James Chirillo

James Chirillo

Chirillo with the Kenny Davern All Stars at the 2004 Breçon Jazz Festival (photo: Barry Quick)
Background information
Birth name James Louis Chirillo
Born May 2, 1953
Origin Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Genres Jazz, big band, bebop, hard bop, swing, mainstream jazz, classical music
Occupation(s) Musician, composer, arranger
Instruments Jazz guitar, banjo, composer
Years active 1974 present

James Louis Chirillo (born May 2, 1953, Waltham, Massachusetts) is an American jazz guitarist, jazz banjoist, composer, arranger, and band leader.[1] He grew up in Bellevue, Washington, and has been a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, since 1993.

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

New York days

Post-college studies

Early days

Chirillo grew up in Bellevue, Washington.

Discography

a. "When Lights Are Low" (Benny Carter, Spencer Williams) / arr: James Chirillo
b. "I Love You, Samantha" (Cole Porter) / arr: James Chirillo
c. "Sultry Serenade" (aka "How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me") (Tyree Glenn, Allan Roberts) / arr: James Chirillo
d. "Counterpoise No. 2 for Electric Guitar and Trumpet" (John Carisi)
e. "If I Only Had a Brain" (Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg) / arr: James Chirillo
f. "Move" (Denzil Best) / arr: James Chirillo
g. "Elend" (from Op. 27, No. 7) - 4:52 (Alexander Zemlinsky) / arr: James Chirillo
h. "Can't We Be Friends?" (Paul James, Kay Swift) / arr: James Chirillo
i. "Bourbon Street Parade" (Paul Barbarin) / arr: James Chirillo
j. "Lush Life" (Billy Strayhorn) / arr: James Chirillo
k. "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" (Harry Carroll, Joseph McCarthy) / arr: James Chirillo
l. "Fancifree" (James Chirillo) / arr: James Chirillo
m. "Blues for Valerie" (James Chirillo) / arr: James Chirillo
Chirillo composition, Valse Prismatique on YouTube

As sideman

Filmography

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.
Music Department: musician, guitar and banjo

Selected clips online

References

  1. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz; Second edition; Three volumes. Edited by Barry Kernfeld. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2002 (LCCN 2001-40794) (ISBN 1561592846)

Published music and papers

Compositions & Arrangements

  • James Chirillo, 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)
  • James Chirillo, Prelude To A Minor Insensitivity, a Tribute to Bill Finegan
  • James Chirillo, Valse Prismatique on YouTube
  • James Chirillo, 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. (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)
  • 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

External links