Jack Reilly

Jack Reilly’s life as pianist and composer spanned 60 years. It began in 1946 playing a New Year’s Eve gig with a drummer and later blossomed into a major career.

Jack’s jazz trio performed in Europe, Wales, England, Canada, Alaska and all major cities in the United States.

Mr. Reilly frequently performed as soloist with symphony orchestras, choirs, chamber ensembles, woodwind quintets, and string orchestras, most often playing his own compositions.

He served as Musical Director for David Frost’s USA tour of “That Was the Week That Was” and spent two years as arranger/conductor/pianist for pop singer Gloria Loring. He conducted, performed and composed original music for an off-Broadway production of Samuel Beckett’s Eh Joe.

Jack has sixteen CDs as leader in his portfolio and has been an important ingredient at festivals and on recordings, and in groups led by Sheila Jordan, John Laporta, Ben Webster, Ray Starling’s New York Neophonic Orchestra, and George Russell’s New York Band. He toured all the European festivals with Mr. Russell, ending with a week-long gig at the Village Vanguard and a recording on Soul Note.

He was Professor and Head of the Jazz Studies Departments at the New England Conservatory of Music Boston, The New School, for Social Research, The Mannes College of Music where he wrote the curriculum for full Degree in Jazz Music.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed “The Harmony of Bill Evans, Volume 1 and Volume 2,b the upcoming "The Harmony of Dave Brubeck" as well as several books of jazz piano arrangements, all published by Hal Leonard Corporation, USA.

His "SPECIES BLUES"texts on jazz piano improvisation: Volume One The Blues Form (Modal), Volume Two The Song Form (Tonal) and Volume Three The Free Form (Atonal), form a complete college course on the "HOW" for jazz pianists, all published by Unichrom.

Mr. Reilly, the composer, reveals the range, depth, variety and assessability of his talents and his life’s purpose.

“Given his history, his accomplishments, and his interests, Jack Reilly has made himself a melodious Renaissance man, and because of this is clearly an artist deserving of far wider recognition.” —Dave Nathan, All Music Guide

\ Jack Reilly’s compositions include La-No-Tib Suite for piano w/improvisation (1957), Jazz Requiem Mass (1967), An Oratorio, The Light of The Soul (1974), Chuang-Tzu - Theme and Eight Variations for Orchestra (1993), Concertina for Jazz Piano and Strings (1965), Lullabys for Orchestra, Fantasy for Piano and Wind Quintet (1978), Piano Sonata in D Minor (1957), and Concerto for Harmonica and Strings(1957), Mass of Involvement (1969), Green Spring Suite (2002), Songs Without Words for Piano (2003), as well as over 300 piano pieces.. In 2001, his Piano Concerto Orbitals was premiered with the composer as soloist with the Keweenaw Symphony.