Frank was born and raised in San Francisco, California. He began clarinet at age ten, soon adding bassoon, saxophone, and flute. By fourteen, he studied composition, writing jazz and classical pieces for his high school band/orchestra and local jazz groups at the union hall, including Mike Vax's Big Band.
In 1975–1976, Frank created jazz/classical hybrids performed by the San Francisco Symphony and pros at Summer Music Workshop Programs. He composed and conducted an orchestral overture for his high school graduation and worked with Bay Area dance bands.
Enrolling at Berklee College of Music in 1976, he studied woodwinds with Joseph Viola and composition/arranging with Herb Pomeroy, Phil Wilson, Greg Hopkins, Tony Texiera, and Ken Pullig. From 1976–1980, he performed/composed for top student ensembles and his own groups. He won a National Endowment for the Arts grant for a 90-minute jazz/classical suite and earned Down Beat's DB Award for big-band composition in 1979.
Graduating in composition at 20, Frank taught at Berklee and led his fusion octet Booga-Booga in New England. In 1981, he returned to San Francisco, thriving for a decade as musician, composer, and arranger. He performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Rita Moreno, Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Clare Fischer, Chuck Mangione, the Temptations, and locals like the Bay Area Jazz Composers Orchestra, Mike Vax’s Great American Jazz Band, Royal Street, Dick Bright Orchestra, and Melotones. He led The Gleets, Desperate Character, and The Frankie Maximum Band.
His 1989 CD Introducing Frankie Maximum mixed styles from new wave to polka. The 1991 follow-up Frankie Maximum Goes Way-er Out West twisted cowboy tunes wildly (e.g., hip-hop jazz “Ringo”); the Oakland Tribune ranked it among the year's top ten.In 1991, Frank toured Germany in West Side Story and 42nd Street, then settled in Los Angeles. Since 1992, he's orchestrated films like Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean, X2: X-Men United, Men of Honor, Eight Legged Freaks, Ghosts of the Abyss, Austin Powers in Goldmember, The Contender, Apt Pupil, and The Santa Clause 2, plus TV including Night Visions, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, America’s Funniest Home Videos, and The Tonight Show.
He attended the Sundance Composers Lab in 2004. From 1997–2000, his Little Evil Things horror audio series won awards, including from Publishers Weekly.
From 2001, his jazz CDs include The Galapagos Suite, Animals, Mo’ Animals, Emotions, Landscapes, and Saxolollapalooza. Grammy nods came for arrangements: “Black Is the Color...” and “Down in the Valley” from Emotions/Landscapes, and “Skip to My Lou” from 2010’s Folk Songs for Jazzers. He released SON of Folk Songs for Jazzers in 2011.
Later works include Rhythm Kaleidoscope (2018/2019), various Rhythm Abstraction EPs (2020), and recent projects like Bluesapalooza and Songs For Tracy (2022). His official site notes ongoing activity, including new videos and compositions as of 2025–2026.
Frank lives in Burbank, California, with wife Tracy and son Charlie, active in jazz, film, and beyond.
