Vito Rezza.net


England 1982

   In 1982 I went to England with saxophonist Michael Stuart and his quintet. We were there a week and played at the Bracknell Jazz Festival opening just before my favorite drummer Elvin Jones. Michael funnily had played with Elvin and his Jazz Machine for 3 years. Elvin was my hero as a child along side Cassius Clay (Mohammed Ali). I was thrilled with seeing him again (first met him when I was 13) and now at 26 I would be playing in front of him. It was scary good!

    This picture was taken during sound check in Halifax while on tour with British Blues man Long John Baldry in 1980. Notice my Rogers which I had stripped the oyster black pearl wrap off of. I used Paiste cymbals back then. I came full circle.

 The Classics 1967

   This shot was taken at Maple Leaf Gardens where I had performed with Maestro Nello Segurini from Milan and the CBC orchestra. It was an Italian Variety show in 1966. When I sat behind the guys kit there was no snare drum. I guess he thought I would have brought my own. That was my first real experience improvising with what was given me to use. I went nuts  and used the hihat for my backbeats and played as many tom fills as I could. It wasn’t cacophony and ht older musicians seemed to like what I played. I almost crapped in my pants from the fear. Lol!

First Shot 1964

Maple Leaf Gardens 1966

   This first shot is from 1964 playing at an Italian wedding. The temperature in the banquet hall was around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. I took off my tux jacket and struggled through the night. I also had a very high fever accompanying the evening. This was the most horrible night of playing in my career. I was 9 years old.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

     Here I am at the Leah Poslins theatre of Toronto, Canada. This was my only theatre gig in my entire life and even though so many players have made an incredible living from this type of work, my calling was different and so I never fit within those groups of musicians. The play was called, “The Right Step” which starred TV actor Eddie Mecca. This was my 1989. And the year I started my own band “5 after 4”.

Gino & Joe Vannelli  1987

   This is a picture of the very first Wedding band I was in, called, “I Classici” which translated into “The Classics”. Then we found out about the very successful American band called” The Classics 4”. It didn’t matter. No one was ever going to know us in the USA. This still happened here in Canada funnily enough, after all of these years. The year was 1967.

This shot is with Gino and Joe Vannelli at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto during the recording of the Juno Awards in 1987. I had met them earlier that year in LA. The Juno’s are considered the Canadian Grammy’s, (well almost).
   My good friend John decided to take some shots of me in 1988 at my home. Notice the taekwon-do  sweat pants and training shoes. I was a full contact fighter for 10 years and have practiced this Art for some 42 years now, kept me out of trouble.  Lol.
   This is a shot of myself with legendary Crosby, Stills and Nash member Steven Stills. It was at a called in LA in the valley called “Josephina’s” where they had jams every Wednesday nights. My good friend Eddie Tuduri who I lived with while in LA introduced me to almost everyone I know in Los Angeles. He was like my older brother and wanted me to play with all the great cats there. In this picture is Brian Auger,  Steven, Lenny McDaniels and myself. Stills asked me to join Crosby, Stills and Nash that night.
   Slightly off topic, in 1985 I did my first made for TV film starring Tony Danza. I was a music and theatre major in school and was encouraged to do this film as an actor by my other mentor, friend and man I loved director Harvey Hart. He passed away in 1989. I was devastated for quite some time. This shot was in Los Angeles while I was living there in 1987. Tony Danza was working on a TV series called “Who’s the Boss” when we arranged a visit. The actual film I had worked with him in was called, “Doing Life” and shot in 1985.

The Right Step 1989

Photo Shoot 1988

Crosby Stills & Nash 1986

Who's The Boss 1985

Vito Rezza w/ 5 After 4 Celebrating 50 Years of drumming at The Pheonix Toronto Canada

British Blues 1979