BiografieThe Band:


Bill Ayasse - electric violin, acoustic violin and viola, mandolin, octave mandolin, background vocals, percussion



James Guarnieri - drums, percussion



Nick Lieto - lead and background vocals, keyboards, mellotron, hammond organ, grand piano, trumpet, percussion




Andrew Sussman - electric bass




Steven Uh - guitars, violin






Bill Ayasse started playing the violin in 4th grade and was always trying to break out of the "normal" violinist mold. He began exploring new musical styles very early with his friends in Junior High School. With influences such as Ponty, Grappelli, Noel Pointer, Mark O´Conner and Zappa he soon realized that there was much more to the violin than Mozart. After receiving his Bachlor of Music in Music Education from the Crane School Of Music he attended the University of Northern Colorado and recieved his Master of Music degree. Bill moved back from Colorado and began Jammin´ with his friends from Crane - Frank Camiola was such a huge Zappa fan and also played great guitar - “Lumpy Gravy” was born! (mostly out of the need to hear great music performed on Long Island). Now a couple of years later Bill had the desire to play original music with an ear for the unusual and that is how “Frogg Café” was born!


Jim started playing his first gigs at the age of 16, playing standard jazz style music for dancing. After completing high school, he attended N.Texas State U. where he studied music and got heavily into jazz. He was strongly influenced by artists like Miles Davis and John Coltrane as well as the great jazz drummers such as Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes and Jack DeJohnette. Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles were also among in influential. While at North Texas, Jim continued to broaden his musical experiences. He was a member of the school symphony orchestra, percussion and mallet ensemble and big bands. He also played for a semi-professional orchestra called The Dallas Civic Symphony. He traveled throughout the area on weekends playing various gigs with several big bands in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, playing in nightclubs, backing up singers or playing in country-western bands, and southern-style rock groups. After 4 years at NTU Jim decided to leave and pursue a career as a performing musician. He started playing 6 nights a week with a top 40 group which traveled around the east coast and was privileged to play with a group backing up the singing group The Chiffons. As he continued to travel one of the groups led him back to Dallas where he lived and had an opportunity to play with the great jazz pianist Red Garland. Moving back to the NYC area in 1974, Jim continued to work as a musician doing some studio work, playing club dates and playing with original and pop jazz groups such as Odyssey, Bermuda Triangle and Unity. At the same time, he pursued a teaching career and received a Masters degree from LIU in Music Education and is presently a teacher of instrumental music. Over the past 10 years, Jim has continued to study his instrument and is presently studying with Sam Ulano. He is performing in various musical settings and is excited to bring his many musical experiences into the music of Frogg Café.


Nick Lieto
Nick started playing Trumpet in the fourth grade and got his first gigs playing and singing in Rock and Funk bands as a teenager. Having always felt lucky to be taking part in music, an eclectic array of music helped to influence him at an early age. Nick enjoyed the variety of Rock and Radio music that the mid-late 70´s and early 80´s had to offer. "The Police", "Journey", "Earth Wind and Fire", "Yes" Stevie Wonder and Gino Vannelli, were among the many to have an early musical impact. As Nick went on to study Music in High School and College, Jazz and Classical music helped to shape him as a musician and composer. As a Music educator, Nick is thankful to able to share with students the music that continues to inspire him. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Michael Brecker, Joni Mitchell, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel and Aaron Copland just to name a few continue to be important influences. As a musician, Nick is even more excited to be playing in a progressive band that is dedicated to creating music that is fresh and totally different than anything else out there. "Music is life!!"


Andrew Sussman´s main instrument is cello, but enjoys playing electric bass and acoustic guitar in Frogg Cafe. He has a degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY POTSDAM and a Masters in Cello Performance from Hunter College in NYC where he learned how to play, and more importantly teach all orchestral instruments, specializing in strings. His influences range from Zappa and Yes to Pink Floyd, early Van Halen, Joni Mitchell,Rush, ELP and King Crimson.


Steve attributes much of his musical development to his parents not getting another TV set after the tube blew when he was 3. Instead of watching Brady reruns, Steve began studying the violin and the piano at a very early age. Steve did his undergraduate degree at SUNY Potsdam, where he first met Frogg Café members Bill, Frank, and Andrew. Steve graduated with a Masters in Violin Performance from Temple University, and has performed with orchestras in music festivals in Europe and the U.S., including the Spoleto USA Festival (Charleston, SC). A self taught guitarist, Steve´s six string influences include Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Trey Anastasio, Wayne Krantz, and Pat Metheny. Steve now has DIRECTV with about 400 channels.


Quelle: http://www.froggcafe.com/band.htmlDiscografie2001 - Frogg Café

2002 - Noodles

2003 - Creatures

2005 - The Fortunate Observer Of Time

www