Jim McNeely

Jim McNeely ( German Jazz Festival 2013)

Jim McNeely (born May 18, 1949 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American jazz musician (piano, arrangement, composition) and orchestra conductor.

Live and act

McNeely graduated from the University of Illinois and came to New York City in 1975 . There he performed with Ted Curson and Chet Baker before becoming a member of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra (later Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra ) in 1978 , of which he was a member until 1984.

From 1981 to 1985 he worked as a composer and pianist in the Stan Getz quartet , to be heard on the Concord album Pure Getz . From 1990 to 1995 he was the pianist of the Phil Woods Quartet . He also worked as a composer and arranger a. a. for the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra , the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band , the Metropole Orkest , the WDR Big Band Köln and the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra , where he received two Grammy nominations.

In 1996 he returned to Mel Lewis' Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as a composer and pianist. From 1998 to 2003 he was chief conductor of the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra . In addition, he led various of his own formations and released a number of his own albums.

McNeely u. a. with Bob Brookmeyer , David Liebman , Art Farmer , Louis Smith and Bobby Watson . He has been teaching at New York University's jazz faculty since 1981 and has been co-director of the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop since 1991 . He also gave summer courses a. a. at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and the Jamey Aebersold 's Summer Jazz Clinics .

Since autumn 2011 McNeely has been chief conductor of the hr big band of the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt am Main, before that he was artist-in-residence with this formation for three years.

Discography (excerpt)

Rain's Dance with Sam Jacobs , Mike Richmond , Larry Schneider , 1976, SteepleChase Records
The Plot Thickens with Jon Burr , Billy Hart , Mike Richmond, John Scofield , 1979
From the Heart with Marc Johnson , Adam Nussbaum , 1984
Winds of Change with Mike Richmond , Kenny Washington , 1989, Steeplechase
East Coast Blow Out with the WDR Big Band ( Rüdiger Baldauf , Henning Berg , Rainer Brüninghaus , Rob Bruynen , Roy Deuvall , Andy Haderer , Dave Horler , Marc Johnson , Rick Kiefer , Bernt Laukamp , Adam Nussbaum, Klaus Osterloh , Olivier Peters , Paul Peucker , Rolf Römer , Harold Rosenstein , John Scofield, Paul Shigihara , Heiner Wiberny ), 1989, Lipstick
Sound Bites with Jan Adefelt , Peter Asplund , Gustavo Bergalli , Hector Bingert , Dave Castle , Johan Hörlén , Fredrik Noren , Dick Oatts , Bertil Strandberg , Jukkis Uotila , Anders Wiborg , 1997
Group Therapy with Cameron Brown , Billy Drewes , Greg Gisbert , John Hollenbeck , Tony Kadleck , Ed Neumeister , Dick Oatts, Scott Robinson , Tom Varner , Scott Wendholt , 2001, OmniTone
The Power and the Glory: A Salute to Louis Armstrong with Nikolaj Bentzon , Tomas Franck , Søren Frost , Thomas Fryland , Anders Gustafsson , Steen Hansen , Michael Hove , Leroy Jones , Thomas Kjærgaard , Flemming Madsen , Uffe Markussen , Vincent Nilsson , Thomas Ovesen , Henrik Bolberg Pedersen , Benny Rosenfeld , Nicolai Schultz , Ethan Weisgard , Axel Windfel , 2001
In This Moment with Lennart Ginman , Adam Nussbaum, 2003

Web links

Commons : Jim McNeely - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	McNeely, Jim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz musician (piano, arrangement, conductor)
DATE OF BIRTH	May 18, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chicago , Illinois