Lou Forestieri | Composer
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About Lou Foestieri
Lou Forestieri began his musical life at an early age. His fascination with music and the keyboard resulted in performances beginning at age 9. Juxtaposed between his deep Italian roots, big band jazz, and the leanings of popular R&B, his gift for musical versatility has always afforded him the opportunity to make his living as a musician. One of his early groups, “The Hurricanes”, went on to prominence touring with Dick Clark.
Although Lou has had great lifelong success playing live, his heart has remained with composing throughout the years. “At seven, when my parents used to make me practice, I would start out working on whatever piece I was learning at the time and end up improvising. I would hear new songs in my head and try to play them. My parents were always very supportive of this.”
Leaving the outskirts of Philadelphia for the Big Apple, Forestieri was presented his first major musical break at 24 when he met jazz legend, Bobby Hackett. Quite the taskmaster, Hackett taught him the disciplines of jazz, thereby inadvertently assisting Forestieri in defining his musical and stylistic maturities. Working with Hackett also led to sharing the stage with other jazz greats, including Erroll Garner, Count Basie, Freddie Hubbard and Dick Hyman. Forestieri spent several years touring around the world, absorbing the various musical genres first hand, and utilizing his experiences in his work. He went on to work with Zoot Simms, Toots Theileman, and renowned jazz singers Lena Horne, Johnny Hartman and Peggy Lee on Broadway. Louis also played on the Grammy Award Winning CD for Les Paul. He even wrote jingles for Cover Girl, GI Joe, and Pepsi. Most recently Lou has been accompanying and touring with legendary singer and entertainer, Jack Jones.
“I feel that my diverse background has become my own personal library. My work has led me to write everything from orchestral music to soul ballads.”
It was his love of composition and the challenge thereof that led Lou Forestieri to relocate from New York to Los Angeles. Impressed with Forestieri’s work, the amazing composing team of Pete Carpenter and Mike Post hired him to write for several television productions, including Hard Castle & McCormick, Rip Tide, and A Team. Over the years, he has scored Beverly Hills 90210, Family Matters, Matlock, and the long running Diagnosis Murder starring Dick Van Dyke. “Scoring allows me to explore my passion for composing music and applying it to a director’s vision. Whether realized, orchestrally, electronically or a combination thereof, my goal in film writing is always to illicit and evoke the emotions depicted on the screen.”
As an orchestrator and arranger, Lou has worked on many different musical planes, ranging from Tori Amos to Stanley Clarke as well as Mel Torme, Maureen McGovern, and Roberto Carlos. When not writing, he has found himself in other unique roles; a piano coach with Jeff Bridges for The Fabulous Baker Boys and Angelina Jolie for Beyond Borders. As an on screen performer Louis has appeared in For the Boys, My Blue Heaven, Star Trek the Final Contact, Frankie and Johnny, and many more. He has most recently composed the musical scores for Old Glory, Suicide Club, News Junkie, and The Wrong Mr. Johnson, as well as the theme for the radio internet program, Music of the Light. Lately Lou has been collaborating with time lapse photographer, Aaron Keigher, composing musical scores for his visually stunning time lapse photography videos.
As an artist, Lou Forestieri never passes up a new challenge. He’s enjoyed playing live for the spontaneity and energy that comes along with performing in front of an audience. He’s liked the challenge of writing jingles and episodic TV, and now enjoys composing music for feature films, looking forward to where this journey will lead him next.
“The way I see it,” he says, “we never stop growing.”