Dick Fregulia -

"San Francisco's Greatest Jazz Piano Player" (overheard in a parador restaurant in Santianna del Mar, Spain)* 

A native of Palo Alto, Dick Fregulia has played a wide variety of  jazz piano gigs in the San Francisco Bay Area  for over half a century.  For 35 years he was featured Thursday nights at Washington Square Bar and Grill in San Francisco's North Beach. His early influences were Ahmad Jamal, George Shearing, and Oscar Peterson, leading to a lifelong admiration for Bill Evans as a trio pianist and Art Tatum as a solo pianist. .  

 As a "jazz recording artist" Dick created Blue Koala Records in 1978 with the highly acclaimed solo piano LP, Sunday Morning at Washington Square. He has since produced more than 20 recording projects, both as a soloist and in various combinations with vocalists and different groups of musicians. His newest  trio features  Jimmy Hobson  on drums and Steve Webber on bass.  His most recent CD's include Be There Now , presenting trio and quartet versions of  classics from the 20th Century, and Here's to Omar,  featuring a  collection of   tunes by  the late Omar Clay played by the  trio.  Previous CD's  include Sail Away (trio playing the tunes of Tom Harrell), Jazzitalia  (trio versions of music by Italians), Re: Person I Knew (trio tribute to Bill Evans), Art for Sale (the Dick Fregulia Trio), I'll String Along With You (the Dick Fregulia Stringalong Trio with Brandon Robinson on guitar), Live at Kuumbwa  (the Good Vibes Quintet), and That's Amore (trio arrangements of 13 songs by Harry Warren). 

The Dick Fregulia Trio and his Good Vibes Trio/Quartet/Quintet appeared in recent   years  in San Francisco at Pier 23, Cafe Claude, and the Cliff House as well as concerts at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay, the Book Passage in Sausalito , JB Piano in San Rafael, and the Back Room in Berkeley. 

*Comment by San Francisco restaurant owner  Sam DuVall from an adjacent table, circa 1991.