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.

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

 * 1977-79 &mdash; Chirillo performed regularly with singers Marilyn Maye, Vic Damone, Joey Heatherton, Lorna Luft, and pianist Roger Williams
 * 1979-82 &mdash; Member of the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point

New York days

 * 1982 &mdash; Moved to New York City
 * Studied and performed with the late great four-string jazz guitarist Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes
 * 1985-86 &mdash; Member of Benny Goodman's last band (recording with Chirillo)
 * 1987-91 &mdash; 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 &mdash; Charter member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, directed by Gunther Schuller and David Baker
 * 2007 &mdash; Lincoln Center, Rose Auditorium Best of the Big Bands, with Ernestine Anderson

Post-college studies

 * Studied composition and arranging with John Carisi
 * Studied composition and arranging with Bill Finegan
 * Studied guitar with Remo Palmier
 * Studied musicianship with Helen Jordan

Early days
Chirillo grew up in Bellevue, Washington.

Discography

 * Lab '76, University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band; 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.
 * Lab '77, University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band
 * Jazz at Spoleto '77: All Cows Eat Grass, University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band, Left Bank Jazz Society of Charleston
 * Lab '78, University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band
 * Doug Lawrence, Doug Lawrence Trio (1981)
 * Benny Goodman, Let's Dance, A Musical Tribute, PBS TV broadcast, Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York, (October 7, 1985)
 * CD, 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)
 * CD, James Chirillo, Sultry Serenade Label: Nagel Heyer (2000) Germany
 * 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


 * CD, James Chirillo performs on the Christmas album, What Would Santa Say?, Nagel-Heyer Records (1999)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Kenny Davern's, Dialogues (2007)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Marcus Roberts', Portraits In Blue (1996)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Barbara Lea's, Hoagy's Children, Volume One, Audiophile Records (1993)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Houston Person's, Thinking Of You (2007)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Daryl Sherman's Hundred Million Miracles (2003)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Kenny Davern's At The Mill Hill Playhouse (2003)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Daryl Sherman's, Born To Swing (2002)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Daryl Sherman's, New O'leans, Audiophile Records
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Joyce Breach's Remembering Mabel Mercer, Audiophile Records (2003)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Claude Williams' Live At J'S Vol. 1 (1989)
 * CD, Eddie Bert, Walk On The Roots, Mothlight Records (1989)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Dick Sudhalter's album (1989)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on David Lahm's Jazz Takes On Joni Mitchell (1999)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Joe Temperley's The Sinatra Songbook, Hep Records
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on Scott Robinson's, Melody from the Sky
 * CD, James Chirillo performs with Warren Vache & The Scottish Ensemble, Don't Look Back, Arbors Records
 * Chirillo composition, Valse Prismatique


 * CD, James Chirillo performs with Randy Reinhart's As Long As I Live, Arbors Records (2005)
 * CD, James Chirillo performs with The Loren Schoenberg Big Band on the album Out of this World
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on the album, The Keith Ingham New York 9, Volume 1 Allegheny Jazz Records
 * CD, James Chirillo performs on the album, The Keith Ingham New York 9, Volume 3 Allegheny Jazz Records
 * CD, James Chirillo performs with Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra on the album Blues and the Abstract Truth: The Music of Oliver Nelson, Live At The Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC, August 16 and 17, 1997
 * CD, James Chirillo performs with Joe Wilder on the album No Greater Love Evening Star Records (orig release 1994; rerelease May 2003)
 * James Chirillo performs on the album Bobby Gordon Plays Joe Marsala: Lower Register, Arbors Records (2007)
 * CD, The L-5 Jazz Guitar Ensemble, Bye Bye Blackbird arranged by James Chirillo (recital in Stan Kenton Hall, North Texas label) (Feb 20, 2006)

As sideman

 * Joe Lovano, Rush Hour, Blue Note (originally released 1995; re-released on CD 2008)

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 &mdash; 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 Vienne, France (1999)

Published music and papers
COMPOSITIONS & ARRANGEMENTS PAPERS
 * 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 
 * 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)
 * James Chirillo,  Comments About the One-Note Chord Theory , October 2002