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Jack Reilly

Jack Reilly’s life as pianist and composer spanned 60 years. It began in 1946 playing a New Year’s Eve gig with a drummer and later blossomed into a major career.

Jack’s jazz trio performed in Europe, Wales, England, Canada, Alaska and all major cities in the United States.

Mr. Reilly frequently performed as soloist with symphony orchestras, choirs, chamber ensembles, woodwind quintets, and string orchestras, most often playing his own compositions.

He served as Musical Director for David Frost’s USA tour of “That Was the Week That Was” and spent two years as arranger/conductor/pianist for pop singer Gloria Loring. He conducted, performed and composed original music for an off-Broadway production of Samuel Beckett’s Eh Joe.

Jack has sixteen CDs as leader in his portfolio and has been an important ingredient at festivals and on recordings, and in groups led by Sheila Jordan, John Laporta, Ben Webster, Ray Starling’s New York Neophonic Orchestra, and George Russell’s New York Band. He toured all the European festivals with Mr. Russell, ending with a week-long gig at the Village Vanguard and a recording on Soul Note.

He was Professor and Head of the Jazz Studies Departments at the New England Conservatory of Music Boston, The New School, for Social Research, The Mannes College of Music where he wrote the curriculum for full Degree in Jazz Music.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed “The Harmony of Bill Evans, Volume 1 and Volume 2,b the upcoming "The Harmony of Dave Brubeck" as well as several books of jazz piano arrangements, all published by Hal Leonard Corporation, USA.

His "SPECIES BLUES"texts on jazz piano improvisation: Volume One The Blues Form (Modal), Volume Two The Song Form (Tonal) and Volume Three The Free Form (Atonal), form a complete college course on the "HOW" for jazz pianists, all published by Unichrom.

Mr. Reilly, the composer, reveals the range, depth, variety and assessability of his talents and his life’s purpose.

“Given his history, his accomplishments, and his interests, Jack Reilly has made himself a melodious Renaissance man, and because of this is clearly an artist deserving of far wider recognition.” —Dave Nathan, All Music Guide

\ Jack Reilly’s compositions include La-No-Tib Suite for piano w/improvisation (1957), Jazz Requiem Mass (1967), An Oratorio, The Light of The Soul (1974), Chuang-Tzu - Theme and Eight Variations for Orchestra (1993), Concertina for Jazz Piano and Strings (1965), Lullabys for Orchestra, Fantasy for Piano and Wind Quintet (1978), Piano Sonata in D Minor (1957), and Concerto for Harmonica and Strings(1957), Mass of Involvement (1969), Green Spring Suite (2002), Songs Without Words for Piano (2003), as well as over 300 piano pieces.. In 2001, his Piano Concerto Orbitals was premiered with the composer as soloist with the Keweenaw Symphony.

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995
Extended Analysis

Jack Reilly Trio: Live at Dean Clough

Read "Jack Reilly Trio: Live at Dean Clough" reviewed by Samuel Chell


Jack Reilly Trio Live At Dean Clough Dean Clough Unichrom 2007

After composing, performing and recording a work motivated by and patterned after a struggle with a life- threatening illness (Innocence: Green Spring Suite, Unichrom, 2007), Jack Reilly might be expected to lighten up on his sequel. Recorded in March 2007, even the cover of Live at Dean Clough, depicting the pianist in an English pub apparently enjoying a leisurely ...

993
Interview

Jack Reilly: Making the Most of the Gift of Life

Read "Jack Reilly: Making the Most of the Gift of Life" reviewed by Ralph A. Miriello


After nearly three-quarters of a century, Jack Reilly's career is hardly in need of queries from one more interviewer--questions about his past associations, his musical history or his previous recordings and accomplishments. These have been fairly well documented. The accomplished and well-traveled pianist/composer, though undeniably obscure to the general public, has made an indelible mark in both the classical and jazz worlds--especially through his ability to marry two seemingly disparate musical styles, classical and jazz, in ways that continually bring ...

1,095
Extended Analysis

Jack Reilly Trio: Innocence - Green Spring Suite

Read "Jack Reilly Trio: Innocence - Green Spring Suite" reviewed by Samuel Chell


Jack Reilly Trio Innocence: Green Spring Suite Unichrom 2007

“A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" Pianist/composer Jack Reilly is a creative spirit whose temperament matches that of an indomitably positive, life-affirming major poet such as Robert Browning. Seeing obstacles as challenges, set-backs as opportunities, and failures as mere preludes to success, both artists embrace a creed that insists on going for broke, and doing so with gusto. Because ...

202
Album Review

Jack Reilly: Pure Passion: Solo Piano Improvisations

Read "Pure Passion: Solo Piano Improvisations" reviewed by John Kelman


With the surprising wealth of exceptional music out there, discovering any new artist is always a treat. But when one comes across a performer as impressive as Jack Reilly--a pianist who, while performing for over 45 years, has mysteriously remained outside the watchful eye of the greater jazz fan base--that joy of discovery is equally coloured with a sense of curiosity. After all and with rare exception, Reilly has worked solely under his own steam, releasing a small body of ...

365
Live Review

Jack Reilly's "Jazz Requiem" at College of DuPage, March 13, 2005

Read "Jack Reilly's "Jazz Requiem" at College of DuPage, March 13, 2005" reviewed by Jeff Stockton


The lines separating jazz and classical music blur in pianist Jack Reilly's compositions as he imagines Mozart in the 21st Century, not as the romanticized classical giant, but as an improvising ensemble member in a jazz band. It's an intriguing concept: Is composition simply improvisation slowed down? And is improvisation merely composition sped up?

Modeled on Mozart's own Requiem, Reilly's Jazz Requiem is difficult to perform. You need a choir to sing along with your saxophone quartet; you need a ...

167
Album Review

Jack Reilly: Jack Reilly Trio

Read "Jack Reilly Trio" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Jack Reilly Trio (Blue-Sean-Green) Unichrom Ltd. Jack Reilly is an interesting study in contrasts, Bill Evans is omnipresent in his playing, but there is a classical edge that gives him a unique style [with] musical depth. Jack Six on Bass and Drummer Joe Cocuzzo provide the ideal accompaniment. Ever the spear carriers, they do not overplay but perform superbly in support. 'Halloween' This tune is a treat with tricky machinations by Reilly. Delicious humor with a hint of darkness dancing ...

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2

Obituary

Jack Reilly, RIP

Jack Reilly, RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

News has arrived that the pianist Jack Reilly died of a massive stroke on Friday at his home in New Jersey. Mr. Reilly, 86, was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist who returned to his native New York in 1954 following Navy service and pursued graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music. His early experience in jazz was with John LaPorta, Sheila Jordan, Ben Webster and George Russell, among other prominent figures in the bebop and post-bop eras. From ...

60

Recording

Jack Reilly - "Live at Maybeck Recital Hall"

Jack Reilly - "Live at Maybeck Recital Hall"

Source: AAJ Staff

OVERVIEW: When you read the biographies of jazz artists, many relate a common story; musical studies that began with a foundation built on classical training before giving way to jazz. And while a classical influence can still be heard in a number of contemporary musicians, see Brad Mehldau, few actually perform both classical and jazz, and even fewer release a mixed recording of the two genres. I'm not speaking of Third Stream music here (the synthesis of classical and jazz); ...

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Recording

Recent Listening: Jack Reilly at Maybeck

Recent Listening: Jack Reilly at Maybeck

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Jack Reilly, Live At Maybeck Recital Hall (Unichrom). Maybeck is a small hall in Berkeley, California, loved by pianists and listeners for the perfection of its acoustics. Carl Jefferson of Concord Records was so taken with the sound of the room that he initiated a series of 42 solo piano recordings there. It began with Joanne Brackeen in 1989 and ended with James Williams in 1995. In between is a variety of the finest pianists in jazz, among them Dick ...

100

Performance / Tour

Innocence: The Music of Jack Reilly Duo Concert on November 17th

Innocence: The Music of Jack Reilly Duo Concert on November 17th

Source: Michael Ricci

Jack Reilly, composer/pianist, with assisting artist Ashton Fletcher (bassist), will play at the WEINBERG Ceremonial LOBBY of the SIDNEY KIMMELL CANCER CENTER, (Johns Hopkins Hospital), 901 S. Bond Street, downtown Baltimore, MD. on Tuesday, November 17th at noon. The program includes excerpts from Jack's GREEN SPRING SUITE and The SILENCE of the HEART plus his four movement SONATA in D minor. The concert is free and open to the public. Jack's new CD Innocence will be given to all attendees, ...

65

Interview

Pianist Jack Reilly Interviewed at AAJ

Pianist Jack Reilly Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

After nearly three-quarters of a century, Jack Reilly's career is hardly in need of queries from one more interviewers--questions about his past associations, his musical history or his previous recordings and accomplishments. These have been fairly well documented. The accomplished and well-traveled pianist/composer, though undeniably obscure to the general public, has made an indelible mark in both the classical and jazz worlds--especially through his ability to marry two seemingly disparate musical styles, classical and jazz, in ways that continually bring ...

160

Education

New Editions of Jack Reilly's Improv Texts Back in Print

New Editions of Jack Reilly's Improv Texts Back in Print

Source: All About Jazz


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Performance / Tour

Jack Reilly quartet on tour in London 17/30Novenber

Jack Reilly quartet on tour in London 17/30Novenber

Source: All About Jazz


"Jack Reilly's music is singular, almost private, and yet it reaches beyond his personal vision. This is music that speaks to the collective spirit of mankind." —Bill Charlap

"Jack, your music and playing takes Jazz to a new level". —Dave Brubeck (on hearing the cd "MASKS").

"One of our great contemporary acoustic pianists... a singular intelligence of remarkable purity and consistency." —Chuck Berg, Jazz Times.

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Live at Dean Clough

Self Produced
2009

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Blue Sean Green

Unichrom
2002

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November

Strand Records
1983

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Oncological

From: Innocence: Green Spring Suite
By Jack Reilly

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