Ted Knight
Ted not only plays songs "in a million styles," as the Huey Lewis lyric goes, he makes them sound right.
Classical and jazz studies in college were just the beginning. Ted listens to everything from rock and reggae to country, blues, Latin and ragtime, both for enjoyment and to figure out what makes them tick. That's one reason his arrangements sound so good.
Jazz professor and mentor Bill Prince taught him that that the best way to build a repertoire was to start young, add a few songs every so often, and never stop.
Having followed this excellent advice since the 1970s, Ted now has so many songs to choose from that the next one he picks always seems "just right."
Early days
Ted grew up in a household devoted to big bands. His bandleader father, Vic Knight, taught him about the music and about the music business. He listened to Dad's records, from Harry James and Glenn Miller to wilder bands like Gerald Wilson.
But like most people growing up in the 1960s, Ted was also into pop and rock. It was a short step from Simon & Garfunkel to the Doors and Jimi Hendrix. The Beatles and Stones were always on the radio, and Ted listened to it all.
Off to college
At college, Ted first studied anthropology and political science, even though you might catch him at a piano trying to impress the girls.
A shift to music at Florida Atlantic University opened up a whole new world. Theory and composition along with piano and voice lessons served to widen Ted's musical horizons. He played piano in the jazz band, accompanied classical singers, sang in operas and musicals, and earned extra money as a rehearsal pianist.
Ted found he could also help pay his way through college by playing gigs. His parents' friends in Delray Beach were glad to hire the young pianist to play and sing for their parties, and before long he was leading a trio for weddings.
He worked at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton, leading a youth group on guitar and playing solo for a startup congregation west of town. A local promoter heard him with the church's a capella quartet and hired him for condo shows.
On to graduate school at the University of Florida, where he took organ lessons and studied jazz arranging. He taught music at St. Patrick's parish school and played for Sunday services. Ted's trio played for dinner-dances at Gainesville Country Club, he served as accompanist for the local Suzuki Youth Orchestra, and he designed and taught a Jazz Clinic for the adult community education program.
Bigger
and better
After college, Ted's band grew with the addition of horns as seen in these photos from the early 1980s.
At right, the Ted Knight Orchestra at the Delray Beach Club. At left, the Dixie Ramblers.
The radio connection
He
played
"Big Bands and All That Jazz" as a disc jockey at his father's
radio station, WDBF AM-1420 in Delray Beach, and became a mobile DJ as
well as a musician. He played piano with his father's bands even while continuing to develop his own groups. At
left, with Vic Knight's big band
at Erny's, a Delray Beach restaurant known for jazz.
Ted formed the Convertibles, now called Crosswind, to play more of the rock and roll he loves, and the Knight Music Trio to play chamber music for wedding ceremonies.
Musicianship the key
Then and now, Ted attracted the best musicians and vocalists in the area. One reason is that he uses no backing tracks, preferring the all-natural style that many bands have abandoned in favor of computer sequences.
Many key performers have been with Ted for twenty years or more, but he also nurtures young talent. Trumpet player Forrest Sonntag, now at Manhattan School of Music, started with Ted's big band at age 14. Guitarist Alex Lacy, now a student at the prestigious Dreyfoos School of the Arts, played a big band gig with Ted while still in the eighth grade.
Future
looks bright
Ted Knight has come a long way since his simple hometown trio.
His bands have played for weddings in St. Augustine and Key West, for corporate gigs
in Palm Beach and Naples, and for dances and concerts in Tampa and Boca
Raton.
Ted's first album, Beautiful Love, was released in 2007.
Repeat clients include Boca Grande Pass Yacht Club and the Little Club of Gulf Stream. People who like what they find on this website become new clients with the help of Ted's wife and manager, Marie.
Samples of Ted's playing and singing
Orchestra with four horns: 1 - 3
Crosswind: 4
Trio with piano, bass and drums: 5, 6
Chamber music with piano, flute and cello: 7
Quartet with piano, guitar, bass and drums: 8
Quintet with trumpet, sax, piano, bass and drums: 9
Big Band with ten horns: 10
Solo piano: 11 - 26
- The Way You Look Tonight Frank Sinatra
- Choo Choo Ch'Boogie Louis Jordan
- Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley
- Heart of Rock and Roll Huey Lewis
- Broadway Count Basie
- Ace in the Hole 1910s
- Through the Eyes of Love movie theme
- Like Young André Previn
- The Shadow of Your Smile standard
- Wind Beneath My Wings standard
- And I Love Her Beatles
- Come Fly With Me Frank Sinatra
- Piano Man Billy Joel
- Have You Met Miss Jones Rodgers & Hart
- Send in the Clowns/Memory Sondheim/Webber
- Blueberry Hill Fats Domino
- Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin
- Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans Louis Armstrong
- Our House Crosby, Stills & Nash
- New York State of Mind Billy Joel
- Learning the Blues Frank Sinatra
- Strange Meadowlark Dave Brubeck
- My Love Paul McCartney
- Manhattan Rodgers & Hart
- My Buddy 1920s
- I'll Follow the Sun Beatles