James Chirillo comes from Bellevue, Washington.  He majored in music composition at North Texas State University where he is a member of the prestigious One O Clock Lab Band and recorded several albums, including Grammy Nominee Lab  76.  From 1977-79, he worked regularly with singers Marilyn Maye, Vic Damone, Joey Heatherton, Lorna Luft, Pianist Roger Williams and then spent three years with the United States Military Academy band at West Point, NY.

Moving to New York City in 1982, he was privileged to work with many of the swing era s recognized greats.  He studied and performed with the 4-string jazz guitarist  Tiny  Grimes and appeared at the West End Cafe  with artists such as Eddie Durham, Eddie Barefield, Earle Warren, Joe Newman and Haywood Henry.  As a member of Benny Goodman s last band, his performances included the PBS television broadcast  Let s Dance .  With the Buck Clayton Orchestra he toured Europe in the summer of 1991 and played such venues as New York s Village Vanguard.

As  Fiddler  Claude Williams  guitarist of choice, he participated in President Clinton s inaugural festivities and performed at Carnegie s Weill Recital Hall.  He was also a charter member of the Smithsonian Jazz masterworks Orchestra (1992-99) under the direction of David Baker and Gunther Schuller and has performed with Bob Wilber and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band directed by Jon Faddis, and Benny Carter and the Lincoln Center Jazz Band directed by Winton Marsalis. 

Having studied composition and arranging with John Carisi, he was honored to have premiered, with the composer on trumpet, Mr. Carisi s  Counterpoise #2 for Electric Guitar and Trumpet , expressly written for Mr. Chirillo in 1991.

Mr. Chirillo has multiple credits and works over the years. Recently his work as a writer was featured on NPR s Jazz At The Archives hosted by Dan Morgenstern and in April 2000 he was invited by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra to conduct a program of his music, featuring Homage Concerto with clarinetist Ken Peplowski as soloist.

His record debut, Sultry Serenade, was released in the summer of 2000.  John Chirillo is considered an incredibly multifaceted musician, a swinging eclecticist, in the best sense of the word.