Rodney Franklin -

Rodney Franklin (born Sept. 16, 1958) is an American jazz-funk pianist and composer from Berkeley. He worked with John Handy and toured with Bill Summers, Freddie Hubbard, and Marlena Shaw ahead of his 1978 Columbia debut, In the Center.

Franklin scored a UK Top 10 single with “The Groove” from You’ll Never Know and continued his Columbia catalog with Rodney Franklin, Endless Flight, Learning to Love, Marathon, and Skydance.

Background

Rodney Thomas Franklin was born Sept. 16, 1958, in Berkeley, Calif, and began jazz-piano lessons at age six. He attended Washington Elementary, where Principal Herb Wong established a jazz curriculum. Franklin joined an after-school workshop that pianist Dick Whittington and educator Phil Hardymon ran at Washington, where the fourth-grade pianist formed a rhythm section with second-grade drummer Peter Apfelbaum. Hardymon moved the program to Longfellow School, where Franklin played keyboards in a 30-piece student jazz band that performed across Bay Area schools and clinics.

Franklin led the funk-jazz group In One Peace at age fourteen and recorded with producer George Semper at Ray Dobar’s House of Music in Berkeley. The group cut “In One Piece,” with Franklin on organ and Cindy Jones on vocals. Franklin continued at Berkeley High School in the Jazz Quartet with tenor saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, bassist Harold Foreman Jr., and drummer Tony St. James.

After graduation, Franklin worked with saxophonist John Handy in San Francisco and toured with percussionist Bill Summers, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, and singer Marlena Shaw. Columbia signed Franklin in 1978, and he entered sessions for debut album In the Center under executive producer George Butler.

Discography: