Born in New York in 1929, Vito Price, née Vito Pizzo, began playing tenor sax at the age of fourteen. After high school, he apprenticed on the road with the bands of Bob Chester, Art Mooney, Tony Pastor, as well as with Chubby Jackson’s small group. He joined the military in 1951, and spent two years serving in the Marine Corps band. When he left, he decided to enroll in a two-year course at the Manhattan Music School. His lessons had the invaluable support of actual real life work experience, as leader of his own group and as amember of Jerry Wald’s band.

He finally settled in Chicago in the summer of 1955, soon standing out as one of the Windy City’s top tenormen. In February 1956 he joined the WGN station staff orchestra, which provided him with a stable and well-paying job.

In 1956, while in Chicago he recorded "Swingin' the Loop," his first album, and a promising start. Price himself said at the time that he was “not trying to blaze new paths.” So while no new trails were blazed and no frontiers were opened, Price emerged from the recording session with a valuable set of originals and standards that swing loose and easy. Five of the tracks feature a 10-piece band with a big, bold tone that was surely enhanced by the writing of Bill McRae. The other five are elevated by the incomparable guitar of Freddie Green, who joined in to make the quintet tracks that much more of a delight.

Six of the songs on the album were composed by Vito, of which three were credited to Vito Price and the other three to Pizzo. Vito explains why he decided to do it that way: “At the time I recorded my album I was fairly confused about wether or not I could get into ASCAP and it was easier to get into BMI so I split the number of tunes and used both names to be sure of getting into something...”

Price left Chicago shortly after the album came out: “I quit my job at WGN and went to New York where I recorded an album with Tony Pastor and was featured soloist along with Al Cohn named Tony Pastor Plays Artie Shaw...” Among other activities, “I also participated in a 1958 Thanksgiving concert at Carnegie Hall, as a member of the quartet that accompanied Chris Connor, and participated in the Elliot Lawrence jazz radio show,” Vito recently recalled.

He was also considered to front the new Sauter-Finnegan Band but it never happened... so after some time in New York he rejoined the Tony Pastor group and ended up in Las Vegas in April 1959 at the Stardust Hotel: “I stayed for 30 years playing thousands of shows for every star at that time and then I came to the Palm Desert area where I continued to play for an additional 30 years with the Ted Herman Band, Tony Rose, Pat Rizzo, Tommy Shepard and others.” In 2003 he recorded an album with the title "It’s Wonderful," this time as Vito Pizzo. He describes it as “a crossover album with strings, and it was still a jazz album.”

“I have recently retired as my lovely old Selmer tenor has been getting too heavy for me as I am disabled and don’t have the energy that I once had... I’m 91 and have been playing since I was 14 and have had a great life in music... I’m particularly proud of the fact that I have been able to support myself and my family by doing the thing that I love most to do...” Vito concludes: “I am no
longer active but I still play at home.”

In essence, Vito Price has always been an exceptionally smooth swinger with a warm-toned horn, somewhat in the Al Cohn tradition. His excellent, "Swingin' the Loop," is his greatest legacy in jazz, and listening to it, many will think how much they wish Vito had entered the recording studios more often.

—Jordi Pujol (From the inside liner notes of FSRCD 1062)