Results for "Jim McNeely"

Norman David: Forty-Year Wizard of The Eleventet

by Victor L. Schermer
August 4, 2021

A few years ago, a musician friend suggested I go hear a band that was playing at a place in Bella Vista, Philadelphia, a neighborhood with a significant jazz history (violinist Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang lived there and are honored with several plaques and a mural) -but not much current music to speak of. ...

Steven Feifke: Kinetic

by Dan Bilawsky
July 29, 2021

In terms of physics, kinetic energy is described as a force or power which a body or object possesses by virtue of being in motion. With reference to the aptly named debut from the Steven Feifke Big Band, that ideal is fully applicable. Kinetic, recorded in early 2019 and released in April of 2021, capitalizes on ...

Steven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic

by Angelo Leonardi
April 8, 2021

Assimilare la tradizione per poi creare cose originali. È questo il percorso che hanno seguito e continuano a seguire i musicisti jazz, in forme e approfondimenti diversi. A 30 anni esatti il pianista Steven Feifke è ancora al primo passo ma in questo scintillante debutto orchestrale dimostra di avere tutte le carte in regola per sviluppare ...

Jihye Lee: Daring Mind

by Angelo Leonardi
March 31, 2021

Solo un talento eccezionale come Jihye Lee poteva ottenere risultati così brillanti e personali nel campo dell'orchestrazione jazz partendo quasi da zero. Nata a Seoul ed emigrata negli Stati Uniti da adolescente, quando s'iscrisse al Berklee College conosceva pochissimo il linguaggio musicale afro-americano e per niente la sua dimensione orchestrale. Dopo un decennio, studi di perfezionamento ...

Take Five with Marcio Resende

by AAJ Staff
March 7, 2021

Meet Marcio Resende Recognized as one of Brazil's leading woodwind players, Marcio Resende studied at two prestigious U.S. music institutions early in his career, Berklee College of Music and The New England Conservatory, before pursuing doctoral studies at New York University. He has studied with Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Joe Allard, Dr. William Thomas McKinley, John ...

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

by Jerome Wilson
September 7, 2020

Miles Davis' album Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) is the best-selling jazz album of all time and has been highly influential for the last 60 years. Most of its five tracks have become jazz standards and have been interpreted time and again. However it is rare to see the entire album reworked to the extent that ...

Kayle Brecher: Kayleidoscope

by Geannine Reid
June 4, 2020

Vocalist, composer, and stylist Kaylé Brecher has long been a part of the jazz fabric. A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Temple University with a double major in performance and composition/arranging, Brecher has long been a member of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop in New York City. Her private studies include tutelage by Jim McNeely and ...

Migiwa Miyajima: Colorful

by Angelo Leonardi
February 25, 2020

Un nuovo debutto si aggiunge al ricco movimento di rinascita orchestrale cresciuto negli Stati Uniti nell'ultimo decennio. Che la bandleader sia donna e giapponese non è una novità (la via è stata aperta da Toshiko Akiyoshi oltre 60 anni fa ed oggi è tracciata originalmente da Miho Hazama) ma va segnalata la singolarità del suo percorso ...

Jim McNeely

Born: May 18, 1949

Jim McNeely was born in Chicago into a musical family. His mother sang in the church choir. His father played piano by ear (only in the key of Gb). His sister and brother both took piano lessons; his brother still plays bass in and around the Chicago area. Jim started piano lessons at the age of six. When he was eight he started lessons with Bruno Michelotti, who taught him basic music theory as well as the piano. This was the beginning of Jim’s life-long love of theory and, subsequently, composition and arranging.

He began to get interested in jazz around the age of 12. He went to Notre Dame High School for Boys (now Notre Dame College Prep) partially because they had a big band, the Melodons, under the direction of Rev. George Wiskirchen.  Besides playing piano in the band he started writing big band arrangements, at the age of 16. Jim then went to the University of Illinois, again largely on the strength of their big band, led by John Garvey. There was a vibrant jazz scene there at the time: a fusion of school musicians like Ron Dewar (saxophone), Ron Elliston (piano), Charlie Braugham (drums) and Howie Smith (saxophone), along with musicians from the local scene like Ron and Cecil Bridgewater, Tony Zamora, Donald Smith and Maurice McKinley (most of whom were also involved with the university). He studied theory and composition with Ed London and Morgan Powell.

2019: Striking A Balance In Review, Part 2

by Henning Bolte
February 8, 2020

Part 1 | Part 2This is the second part of an article that looks back and reflects on experiences with live music in 2019. This part deals with a musician's legacy (Ornette Coleman) and continues with an examination of artistic developments and dynamics in the jazz field in a festival (Jazzfest Berlin) and related ...