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Vince Giordano

Multi-instrumentalist and bandleader of Grammy-winning NYC band Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks

About Me

Grammy-winner, New York native and multi instrumentalist Vince Giordano has played in New York nightclubs, appeared in films such as The Cotton Club, The Aviator, Finding Forrester, Revolutionary Road, and HBOs Boardwalk Empire, and for concerts at the Town Hall, Jazz At Lincoln Center, the Newport Jazz Festival and the 92nd St Y for the past three decades. Recording projects include soundtracks for the award-winning Boardwalk Empire with vocalist like Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, St. Vincent, Regina Spektor, Neko Case, Leon Redbone, Liza Minnelli, Catherine Russell, Rufus Wainwright and David Johansen. Vince and his band have also recorded for Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World, Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepherd, Sam Mendes’ Away We Go, Michael Mann’s film Public Enemies, and John Krokidas’ debut feature, Kill Your Darlings, along with HBO’s Grey Gardens and the miniseries Mildred Pierce. The band’s most recent projects are HBO’s Bessie starring Queen Latifah, which premiered this past May; Cinemax’s The Knick starring Clive Owen. Upcoming projects include Todd Haynes’ film Carol, a Barry Levinson film for HBO: Wizard of Lies, starring Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer; a new film called Sophie and the Rising Sun; and a Woody Allen movie yet to be named. The Nighthawks are also seen and heard in the USA Network series Royal Pains and in the PBS series Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook. Hudson West Productions recently completed a feature documentary called “Vince Giordano – There’s a Future in the Past” and they’re in the process of raising funds for music clearance rights.

Giordano’s passion for music from the 1920’s & 30’s and the people that made it began at age 5. He has amassed an amazing collection of over 60,000 band arrangements, 1920’s and 30’s films, 78 recordings and jazz-age memorabilia. Giordano sought out and studied with important survivors from the period; Whiteman’s hot arranger Bill Challis and drummer Chauncey Morehouse, as well as bassist Joe Tarto. Giordano’s passion, commitment to authenticity, and knowledge led him to create a sensational band of like-minded players, the Nighthawks. For over 40 years, Vince Giordano has single handedly kept alive a wonderful genre of American music that continues to spread the joy and pathos of an era that shaped our nation. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks can be heard every Monday and Tuesday at Iguana NYC.

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