About

Tony Suggs was born June 9, 1971 to Mr. and Mrs. Suggs in Houston, Mississippi. Several years later his mother decided to move to East Saint Louis, Illinois in July 1978, where he would spend his formative years growing up. At the early age of 12 he became interested in the church’s beautiful Hammond B3, in a short time he began to play regularly for worship services. Seeing the sprouting interest, his parents surprised him with a piano for Christmas at the end of the year. The fall of 1985, he was introduced to Big Band Jazz in the ninth grade at Martin Luther King Jr. High. Under the advice of his Jr. High school band director, Vernell Glasper, Suggs enrolled in Lincoln Sr. High. Glasper also promised Suggs if he participated in the stage band program at Lincoln, he would receive a few scholarship offers. Here is where Ronald Carter, director of the jazz band, instilled the art “Swing”, into his students. The summer of 1988, Suggs attended two school music camps. During his senior year, he entered the Illinois All State Music Composition contest and won for 1989. This led to several scholarship offers throughout the country. He chose Jackson State University of Mississippi, where he received a full scholarship.

On May 19, 1990, Suggs started a summer job with Carnival Cruise Lines, on-board the M/S Celebration, as the orchestra’s pianist. In the early spring of 1991, JSU opened the house for the Count Basie Orchestra. During this concert, past leader of CBO, Frank Foster, let Suggs play with the band on “Good Times Blues”, by Enie Wilkins upon Suggs` request. After the performance, Suggs made a connection with the pianist of CBO George Caldwell, later to become phone buddies. Most of their conversations almost always ended with, “When you leave, I want cho’ spot.”

During most of the 1990’s Suggs worked for Carnival where he built an impressive reputation. In November 1999, Tony was given the chance he wanted for a long time, to work with the World Famous Count Basie Orchestra. This one chance was all he needed to accomplish one of his biggest goals. While Suggs has been with the CBO, he has worked with numerous artist such as Nnenna Freelon, Nancy Wilson, Jon Hendricks, Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices and French entertainer Michele Leeb to name a few. He also has worked with other artist projects, such as Russell Gunn’s Grammy-Nominated Ethnomusicology Volume 2 , Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor and, Jeri Brown’s Canadian Grammy-Nominated Firm Roots. Suggs has also been documented several times for television and radio with the CBO.