Ray Santisi , 2005 June 23
Interview Summary
Ray Santisi, jazz pianist and long-time professor of piano and harmony at Berklee College of Music, discusses the formation and activities of the Jazz Workshop music club in the fifties and sixties alongside other Boston jazz performance venues such as Storyville and the Stables. He also describes his teaching roles at Berklee and with the Stan Kenton music clinics, and his relationship with Berklee’s founder and first president Lawrence Berk. Santisi speaks about his teaching methods, Berklee’s curriculum, and the impact of Berklee on its students’ careers and successes. In addition, he shares stories about former students, particularly those he taught during his first year of teaching in 1957.
Dates
- Creation: 2005 June 23
Creator
- From the Collection: Berklee College of Music (Organization)
- From the Collection: Bouchard, Fred (Jazz writer) (Interviewer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Access to this collection is provided online here. See individual interview records for direct links to streaming video.
Biographical / Historical
Jazz pianist and lifelong Bostonian Raymond “Ray” Santisi (1933-2014) attended then Schillinger House (later Berklee College of Music) on a scholarship from 1950 to 1955, as well as the Boston Conservatory in the early sixties. He served as a professor of piano at Berklee for fifty-seven years from 1957 until his death in 2014. In addition to his teaching, Santisi performed as accompanist and pianist for jazz musicians and groups throughout Boston, including the Herb Pomeroy Orchestra and Serge Chaloff sextet, and was a mainstay of the Jazz Workshop jazz club. He also taught as part of the Stan Kenton music clinics for twelve years. In addition, Santisi authored the book Jazz Originals For Piano (1963), and was the recipient of two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, one for performance and the other for composition.
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Berklee Archives Repository