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Kevin Frye
(trumpet, vocals) joined The Mike Eisenstadt Band in 1992, and
has served as its leader since 2005. He is owner and talent
coordinator for
Bayside Entertainment agency in Tampa, Florida. Kevin can
be heard every Sunday at noon as the host of the Sunday Simcha
radio program on WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa.
In addition to
his work with The Mike Eisenstadt Band, Kevin has been active as
a session player, and continues to do freelance work throughout
Florida. Kevin has performed with many greats including The
O'Jays, Whitney Houston, Paquito D'Rivera, Bobby Rydell, Skitch
Henderson, Al Hirt, Justo Betancourt, Steve & Eydie, Bill Conti, Sam Glaser, and
Paul Zim. He played with Florida Orchestra from 1988-1991.
Kevin
also spent 7 years as a band director. He remains active as an
arranger and clinician for many high school bands in central
Florida. He is also an adjudicator for the Florida Bandmasters
Association. Kevin earned his Bachelor and Master degrees in
music from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
 Tony
King
(guitar, vocals) was born into a family of musicians in
Stoneham, Massachusetts. He was influenced early in his life
(serving as the family accordionist…) in a variety of musical
styles from Enrico Caruso and Mario Lanza to various pop and
jazz artists. As an adult Tony’s influences took a new course
with jazz artists Django Rienhart, Herb Ellis, Johnny Smith, Jim
Hall, Barney Kessell, Howard Roberts, Bill Evans, Roland Kirk,
and Jimmy Smith.
At age 13, Tony was getting his greatest musical education by
playing with Boston area rock bands with players in their 20’s,
opening for bands such as the Beach Boys and The Kingsmen. He
eventually went on to tour the East Coast & Canada with various
show bands playing for comedy & top 40 acts.
Tony relocated to Florida in 1978. Quickly entering the music
scene in the Tampa bay area, he has performed extensively,
backing shows such as The Four Aces ,Gloria Dehaven, Marie
Neglia, Morey Amsterdam, The Platters, Freddie Hubbard , Richie
Cole ,Bob Summers, and Nick Brignola. Tony became a mainstay of
the Mike Eisenstadt band in 1993.
Lenny Balistreri’s
(drums) musical career began at the age of 10 in the circus town
of Sarasota, Florida with trumpet lessons from Ringling Brothers
trumpeter, John Horak. At age 13 he learned drums, and by age 16
played his first real professional job as lead trumpeter in
Ringling Brothers Circus.
After four
years at the University of South Florida, Lenny went on the road
with Atlanta pianist Mac Frampton. In 1978, he returned to the
Tampa Bay area, where he has enjoyed an extensive and rewarding
musical career, including recordings with the Grammy nominated
Dan McMillion Big Band, and jazz fusion group The Macar
Brothers. Lenny became the full time drummer for The Mike
Eisenstadt Band in 1994.
Due to Lenny’s
reading ability, he has had the pleasure of backing such legends
as: Billy Eckstine, Rosemary Clooney, Mel Torme, Smothers
Brothers, Julie Budd, Vic Damone, Lorna Luft, George Goebel,
Phyllis Diller, Clint Holmes, Norm Crosby, Sadler and Young,
Connie Haynes, Patti Page, Carrie Smith, and Steve Allen. He
has also backed such great jazz artists as: Dizzy Gilespie,
Barney Kessel, Milt Jackson, Mose Allison, Zoot Sims, Bucky
Pizzarelli, Tal Farlow, Scott Hamilton, Jimmy Witherspoon, Herb
Ellis, Clarke Terry, Buddy Tate, Ira Sullivan, Kai Winding,
Teddy Wilson, and Flip Phillips. He has also performed in the
show bands for: The Coasters, The Drifters, Fabian, The
Platters, Joey Dee and the Startliters, The Four Aces, The Mills
Brothers, Frankie Laine, The Lettermen, Danny and the Juniors,
and The Diamonds.
John Healy
(keyboards) has been with The Mike Eisenstadt Band since 2001.
John is a self-taught musician from the School of Hard Knox.
His musical career started in 1965 as a bassist, and soon
switched to piano in 1968. He lists a wide array of influences
including The Beatles, Motown, Jimmy Smith, Oscar Peterson, Bill
Evans, Wayne Shorter, Faure, Brahms, and J.S. Bach.
John became a
full-time professional in Atlanta 1976 with an all-original
music band. He toured the east coast in the blues group “Cool
Breeze” with guitarist Richy Kickleiter. John toured briefly in
1979 with Doug Kershaw (The Ragin’ Cajun). He formed a band
with Bertie Higgins in Atlanta in 1981. With Bertie, he
recorded the single Key Largo and the album Just Another Day in Paradise. John co-wrote the song
Casablanca that became a major hit in Japan and the
far east. He toured the U.S., Canada, and far east with Bertie
throughout the 1980’s. He released the single Raggae Mop
(Rag Mop) in his own name on Southern Tracks Records in
1984.
John is also a prolific composer. His catalog is
administered by Sony/ATV Music in Nashville; formerly published
by Lowery Music in Atlanta. John attended the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.
He earned a B.A. at Florida Presbyterian College in 1972, and an
M.A. at Emory University in 1975, where he was a Ford Foundation
Fellow.
Antone Affronti
(drums) has been playing drums professionally since he was 16
years old.
Originally from New York he has been a Drummer / Percussionist
for almost every style of music from theatre shows, Jazz, Rock,
Reggae, Latin to classical.
He has recorded over 20 CDs with different New York and Orlando
artists. He has also performed percussion solos for dance
choreography with many New York Ballet companies including The
American Dance Machine and The Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theatre.
Antone studied classical and Jazz at SUNY - Stony Brook
University New York and has also been sponsored by Remo Drum
Company for his educational clinics.
Antone is a freelance drummer that continues to gig
professionally in the Orlando area and throughout the state of
Florida. He has performed with The Mike Eisenstadt Band since
1998.
 Tim
Eddy (sax, clarinet) A
native of St. Petersburg, FL, Tim studied under Florida
Orchestra principal clarinetist Brian Moorhead and attended
Washington and Lee University of Lexington, VA as a broadcast
journalism major. Tim remained in the Shenandoah Valley for
eight years, where he gigged with his eponymous quartet and a
touring R&B group, The Embarrassing Stains. Since
relocating to Tampa Bay in 1988, Tim has evolved into a
versatile jazz and R&B multi-instrumentalist, musical director,
and horn arranger, performing locally with Belinda Womack and
Kool Reflektions, Jazz at the Vinoy, The Pocket, Eclipse, and
TNB.
Lately Tim can be heard in the outstanding hornline of Funk/R&B
group Gravy, and has been sax and clarinet man with The Mike
Eisenstadt Band since 2005.
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