In addition to being one of the United States’ top jazz cities, Los Angeles is also a strong center for Latin music. It therefore is quite logical that pianist Bill Cunliffe, a flexible and an always musically curious player, would put together a group of top local musicians to perform a stirring set of Afro-Cuban jazz. Cunliffe and his tentet perform five of his originals, a Steely Dan song, an obscurity, and three standards. All of the horn players, four top brassmen and the versatile Bob Sheppard on reeds, have solo space and the rhythm section is consistently burning. Even though much of the material is unfamiliar, these renditions are quite accessible, swinging, and heated. Fans of both Latin jazz and hard bop will find plenty to enjoy on this spirited outing. ~ Scott Yanow Grammy nominated arranger and pianist Bill Cunliffe presents this recording of latin jazz arrangements. Bill Cunliffe is a former winner of the prestigous Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. An eclectic mix of standards and new composit

Liner Note Author: Rebeca Mauleón.
Arranger: Bill Cunliffe.

Personnel: Bill Cunliffe (piano); Bill Cunliffe; Rene Camacho (double bass); Bob Sheppard (flute, saxophone); Kyle Palmer, Bobby Shew (trumpet); Arturo Velasco, Bruce Paulson (trombone); Ramon Banda (drums, percussion); José Papo Rodríguez, Jose “Joey” de Leon (percussion).

BILL CUNLIFFE:

Jazz pianist, composer and Grammy Award-winning arranger Bill Cunliffe is known for his innovative and swinging recordings and compositions. Bill began his career as pianist and arranger with the Buddy Rich Big Band and worked with Frank Sinatra, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson and James Moody. He has since established himself as a solo artist and bandleader, with more than a dozen albums under his name.

Bill’s recordings show his affinity for Latin rhythms (“Bill in Brazil,” “Imaginación,” his orchestral work “fourth stream … La Banda”) and pay homage to some of his musical heroes, including Paul Simon, Bud Powell and Oliver Nelson.

His most recent film project was the score for “On the Shoulders of Giants,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 2011 documentary about the legendary Harlem Rens basketball team of the 1930s. Bill currently plays with his trio, his big band and his Latin band, Imaginación, and performs in the U.S. and around the world as a leader and sideman.

His latest solo-piano release is “That Time of Year” (Metre Records, 2011), his take on traditional Christmas tunes, with guest vocalist Denise Donatelli.

Bill is a winner of the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition and has received stipends from the National Endowment for the Arts. Orchestras across the country and overseas have performed his works, and many of his recordings have charted in nationwide jazz polls.

He is a jazz studies professor at Cal State Fullerton and teaches at the Skidmore Jazz Institute and the Vail Jazz Workshop.

His books “Jazz Keyboard Toolbox” and “Jazz Inventions for Keyboard” (Alfred Music Publishing) are standard jazz reference works. His “Uniquely Familiar: Standards for Advanced Solo Piano” was published in the fall.

Bill has received four Grammy nominations and two Emmy nominations. He was awarded a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for 2009 for “West Side Story Medley,” on the album “Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson” (Resonance Records). He was nominated for a Grammy in 2010 for Best Instrumental Composition for his concerto for trumpet and orchestra, “fourth stream … La Banda,” performed by Terell Stafford and the Temple University Symphony Orchestra (BCM+D Records).

The Los Angeles Jazz Society honored Bill in 2010 with its Composer/ Arranger Award. That year he was also named a Distinguished Faculty Member of the College of the Arts at Cal State Fullerton.

Bill grew up in Andover, Mass. He studied jazz at Duke University with pianist Mary Lou Williams and received his master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music.