Frank Bibi Camilleri

Frank Bibi Camilleri (31 January 1926 - 26 August 2013) was a Maltese jazz pianist.

Frank Camilleri, known as “il-Bibi”, was born in Valletta on 31st January 1926. He started learning drums at a young age and shortly after commenced his piano studies with Maestro Giuseppe Casapinta. He started off with classical music but changed his focus to jazz, through which he felt he could express himself better. In the late thirties, Valletta was the centre of Maltese nightlife. Frank started playing with a group of African Americans such as Levin Wine and Juice Wilson at the O.K. Bar in Strait Street, Valletta and later in various other clubs including Silver Horse, Cotton Club, White Star and Kenner Club. He toured with Wine and his wife, alongside Joe Curmi l-Pusè on saxophone and Tony Carr on drums, amongst others, where they travelled to Milan, Rome, Catania, and Tripoli. Before recordings started locally, Camilleri used to perform live on the rediffusion. He participated and produced several concerts both on radio as well as television. He played in Malta with other musical jazz pioneers of the local scene such as Sammy Murgo, Chico Ciantar and Twanny Chircop.

The word bibi stems from the jazz style bebop. With the development of bebop in the 1940s, local jazz musicians used to play in this new style and during any free time between rehearsals and performances, Frank would scat sing jazz bebop melodies and rhythms with his friends, which were taught to him by Wine and Wilson, pronouncing “bibi baba”. From these nonsensical syllables the nickname “bibi” was coined.