Wally Cirillo

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wallace Joseph "Wally" Cirillo (born February 4, 1927 in Huntington (New York) , † May 5, 1977 in Boca Raton ) was an American jazz pianist.

Cirillo studied from 1948 to 1950 at the Conservatory of Modern Music in New York and then at the Manhattan School of Music . In 1953 he played in the band of Chubby Jackson and Bill Harris and in the second half of the 1950s with John LaPorta and Charles Mingus , in whose Jazz Composers workshop he was and recorded. From 1961 he was a teacher in Florida, gave private lessons and courses at the university (in piano and improvisation) and composed (including orchestral works and electronic music). He also led his own band from 1962 to 1965, playing with Ira Sullivan , Flip Phillips and Phil Napoleon .

Cirillo recorded under his own name (in a quartet with Teo Macero and Charles Mingus in 1955) and with Mingus' Jazz Workshop, with LaPorta (in a quintet on Debut Records in 1954 ) and Johnny Mathis . His quartet recording contains the first jazz composition based on the twelve-tone series . It was occasionally re-released under Mingu's name, and in 2006 on Explorations of Teo Macero and Wally Cirillo (Fresh Sound Records). He also recorded several duet albums with guitarist Joe Diorio in the 1970s.

Tom Lord has seven recordings in his jazz discography from 1954 to 1957.

Lexical entry

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cirillo, Wally
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cirillo, Wallace Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Huntington, New York
DATE OF DEATH May 5th 1977
Place of death Boca Raton