James Chirillo
James Chirillo | |
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Chirillo with the Kenny Davern All Stars at the 2004 Breçon Jazz Festival (photo: Barry Quick) | |
Background information | |
Birth name | James Louis Chirillo |
Born |
Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S. | May 2, 1953
Genres | Jazz, big band, swing, classical |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Guitar |
Years active | 1974 – present |
Website |
james |
James Louis Chirillo (born May 2, 1953, Waltham, Massachusetts) is an American jazz guitarist, banjoist, composer, arranger, and band leader.[1] He grew up in Bellevue, Washington, and has been a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, since 1993.
Career highlights
From 1977 to 1979, Chirillo performed regularly with singers Marilyn Maye, Vic Damone, Joey Heatherton, Lorna Luft, and pianist Roger Williams. From 1979 to 1982, he was a member of the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point Jazz Knights.
- New York days
- 1982 — Moved to New York City
- Studied and performed with four-string jazz guitarist Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes
- 1985-86 — Member of Benny Goodman's last band (recording with Chirillo on YouTube)
- 1987-91 — Member of the Buck Clayton Orchestra, touring Europe in July 1991
- Performed with Claude "The Fiddler" Williams in President Bill Clinton's inaugural festivities
- Performed with Bob Wilber and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band
- Performed with Benny Carter
- Performed with Lincoln Center Jazz Band directed by Wynton Marsalis, all for National Public Radio.
- 1992–99 — Charter member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, directed by Gunther Schuller and David Baker
- 2007 — Lincoln Center, Rose Auditorium Best of the Big Bands, with Ernestine Anderson
College
Chirillo studied music at The University of North Texas College of Music, where in the fall of 1976, he was chosen to play in the One O'Clock Lab Band for the academic year. His major concentration was composition and he studied guitar with Jack Petersen.
Post-college studies
After college, Chirillo studied composition and arranging with John Carisi and Bill Finegan. He also studied guitar with Remo Palmier and musicianship with Helen Jordan (1907–2006).[lower-alpha 1][2][3]
Growing up
Chirillo grew up in Bellevue, Washington.
Selected discography
- As leader
- Sultry Serenade
- Recorded October 4 & 5, 1999, New York
- Nagel Heyer Records (de) (G)CD061 (CD) (2000)
OCLC 52433331, 911623484, 725501517 - Randy Sandke, trumpet on e–g & k–m; Scott Robinson, tenor and bass sax; Alan Simon, piano; Chirillo, guitar; Greg Cohen, bass; Dave Ratajczak (de), drums
- "When Lights Are Low"
Music by Benny Carter, words by Spencer Williams
Arranged by Chirillo - "I Love You, Samantha"
By Cole Porter
Arranged by Chirillo - "Sultry Serenade"
(aka "How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me")
Music by Tyree Glenn, words by Allan Roberts)
Arranged by Chirillo - "Counterpoise No. 2 for Electric Guitar and Trumpet"
By John Carisi - "If I Only Had a Brain"
Music by Harold Arlen, words by E. Y. Harburg)
Arranged by Chirillo - "Move"
Denzil Best
Arranged by Chirillo - "Elend" (from Op. 27, No. 7)
By Alexander Zemlinsky
Arranged by Chirillo - "Can't We Be Friends?"
Music by Kay Swift, words by Paul James
Arranged by Chirillo - "Bourbon Street Parade"
By Paul Barbarin
Arranged by Chirillo - "Lush Life"
By Billy Strayhorn)
Arranged by Chirillo - "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"
Music by Harry Carroll, words by Joseph McCarthy
Arranged by Chirillo - "Fancifree"
Music and arrangement by Chirillo - "Blues for Valerie"
Music and arrangement by Chirillo
- As member of the One O'Clock Lab Band
- Lab '76; OCLC 7064424 [lower-alpha 2] †
- Lab '77: All Cows Eat Grass; OCLC 7064389 [lower-alpha 2] †
- Jazz at Spoleto '77
LCCN 94-759379, OCLC 31056413, 899998617 - Lab '78; OCLC 7063295
- As sideman on various cuts of albums
- Doug Lawrence, Doug Lawrence Trio (1981); OCLC 29475617
- Benny Goodman, Let's Dance, A Musical Tribute
PBS TV broadcast
Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York, (October 7, 1985) - Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
Live, State University of New York
Jazz Heritage Society (January 17, 1986) - Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
Bill Challis' The Goldkette Project (1986) - Mark Shane's X-Mas All-Stars, What Would Santa Say? (Christmas album)
- Kenny Davern, Dialogues (2007)
- Marcus Roberts, Portraits In Blue (1996)
- Barbara Lea, Hoagy's Children, Vol. 1
Audiophile Records (1993) - Houston Person, Thinking Of You (2007)
- Daryl Sherman, Hundred Million Miracles (2003)
- Kenny Davern At The Mill Hill Playhouse (2003)
- Daryl Sherman, Born To Swing (2002)
- Daryl Sherman, New O'leans
Audiophile Records (2008); OCLC 877952763, 593772328 - Joyce Breach, Remembering Mabel Mercer
Audiophile Records (2003) - Claude Williams, Live At J'S Vol. 1 (1989)
- Eddie Bert, Walk On The Roots
Mothlight Records (1989) - Dick Sudhalter album (1989); OCLC 840104590
- David Lahm, Jazz Takes On Joni Mitchell (1999)
- Joe Temperley The Sinatra Songbook
Hep Records (2008); OCLC 246914847, 874151279 - Scott Robinson, Melody from the Sky (2000); OCLC 47969032
- Warren Vache & The Scottish Ensemble, Don't Look Back
Arbors Records 2006; OCLC 74669810
Chirillo composition, "Valse Prismatique" on YouTube - Randy Reinhart, As Long As I Live
Arbors Records (2005) - The Loren Schoenberg Big Band, Out of this World
TCB Records (de) (1998); OCLC 44274015 - The Keith Ingham New York 9, Vol. 1
Allegheny Jazz Records - The Keith Ingham New York 9, Vol. 3
Allegheny Jazz Records - Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra
Blues and the Abstract Truth: The Music of Oliver Nelson
Live at the Lincoln Theatre
Washington, D.C.
August 16 and 17, 1997 - Bob Mintzer Big Band, Homage to Count Basie
DMP CD529 (CD) (2000); OCLC 47289166 - Joe Wilder, No Greater Love
Evening Star Records
Originally released 1994; re-released May 2003 - Bobby Gordon (de) Plays Joe Marsala: Lower Register
Arbors Records (2007); OCLC 192062688 - The L-5 Jazz Guitar Ensemble, Bye Bye Blackbird
Arranged by James Chirillo
Recital in Stan Kenton Hall, North Texas label (Feb 20, 2006) - Joe Lovano, Rush Hour
Blue Note
Originally released 1995; OCLC 32146535
Re-released on CD (2008); - Pamela Luss with Houston Person, Sweet and Saxy
Savant SCD2103 (2009); OCLC 430063811 - Cecile McLorin Salvant, Woman Child
Mack Avenue MAC1072 (2013); OCLC 842846505
- Gil Evans Project, Ryan Truesdell (de)
- Centennial (newly discovered works of Gil Evans)
ArtistShare AS0114 (2012); OCLC 810273918, 873620950 - Lines Of Color
Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project
Live at Jazz Standard
ArtistShare/Blue Note ASBN0133 (2014)
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- † Grammy Nomination
Filmography
- Sweet and Lowdown (1999 film, directed by Woody Allen)
- Music Department: additional musician, rhythm guitar
- Soundtrack: performer, "Sweet Georgia Brown" (1925)
- Chirillo performed rhythm guitar on the "Sweet Georgia Brown" track — where the crescent moon cable breaks while Sean Penn is riding it. Howard Alden performed all the solo work. Bucky Pizzarelli performed all the other rhythm tracks.
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996 film, directed by Woody Allen)
- Music Department: musician, guitar and banjo
Selected clips online
Published music and papers
- Compositions and arrangements
- Grainger Suite (on two of Percy Grainger's tunes, the Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol and Hill-Song No. 2 (2002) (premiered 2002 by the USMA Band)
- Prelude To A Minor Insensitivity, a Tribute to Bill Finegan
- Valse Prismatique on YouTube
- Homage Concerto for Clarinet and Jazz Orchestra, Val-Doc Music (ASCAP) (c. 1996) (National Endowment for the Arts, 1995 Jazz Composition Grant), written for Ken Peplowski and the Loren Schoenberg Jazz Orchestra; OCLC 41312302
- Contrary to the liner notes on the recording, the Homage Concerto for Clarinet and Jazz Orchestra was never dedicated to or was in any way associated with Benny Goodman; it also was completed in April 1996 — James Chirillo
- Manhattan Work Song (1993) (Title Track of a CD by Loren Schoenberg Jazz Orchestra and voted "worthy of wider recognition" by The Village Voice, 1993)
- Papers
- James Chirillo, "Comments About the One-Note Chord Theory," October 2002
- Interviews
- James Chirillo Interviewed, by Monk Rowe, New York City, January 12, 2007, Hamilton College Jazz Archive (DVD) (2007); OCLC 190787433, 895052699
References
- Notes
- ↑ Helen Hobbs Jordan (1907–2006)
- 1 2 Following Lab '75's Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band, Lab '76, received a Grammy nomination for the same category. Both nominations represented the first bestowed by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) to student ensembles of any genre.
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- ↑ The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed.) (Chirillo is in Vol. 2 of 3), Barry Dean Kernfeld (ed.), Macmillan Publishers (2002); LCCN 2001-40794, ISBN 1561592846, OCLC 46956628
- ↑ "Helen Hobbs Jordan, 99, Music Teacher to Generations, Is Dead," by Daniel J. Wakin, New York Times, April 28, 2006
- ↑ "Devoted Students Rally to Help a Music Teacher," by Daniel J. Wakin, New York Times, January 19, 2005