Back to top

Dave is experienced in playing both the banjo band and Dixieland/traditional jazz styles of the instrument and is listed in K.O. Eckland's book Jazz West 2, a history of traditional jazz performers in the western United States. Dave is also the banjoist for the San Francisco Starlight Orchestra (a 1920's style hot dance orchestra that recently ranked fifth in the world in a Mississippi Rag newspaper's readers poll, as well as numerous other jazz and banjo bands, including the Southtown Strummers, The Three Plectrums, the Fourth Street Five Jazz Band and Eldorado Syncopators Jazz Band.
More about Dave...

Sue Sangiacomo became a dedicated plectrum banjo player in 1994. Until then she had played five-string bluegrass style banjo. Sue's desire to play what she calls "Riverboat Banjo" -- specifically, the tune "Waiting For The Robert E. Lee" -- turned her toward the plectrum banjo. She began taking lessons from Dave Frey and asked about where to get thorough plectrum banjo instruction manuals. Sue quickly discovered that no definitive plectrum banjo instructional sources were in print.
More about Sue...

David Frey

Banjoist and author Dave Frey has been playing plectrum banjo for over 30 years. During that time, he professionally recorded over 300 tunes with nine different bands making him one of the more prolific banjoists performing today. Dave is also a banjo instructor at the International Banjo College in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Dave is experienced in playing both the banjo band and Dixieland/traditional jazz styles of the instrument and is listed in K.O. Eckland's book Jazz West 2, a history of traditional jazz performers in the western United States. Dave is also the banjoist for the San Francisco Starlight Orchestra (a 1920's style hot dance orchestra that recently ranked fifth in the world in a Mississippi Rag newspaper's readers poll), as well as numerous other jazz and banjo bands, including The Southtown Strummers, The Three Plectrums, The Fourth Street Five Jazz Band and Eldorado Syncopators Jazz Band.

Dave travels the world to teach and play banjo and is the first known four-string banjoist to give regular private lessons online through use of a webcam.  He is also collaborating with co-author Sue Sangiacomo to create a series of Banjo Mini-Guides – one-hour music lessons on specific banjo topics that include a recorded CD and instructional booklet.  Dave and Sue are also producing a banjo book of Christmas and holiday tunes.

Dave’s “banjo life” began one evening at Johnny & Red’s Pizza Parlor in Santa Rosa, California, where he heard his first banjo band.  “From that moment on, the four-string banjo has been a major part of my life.”

With this new found inspiration, Dave immediately arranged to begin banjo lessons for $3.00 per hour with Leonard Moors, a local banjoist and instructor.  Within a year, he had progressed enough to become part of the Marin Banjo Band which performed regularly in the San Rafael area.  “Being part of a band - be it a banjo band or traditional jazz group - was the major focus of my banjo activity during my early 'banjo life’.  My goal was to make any musician or band I was playing with sound better.  Many of the groups I’ve been part of did not have drummers.  So, laying down a solid rhythm is how I cut my teeth with the banjo.”

During the end of his four year stretch with the Marin Banjo Band, in early 1974, Frey continued to “cut his teeth” performing with the Oakland Banjo Band at the Straw Hat Pizza Parlour in Oakland.  “It was during the time I was playing with the big banjo bands that I got the idea to put together a smaller group that would utilize the same repertoire in a more portable (and sellable) package.  From this concept, in 1975, I formed The Southtown Strummers.”  The Southtown Strummers  were an immediate hit in mid-1970s California.

In the “early” days, The Strummers were engaged to do some of the most prestigious events and venues in the San Francisco Bay Area.  When they celebrated their 10th anniversary in 1985, the event was marked by a sold-out concert at the Marquee Theater in Santa Rosa and a two-hour radio retrospective entitled The Southtown Strummers - A Decade of Music.

As Dave’s interest in the banjo as a solo instrument grew, he started to attend some of the banjo rallies and festivals when they were close by.  In 1977, he had a wonderful opportunity at the Sacramento Banjorama to play in a private jam session with Dave Marty, Norman Doster and the legendary Perry Bechtel.

As Frey’s musical abilities grew, so too did the expanded possibilities of where to go and what to do with them.  In 1981, he joined house banjo players Fred Dodd and Vic Tooker aboard the famed riverboat, The Delta Queen, as she traveled up the Mississippi River from St. Louis to St. Paul.  It was also in the early 1980s that Dave began to take a serious interest in traditional jazz and Dixieland.

In 1983, Dave joined the Jazz Salvation Company.  The Jazz Salvation Company was a six-piece ensemble which performed at numerous festivals throughout the western United States, including Sacramento and San Diego.  With Frey as their banjoist, the band made three recordings and was cited in Tex Wyndham’s book How Dixieland Jazz Works as a prime contemporary example of a 1920's style white New Orleans jazz band.

With an ever-growing reputation in the active Dixieland and traditional jazz community of the Bay area, Dave’s multi-tasking musical endeavors kept him very busy.  In 1990, he became a member of yet another jazz band, The Fourth Street Five and in 1991 he joined The San Francisco Starlight Orchestra - a 15-piece dance orchestra playing tunes originally made famous by the likes of Paul Whiteman, Jean Goldkette and Duke Ellington.  Add to these Dave’s membership in the Hot Chamber Music Society, The El Dorado Syncopators,  Wild Jane’s Jazz Trio ,along with fill-in dates with Ted Shafer’s Jelly Roll Jazz Band and the Gold Coast Jazz Band and it becomes apparent that Dave Frey was one of the busiest jazz banjo players to be found during the 1990s.  And all this happened while his own Southtown Strummers continued to headline banjo rally and festival appearances along the West Coast.

As if the aforementioned musical activity - in addition to a second career in marketing - wasn’t enough to keep Dave busy, he became part of another band - a banjo trio known as The Three Plectrums.  With Larry Kennedy and Kurt Abell rounding out the trio, The Three Plectrums played for many special events around the San Francisco area and has made two recordings as well.

Through The Three Plectrums and an appearance at the 1997 FIGA Convention in Sacramento as well as a performance of Rhapsody In Blue with the Cotati Philharmonic, Dave realized that a greater emphasis was being placed on his capabilities as a banjo soloist.  During the process, he also came to the realization that there existed no comprehensive guide to playing the plectrum banjo and decided to remedy the situation.  The result was a three-year effort known as the much acclaimed The Ultimate Plectrum Banjo Players Guide.

Dave has continued to maintain an active performance schedule.  In addition to his various performances around the Bay area, in 2001, he was the featured performer at the Bayside Banjo Aggregation’s St. Valentine’s Banjofest in Allenberry, Pennsylvania.  The following year his travels took him to Scotland where he performed on tour with the Cell Block Seven Jazz Band.  Frey recalls, “Traditional jazz great Tommy Loy from Plano, Texas joined the band for this tour...he was a legend in Texas who played the National Anthem at every Dallas Cowboys game for 22 years!  We played 11 gigs in 13 days on a whirlwind trip through the Scottish countryside.  Our great trip was saddened when, upon our return, we learned that Tommy Loy had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer...he passed away just two months later.”

Based on an ever-growing reputation as a banjo teacher, in October of 2002, Dave joined the teaching staff of the International Banjo College - a project of the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

The following year, 2003, was a great year for Frey as well.  The Southtown Strummers were the headline act at both the Sacramento Banjo Festival and the Seattle Banjo Festival - the first band to be given “headliner” status in the history of either festival.  As a soloist, Frey attended the New Orleans Banjo Rendez-Vouz.  And as an instructor (and performer), Dave traveled to England to attend the Bath United Kingdom Banjo Festival.  There he joined masters of all styles of banjo playing in a weekend of workshops and concerts.

The year 2004 was just as busy and exciting.  Following his headliner appearance at the Stone Street Strummers Early Spring Banjo Fling, Dave has concentrated his banjo efforts on the completion of his new banjo “Mini-Guides”.  Dave is scheduled to appear at the 2004 FIGA Convention in Sacramento and will be performing at both the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and San Diego Jazz Festival with The Fourth Street Five Jazz Band.  The band will also be a part of the seven-day Mexican Rivera Cruise out of San Diego immediately following the Festival.

With almost forty years of musical activities behind him, Dave Frey remains one of the most prolific banjoists performing today

Susanne Sangiacomo

Sue Sangiacomo became a dedicated plectrum banjo player in 1994. Previously she had played five-string bluegrass style banjo.  Sue's desire to play what she calls "Riverboat Banjo" --, specifically the tune Waiting For The Robert E. Lee --, turned her toward the plectrum banjo. She began taking lessons from Dave Frey and asked where to get thorough plectrum banjo instruction manuals.  Sue quickly discovered that no definitive plectrum banjo instructional sources were in print.

Using her skills as a writer and editor of training manuals for a number of Fortune 500 companies, Sue took on the monumental task of organizing and editing Dave Frey's plectrum banjo lesson plans in order to create something that was cohesive and useful. She was able to develop those plans into a complete, easy to read plectrum banjo training Guide. The project ultimately took over three years to complete.

As a beginning banjo student, Sue could quickly see the instructional gaps in the Plectrum Guide. Dave and Sue had one over-riding rule throughout the development of The Guide -- if Sue didn't understand it well enough to write it down, it did not go into the book.  Since their goal was to develop a comprehensive guide, this meant that Dave was often challenged to find new ways to explain complex issues in a way a beginner could understand.

Working with Dave, she successfully made The Guide flow from chapter to chapter to its conclusion.

The end result is a collaboration between professional and student that creates an instructional guide unique in the plectrum banjo world.

Copyright © 1999-2004 SLS&Co. Music, David Frey, Susanne Sangiacomo. All rights reserved.

BANJO BANJO BANJO!  PLECTRUM BANJO! TENOR BANJO! BANJO BOOKS!