12.21.12 Bill Cunliff Group featuring Jonathan Richards [bass] + Jake Reed [drums] + a great woodwind trio of Phoebe Ray [bassoon] David Shostac [flute] Chris Bleth [oboe]

“Pianist Bill Cunliffe brings his powerful “big band” to the Vic in Santa Monica…. Cunliffe added another brightly colored entry to (his) resume via his Latin Jazz Big Band. Calling an 8 piece ensemble a “big band” was a stretch in nomenclature, yet the title was fully applicable in terms of the group’s power and vitality. In a pair of numbers, “Heat Wave” and “Pure Imagination” the horns were orchestrated in close, tightly moving harmony, the sumptuousness recalling textures associated with Gil Evans. Cunliffe’s “Bone Crusher” opened up plenty of space for the ensemble’s fine soloists with (trumpeter Kye) Palmer making most of the opportunity. If there was anything missing from an otherwise scintillating evening, it was more of Cunliffe’s piano work… the music would have benefited from a larger does of his far-ranging improvisational imagination.” - Don Heckman , LA Times, April 22, 2004 

“Hearing Bill Cunliffe on CD is always a major treat… for in addition to his superb piano playing you usually get his exrtemely clever arrangements, tailor-made for a hand-picked group of first-rate players… What takes this CD from great to sublime is the… compositions of Earl Zindars…. With a nod to Art Farmer’s Jazztet, Cunliffe sets Zindars’ tunes with an expert ear for the power and beauty of a world-class three-horn lineup. And throughout, his playing is inventive, melodic, and soulful.”- Ernie Rideout, Keyboard Magazine, January 2004

Jazz pianist, composer and arranger Bill Cunliffe is widely known for his swinging and lyrical pianism and his creativity and invention as a composer and arranger of jazz.  He graduated from Duke University and the Eastman School of Music, where he won several Down Beat Awards.  After graduation, he taught at Central State University, in Wilberforce, Ohio. His first major jazz gig was pianist and arranger  with Buddy Rich, touring Europe with Frank Sinatra. He later  performed  with Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, Woody Shaw and James Moody.

Bill was the 1989 winner of the $10,000 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Award, and has received stipends from the National Endowment for the Arts. A number of his jazz instructional books  are published by Alfred Publications,  his big band compositions are published by Kendor Music and Otter Music, and his choral music is self-published on his website www.billcunliffe.com.  Bill was Marian McPartland’s guest on her famed “Piano Jazz” radio show in June ’98.

Cunliffe has released a dozen CD’s as a leader, his latest, which reached the #2 position in the JazzWeek radio polls is Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take 2, on Resonance Records. He currently performs with his own trio, the Joe LaBarbera Quintet, and in duo with flutist Holly Hofmann.

This year, Bill received a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his West Side Story Medley, released on the CD, “The Resonance Big Band Pays Tribute to Oscar Peterson.” He has also been nominated for three Grammys and two Emmys as a composer and arranger. His latest film project is “On The Shoulders of Giants,” a documentary about jazz and basketball in Harlem in the 30′s, produced by basketball great, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Bill has composed extensively for big band, chamber groups, choir and orchestra. His concerto for trumpet and orchestra, “fourth stream… La Banda,” featuring Terell Stafford with the Temple University Symphony, was recently premiered at Alice Tully Hall, in New York and at Verizon Hall in Philadelphia,.  In addition, his performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, that feature jazz trio improvisation have won public acclaim. According to the Wellington (NZ) Times, Bill’s recent concert at the Wellington Jazz Festival was “Best jazz piano since Oscar Peterson.” The BBC Review recently said that “Bill Cunliffe is one of the great players of the day.” The Atlanta Jazz Journal gave his album A Rare Connection five stars.

He teaches at the Vail Jazz Institute, and the Skidmore Jazz Institute,  and is Associate Professor of Music at Cal State Fullerton. He is also composer-in-residence at All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA.

Bill Cunliffe website