Bill Cunliffe
Bill Cunliffe (born June 26, 1956 ) is an American jazz pianist , composer and arranger .
Live and act
Cunliffe studied at Duke University with Mary Lou Williams . He received his master's degree from the Eastman School of Music . He taught at Central State University in Wilberforce , Ohio , then toured as a pianist and arranger with the Buddy Rich Big Band and worked with Frank Sinatra . He has also played with Ray Brown , Joe Henderson , Freddie Hubbard , Benny Golson , James Moody and Joshua Redman throughout his career . He is currently working with his own trio Imaginacion and in a duo with jazz flutist Holly Hofmann , with whom he has so far recorded five albums. Cunliffe has also written two books on jazz subjects, Jazz Keyboard Toolbox and Jazz Piano Inventions (Alfred Publications), and has published big band compositions and choral music. As a composer and arranger, he has worked with orchestras such as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Illinois Philharmonic, Reading (PA) Symphony, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. His orchestral works include the three-part Romantic Fantasy for piano and orchestra and Viva Mexico . He teaches as Assistant Professor of Music at the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University .
Prizes and awards
Bill Cunliffe won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Award in 1989 and received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts . His arrangement for the title Do It Again was nominated for a 2006 Grammy . Cunliffe won the 2010 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement with Oscar Peterson's West Side Story Medley . He has also won several awards from Down Beat for big band and orchestral compositions.
Discographic notes
- Rare Connection (Discovery, 1993) with Bob Sheppard , Clay Jenkins , Bruce Paulson , Dave Carpenter , Peter Erskine
- Bill in Brazil (Discovery, 1995) with Ricardo Silveira , Oscar Castro-Neves , Elio Cafaro , Marcos Ariel , Alex Acuña
- Live at Bernie's (Groove Note, 2001) with Darek Oles , Joe LaBarbera
- How My Heart Sings (Tom, 2003) with Bob Sheppard, Bobby Shew , Joe LaBarbera
- Imaginacion (Tom, 2005)
- Blues and the Abstract Truth: Take 2 (Resonance, 2008) with Tom Warrington , Mark Ferber , Bob Sheppard, Brian Scanlon, Jeff Clayton , Andy Martin , Larry Lunetta, Terell Stafford
- River Edge, New Jersey (Azica, 2013) with Martin Wind , Tim Horner
Web links
- Web presence
- Portrait at All About Jazz
- Bill Cuncliffe at Allmusic (English)
- Bill Cunliffe at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cunliffe, Bill |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cunliffe, William; Cunliffe, William Henry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist, composer and arranger |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 26, 1956 |