rockwood Music Hall, the late lamented P&G Bar, and now The Underground. Listen to (and download) Tony’s songs on the Music page.
Songwriting & Composing
- Scored for ABC News, CBS News, Discovery Channel, BET, A&E’s Biography, others.
- Composed music and song parodies for Air America radio network.
- Scored “Bowery Dish”, a Documentary about the changes on NYC’s Bowery, currently showing on the Sundance channel.
- Co-writes songs with Frank Conniff for his monthly show at the Steve Allen Theater in L.A., Cartoon Dump
- Nominated for Outmusic Songwriter Of The Year Award for co-writing songs on Alix Olson’s CD, “Built Like That”.
- Scored the award-winning Feature Film, “Slings And Arrows”.
- Scored the nationally syndicated PBS special, “Love Letter To New York”. Also co-wrote the title song, “New York Lady”, with Sam Harris.
- Written songs and underscores for clients including PBS, HBO, ESPN, Time Warner, etc.
- Co-written with artists he’s produced, including Alix Olson, Marion LoGuidice, Saqi Dosaj.
- Written numerous Children’s Music songs and scores, particularly many “Slim Goodbody” TV specials, nationally syndicated on PBS.
Teaching
Tony has been teaching since 1999. He currently offers workshops and private coaching in Songwriting, Bass, Production, Garageband, LogicPro and more. He also teaches at the Gotham Writing School and the Collective School of Music.
To learn more, visit the Workshops page.
Producing
Tony is a founding member and current chairperson of the New York Music Producers group, as well as a member of NARAS’ New York Producers and Engineers Wing Committee.
Tony was nominated for Outmusic’s Producer Of The Year Award for his work on Alix Olson’s acclaimed debut CD, “Built Like That” (“The music matches the word perfectly. Dynamic, emotional and raw.” – Collected Sounds)
His productions and arrangements are always oriented towards serving and enhancing the song and the singer. He takes pride in the sonic quality of the recordings and mixes that come out of his studio.
Recent production projects include songs for Director/ Screenwriter (Mississippi Burning, Citizen X, Over There) Chris Gerolmo’s 2011 movie for USA Network, Certain Prey, starring Mark Harmon.
Over the past few years, he has produced, recorded, mixed and edited all the audio for the entire Collective Contemporary Styles series of Books/CDs, recently published by Carl Fischer Music, one of America’s most prominent music publishers. This constitutes over a dozen hours of music performed by modern master player/teachers, incorporating the styles of Jazz, Rock, R&B, Funk, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Fusion (all in both contemporary and traditional styles), and others.
Tony has produced, arranged, recorded and mixed CDs for Marion LoGuidice (Dirty Goddess), Chris Gerolmo (A Record For Joan), Stacy Harshman, Hunt Taylor and Contango, Melineh Kurdian, Heather Pirie, Meg Flather (co-produced with Larry Saltzman), international blues singer Bronco Bob, spoken word artist Saqi Dosaj, Irish actress and singer-songwriter Marion Tomas-Griffin, and Ann Marie Milazzo (East Village Opera Co.), as well as individual tracks for Sam Harris and actor/ songwriter Robert Sean Leonard.
He produced the title track for the widely shown documentary “The McCourts of Limerick” and co-produced and -arranged the title song for the move “The Tao Of Steve”.
He uses and is a specialist in LogicPro Audio for recording and scoring, utilizes other software programs, instruments, and plug-ins, as well as Avalon and Grace mic pre-amps, AKG and Beyer microphones, etc.
Listen to songs Tony’s produced.
Bass
Tony started his musical career as a bass guitarist and continues to develop on the instrument, playing live and recording regularly. He uses vintage Fender 4 string basses, customized by Roger Sadowsky and Music Man 5 strings.
As a bassist he has played and/ or recorded with, among others, The Golden Palominos, Shawn Colvin, Marc Shaiman, Alix Olson, Judy Collins, Phoebe Snow, Peter Allen, Lori Carson, Victoria Williams, Phyllis Hyman, Steve Forbert, Peter Apfelbaum and the Hieroglyphics Ensemble, Steven Bernstein, Peter Gordon and The Love Of Life Orchestra, David Van Tieghem, Pierce Turner, Patty Scialfa-Springsteen, Bob Telson (Gospel At Colonus), Steve Goodman, Longhouse, The Main Ingredient, David Amram, Doane Perry (Jethro Tull), Sam Harris, Lamont Dozier, Lenny Pickett, Viva DiConcini, Patty Griffin (10 Million Miles), John Kelly, Cornell Dupree, and Sneaky Cookin’ (w. Howie Wyeth and Michael Brecker).
He recently served as Musical Director and bassist for John Kelly in his triumphant performance of the entirety of Joni Mitchell’s Court And Spark album at New York’s River To River Festival, as well as for the Neil Diamond Hot August Night tribute at the R2R Festival.
He was in the house band for the Live TV broadcast of Night Of Too Many Stars, with Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, and Adam Sandler. He played on the original soundtrack albums of the Broadway hits, “Once On This Island” and “Romance, Romance”. As well as performing in the Broadway runs of those shows, he has played on Broadway in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Shrek, Rent, Hairspray, Cats, Big River and many others, and Off-Broadway in Patty Griffin’s musical hit Ten Million Miles at the Atlantic Theater Co.
He played on recent CDs by Tamara Hey (Miserably Happy), TamLin Music (Floating World), Charlie Demos, and Cassis.
Along with performing in the film, he is featured playing on the soundtrack of the hit movie, “Camp” (now available on DVD and CD). He has also played on the soundtracks of Bertolucci’s “Stealing Beauty”, Disney’s “The Hunchback Of Notre Dame”, and “The Tao Of Steve”, as well as many TV shows and too many jingles to mention.
He has also served as Musical Director for numerous local artists and bands, including Elaine Caswell, Ann Marie Milazzo (East Village Opera Co., Spring Awakening) and the Off-Broadway show, “The Long Road Home”, by Kathy Sommer and Barry Harmon.
