Richie Summa

Tallahassee jazz aficionados will recognize Richie’s guitar artistry from several regular appearances around town, but this is his first time playing at the tavern. Michael Bakan and Brian Hall will form a trio with Richie for the evening, which should be nothing short of delightful! If you don’t know about Richie’s music, here’s a primer:

Richie Summa hails from Stamford, Connecticut, where he studied guitar with Sal Salvador, one of the jazz greats. Richie continued his studies with Sal at the University of Bridgeport, where he received his music degree. During the course of his career, Summa backed such diversified musicians, performers and entertainers as: The Fifth Dimension, Della Reese, Connie Francis, Bobby Vinton, The Drifters, Bob Hope, Rich Little, Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Mary Wells, and Tony Award winners Anthony Quinn, Joel Grey, Donna McKecknie, and Frankie Michaels.

Summa has also performed in the Broadway orchestra of “La Cage Aux Folles,” and with touring productions of “Cabaret,” “Zorba,” and “A Chorus Line.”

Richie took a three year hiatus from the music business to earn a law degree from the Florida State University School of Law. He now lives and practices law in Tallahassee, Florida.

More recently, Richie embarked on his recording career, issuing two CDs, “Alone Together,” and “Tear It Down.” “Alone Together” features Richie on solo guitar and vocals. In this setting he is reminiscent of Joe Pass on guitar and Chet Baker on vocals. On “Tear It Down,” Richie shuns the microphone to showcase his guitar artistry in the quartet setting, with piano, bass and drums. With his quartet, Summa pays tribute to some of his favorite guitarists, offering his personal take on tunes written or recorded by Wes Montgomery (“Tear It Down,” “Road Song,” “Phoenix Love Theme,” “Misty”), George Benson (“Affirmation”), and Pat Martino (“On The Stairs”). Apart from these tributes to the masters, Richie provides four original tunes which demonstrate his own style, influence and contribution to the jazz guitar repetoire. Notably among these is “Blues for Sal,” dedicated to his long-time mentor.