Francis Weldon LoCrasto was born in Garland, Texas in March of 1983. He was introduced to music through his parents at an early age and began learning piano at the age of 8. During high school, he attended Dallas' Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts. During his four years at this great school, he made connections with Dallas' top musicians playing several nights out of the week. He traveled all over the U.S. with the school playing different festivals and competitions. He won several awards, many of which came from Downbeat magazine and IAJE. During his last year at Arts Magnet, Frank was picked 1 of 5 out of nearly a thousand through an audition to attend and perform at the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) “Arts Week” which is dedicated to honoring America's top young artist. While at “Arts Week”, Frank scored a level 1 at his performance which made him eligible to become a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, an award given to only twenty artist each year from across the country. After a long process of applications and 20 or so essay questions, Frank's application was accepted and he was flown to Washington DC where he performed and was presented with a medal from President George Bush.
Frank was then offered a full scholarship to study at the New School University's Jazz Program. While at the school, he studied with Bruce Barth, Garry Dial, and Kirk Nurock among many others before graduating 4 1/2 years later.
While living in New York, Frank has performed with Gregory Tardy, Joe Lovano, John Ellis, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Jonathan Kriesberg, Pat Martino, Lage Lund, Hans Glawischnig, Eric Alexander, Avishai Cohen, Will Vinson, George Garzone, and many more. He is currently a member of the Jeremy Pelt Quartet, and is featured on Pelt's latest MAXJAZZ release, Identity.
Outside of Frank's busy schedule of performing, touring, and recording, he leads his own group that will be recording a record for the MAXJAZZ label due for release in the Fall of 2006. Outside of music, Frank enjoys cooking, wine making, friends and family, and making short films. He resides in Brooklyn, New York.
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