ChrisStefanetti.com • Biography

Chris Stefanetti • Biography

Chris Stefanetti's electric bass is at the center of his jazz and jazz-fusion compositions. The California-born artist has developed a sound that has transcended his early jazz and jazz/rock fusion roots. Inspired by influences such as Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, Anthony Jackson and Steve Swallow, he is becoming regarded as another great contributer to electric bass history.

Stefanetti's performance work has taken him to clubs, festivals and TV appearances all throughout the US and Canada including NBC's Saturday Night Live and the San Francisco Blues Festival. He is found comfortable in virtually every style of music from the Cajun-Zydeco music of Queen Ida to the straight ahead jazz of Full Faith and Credit Big Band.

Introduced to the electric bass at age ten, Chris was primarily self taught from elementary school through early high school. At sixteen and seventeen Stefanetti studied briefily with local San Francisco bassists and was mentored by then Richie Cole drummer, Scott "Stuffy" Morris. Beginning with piano at age five, cello at age eight the young musician then graduated to double bass at nine then onto electric bass. Shortly after, Stefanetti began practicing and performing with a combo in elementary school and went on to perform with many jazz and rock bands in his early school years including a Jazz Fusion group they called "New Legend" at age fourteen with friend, Bay Area session guitarist Stef Burns of "Shelia E" and "Huey Lewis and the News" fame.

Chosen at sixteen as second chair to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival with the All Stars Big Band and then as California Allstate Jazz Bassist in 1980, the young bassist appeared with the California All-State Big Band lead by the great jazz trumpeter and arranger Bill Berry. Also, while still in high school, Stefanetti was asked to play numerous gigs with "Full Faith and Credit Big Band" featuring some of the S.F. Bay Area's finest jazz musicians. After high school, he freelanced in the Bay Area club and casual scene for about a year and at nineteen(1981) moved to Boston to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music with Bruce Gertz and Jeff Berlin. It was there at Berklee where Chris regularly played sessions with great musicians like Neils Lan Doky, Greg Osby, Doug Web, Gene Jackson, Danny Walsh and Dave Kikoski. From there Stefanetti embarked on an active performance career as a sought after San Francisco Bay Area Bassist playing and recording with some of the most established musicians and artist there including Rodney Franklin, Queen Ida, Napata Mero, Chris Cammozi, Jules Brousard, Walter Afanasieff, Alex Merzyn, The Magpies and more.

Between the years of 1996 and 2004 Chris Stefanetti took a break from a fairly busy schedule freelancing in the Bay Area music scene and pursued his hobby interest in computer programming and engineering full time. He worked as a freelance network engineer and UNIX administrator which proved to be both interesting and lucrative for the musician. During that time he composed a fair amount of jazz and pop music and also taught himself drums and guitar.

Relocating to Los Angeles in 2004, Stefanetti began playing bass again and composing. After only 6 months in LA he performed on a CD with Vinnie Colaiuta, Scott Henderson and Kirk Covington, had a busy schedule of corporate show and club dates and had become sought after for recordings and club work. He participated in projects including "The GRS Trio" featuring Santana/Steve Winwood/Lindsey Buckingham drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. and Norwegian piano virtuoso Haakon Graf. The GRS Trio's work together culminated in recordings which were released in Novemeber 2010 on the Nordic Records Label, Haakon Grafs "License to Chill".
Nordic Records CD License to Chill by Haakon Graf

After his stint in LA he's now returned to the San Francisco Bay Area and is conituing his love of music primarily as a guitarist and vocalist. Having been a bassist for quite a number of years his promising abilities as a frontman guitarist,leader and vocalist offer a fresh combination of his collective experience with hints of fusion, funk, R&B, rock and Pop. Look out for his latest project soon to be performing in the Bay Area.