WAYNE FETTIG. PIANIST, COMPOSER. THE LONG STORY.

San Francisco Bay Area native Wayne Fettig began his long journey into the music world as did so many young musicians: in the public school system.

After experiencing the obligatory third-grade Black Plastic Song Flute odyssey, his fascination for music lead him to a shiny brass trumpet in the fourth grade. This connection to the trumpet lasted all through public school and into his college years.

In high school, Wayne began to crave more diversity and versatility in his musical education and pursuits. It was during this period that he was presented a rare opportunity to study music theory, ultimately leading him to a love affair with the piano. The piano and subsequently the guitar gave him the versatility to create more music than the single note trumpet could offer and he began to study both with youthful enthusiasm.

Although deeply interested in the piano and its myriad possibilities for creating music, Wayne did not actually own a piano and would play a practice piano in a small rehearsal room at his high school during lunch breaks, becoming little by little more proficient as a player.

Ultimately he convinced his father to purchase a piano and, delighted, found a beat up old upright piano for a whopping $40! The piano was loaded into a pick-up truck and with the help of a few friends installed into the family living room. A naïve Wayne eagerly proceeded with an attempt to tune the severely neglected beast with an adjustable wrench. And so started the home study period of his career.

Wayne continued to play trumpet, piano and guitar in various bands before he came to the realization that he had become a jack-of-all trades and a master of none. It was after this epiphany that he made the painful choice to pick one instrument and abandon the other two. He chose the piano.

It was also at this time in his early twenties that Wayne began a life long commitment to the study and performance of jazz. For a period of eight years he studied piano technique and jazz theory with venerable pianist/teacher Dick Hindman (Stan Getz, Richie Cole, Manhattan Transfer). It was through Dick's tutelage that Wayne began to develop maturity and proficiency as an artist.

Previously, during his flirtation with the typical teenage lure of The Rock Band, he had begun to write original music. Naturally, when he became interested in jazz, he began to compose music in this genre as well.

All throughout a professional commercial career in music Wayne has continued to write and perform music in the jazz idiom, but occasionally dabbling in popular styles and classical modes as well.

Wayne has finally begun work on a long awaited CD which will be released later in 2007 primarily featuring his own compositions and piano artistry.