James Chirillo

James Louis Chirillo (born May 2, 1953, Waltham, Massachusetts) is an American jazz guitarist, jazz banjoist, composer, arranger, and band leader. 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 studied guitar with Remo Palmier and musicianship with Helen Jordan (1907–2006).

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 and 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

1. "When Lights Are Low"
     Music by Benny Carter, words by Spencer Williams
     Arranged by Chirillo
2. "I Love You, Samantha"
     By Cole Porter
     Arranged by Chirillo
3. "Sultry Serenade"
     (aka "How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me")
     Music by Tyree Glenn, words by Allan Roberts)
     Arranged by Chirillo
4. "Counterpoise No. 2 for Electric Guitar and Trumpet"
     By John Carisi
5. "If I Only Had a Brain"
     Music by Harold Arlen, words by E. Y. Harburg)
     Arranged by Chirillo
6. "Move"
     Denzil Best
     Arranged by Chirillo
7. "Elend" (from Op. 27, No. 7)
     By Alexander Zemlinsky
     Arranged by Chirillo
8. "Can't We Be Friends?"
     Music by Kay Swift, words by Paul James
     Arranged by Chirillo
9. "Bourbon Street Parade"
     By Paul Barbarin
     Arranged by Chirillo
10. "Lush Life"
      By Billy Strayhorn)
      Arranged by Chirillo
11. "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"
      Music by Harry Carroll, words by Joseph McCarthy
      Arranged by Chirillo
12. "Fancifree"
      Music and arrangement by Chirillo
13. "Blues for Valerie"
      Music and arrangement by Chirillo

As member of the One O'Clock Lab Band

• Lab '76; OCLC 7064424  †
• Lab '77: All Cows Eat Grass; OCLC 7064389  †
• Jazz at Spoleto '77
  LCCN 94-759379, OCLC 31056413 and 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)

Nagel Heyer Records (de) (G)CD055 (CD) (1999); OCLC 873895389

• 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 and 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 and 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 and 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

• Rampage in G Minor, Buck Clayton Swing Band, Live on YouTube Vienne, France (1999)

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 and 895052699

References

Notes

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External links

• James Chirillo Official Website