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Charles Pillow

Originally from Roanoke, Virginia and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Charles' latest projects on Artistshare, the reworkings of Modeste Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Gustav Holsts' "The Planets" are examples of his fusion of different musical elements and blending them into music for our time. "I thought with all the instruments that I play, I could create a much more varied tonal palette and venture into different worlds of expression. So we go anywhere from rock to balkan to beats to 21st century classical in one breath, a virtual 'symphony of sound'.

He has appeared on over 75 CD's including those of Michael Brecker, David Sanborn, Jay Z, Frank Sinatra, Luther Vandross, Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer, Bob Belden, Maria Schneider, John Fedchock, Maria Carey, Kevin Mahogany, Queen Latifah, John Scofield, Gladys Knight, Nellie McKay, Michel Buble, and Chaka Khan.

He has worked with legendary producers Phil Ramone and Arif Mardin and performed with Christine Aguilera, Marc Anthonly, Winona Judd, Blood, Sweat, and Tears and Michael Jackson, Randy Brecker, David Liebman, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, The Long Island Philharmonic, and The New Orleans Symphony.

In additon to his saxophone, flute and clarinet playing, he has distinguished himself as one of the premier jazz oboists with his recordings, "Currents", "In this World", "Pictures at an Exhibition", and his latest release on Artistshare.com, "The Planets". He has appeared on 3 Grammy winning releases: Michael Breckers "Wide Angles", Maria Schneiders' "Concert in the Garden" and Joe Hendersons' "Big Band".

His two books, "Woodwind Doubling: the saxophonist guide to playing flute, clarinet and oboe" and, "Jazz Playing for Oboe Music Minus One" are also available through Artistshare.com as well as a series of etudes for junior high and high school students called, "Jazz Etudes on the Great Jazz Standards" for Bb and Eb saxophone, flute and clarinet.

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Album Review

Michael Davis - Hip-Bone Big Band: Open City

Read "Open City" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Michael Davis is an accomplished trombonist who has had a long career of live and studio work accompanying a varied roster of big-name jazz and rock talents such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bob Mintzer, Buddy Rich, Paul Simon, and Sarah Vaughan. He is also an established solo artist and composer who leads an imposing large ensemble, the Hip-Bone Big Band. The big band's second album is an exuberant affair which reflects the joy of getting back ...

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Album Review

Charles Pillow Ensemble: Chamber Jazz

Read "Chamber Jazz" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Chamber Jazz, alto saxophonist Charles Pillow's eighth recording as leader of his ensemble, is a generally sedate but remarkably engaging series of tone poems that combine contemporary jazz with elements of classical music to produce a hybrid that underlines what is most harmonious and charming in each genre. Chamber Jazz is what it says, and chamber jazz is what it is. For comparison's sake, think of the ensemble as the Modern Jazz Quartet times five. True, there is no John ...

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Album Review

Mike Holober: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Un decennio dopo Quake (Sunnyside 2009), l'arrangiatore e bandleader Mike Holober riporta sotto i riflettori la newyorchese Gotham Jazz Orchestra in uno scintillante doppio compact che raccoglie due ricercate composizioni ("Flow" in tre movimenti, “Hiding Out" in cinque) e tre brani medio-lunghi (tra cui il delizioso “Caminhos Cruzados" di Jobim in due versioni). Come è ovvio che sia, l'organico registra alcune sostituzioni. Tra i nuovi ingressi il trombettista Marvin Stamm, i sassofonisti Jason Rigby e Bill Drewes, il ...

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Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Mike Holober is a celebrated composer and arranger who has worked for ensembles like the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in New York and the WDR and HR Big Bands in Germany. He is also the leader and founder of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra which here makes its first appearance on record in ten years. Holober makes this return a fruitful one, coming up with a 2CD set featuring two long suites, both with themes involving American landscapes. The first ...

3
Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Mike Holober has been Hiding Out rather openly for the past ten years or so, waiting for the proper time to gather together his world-class Gotham Jazz Orchestra and record for the first time since 2009's widely acclaimed album Quake (Sunnyside), in which his picturesque compositions and arrangements were compared favorably to those of Duke Ellington and Gil Evans, to name only two. In the interim, Holober has hardly been sitting on his hands, serving time as director of New ...

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Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


If musical polymath Mike Holober is hiding out, he's doing it in plain sight. Constantly in demand, his work as a pianist, conductor, arranger and composer has drawn plenty of attention. In the past 15 years alone he has served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (from 2007-2013), the Associate Guest Conductor of the hr-Bigband (from 2011-2015), and the Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop (from 2007-2015). In that same stretch of time, ...

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Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Mike Holober's background as a classical pianist and conductor is just one thing that sets Hiding Out apart from the current crop of big band releases. Holober has worked in a variety of settings from solo, duo, and quintet to large ensembles. Two previous recordings with his Gotham Jazz Orchestra were the critically acclaimed Thought Trains (Sons of Sound Records, 2004) and Quake (Sunnyside Records, 2009), comprised of covers and original Holober compositions. On the ambitious double-disc Hiding Out, Holober ...

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Recording

Charles Pillow Large Ensemble Set To Release 'Electric Miles 2' on October 6th

Charles Pillow Large Ensemble Set To Release 'Electric Miles 2' on October 6th

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Charles Pillow Large Ensemble Electric Miles 2 The follow-up to acclaimed saxophonist/arranger Charles Pillow’s, “Electric Miles” , one of NPR’s top ten CD’s for 2018, is a further exploration of Miles Davis’ early electric period, 1969-74, arranged for a large jazz ensemble. This time Pillows’ arrangements add 3 french horns in addition to the usual big band format for more orchestral color possibilities. Featured in the “Miles” solo role are Tim Hagans, Scott Wendholt and Clay Jenkins. A completely “stacked” ...

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Interview

Reed/Woodwind Multi-Instrumentalist Charles Pillow Interviewed at All About Jazz

Reed/Woodwind Multi-Instrumentalist Charles Pillow Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman

Charles Pillow is a musician's musician who works with diverse ensembles from jazz to pops to classical, small group to large ensemble, straight-ahead to avant-garde. He grew up in Baton Rouge, La., and studied music at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, before eventually settling in the New York City area as a working professional. Pillow ventured into forming his own groups for recording with the 1997 release of Currents (Challenge Records), featuring Tom Harrell. In This World (Summit, ...

"Charles Pillow is one of the more in-demand reed players on the New York Jazz scene today" ---Maria Schneider

"Pillow has fashioned something genuinely new and ravishingly beautfiul. He has remarkable command of oboe, soprano sax, bass clarinet and penny whistle. He practically achieves musical nirvana. Simply one of the best releases of this or any other year". (In This World) ---amazon.com

"His poise and sense of solo construction are indications of exceptional musicianship". ---Jazz Times

"He has an ear for original melodies and sophisticated harmonies, as well as terrifc playing on tenor and soprano saxes and oboe". ---Paul DeBarros, Seattle Times

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Open City

Self Produced
2023

buy

Up High, Down Low

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

Electric Miles 2

Summit/Mama
2023

buy

Chamber Jazz

Summit Records
2020

buy

Hiding Out

Zoho Music
2019

buy

Electric Miles

MAMA Records
2018

buy

Compelled

From: Hiding Out
By Charles Pillow

Videos

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