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Tito Carrillo
Tito Carrillo is one of the finest trumpeters to emerge from Chicago’s rich jazz trumpet legacy. He is an accomplished trumpeter, educator, bandleader, and composer, and since 1996 he has been a fixture in the Chicago jazz and latin music scenes. A native of Austin, Texas, the list of artists he has performed, recorded, and toured with is as varied and impressive as his skill set.
He has worked with Chicago heavyweights Willie Pickens, Ryan Cohan, Juan Pastor's Chinchano, and Geof Bradfield; big bands such as the Woody Herman Orchestra (Frank Tiberi, director), the Chicago Jazz Ensemble (Bill Russo and Jon Faddis, directors), the Chicago Jazz Orchestra (Jeff Lindberg, director), and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (David Baker, director); jazz greats such as drummer Louis Hayes, trumpeter Jon Faddis, and saxophonist Vincent Herring; Salsa legends such as Andy Montañez, Tony Vega, and Cheo Feliciano; latin jazz figures such as Orlando "Maraca" Valle and Paquito D’Rivera; and pop icons Quincy Jones and Phil Collins.
Carrillo has performed in some of the most prestigious venues in the world, including Chicago’s Symphony Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and London’s Royal Albert Hall. His work has been heard at international jazz festivals in Chicago, Telluride, Montreaux (Switzerland), the Netherlands, and Finland. Recent performances include engagements with Grammy-award winning vocalist Kurt Elling, the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, and Rudresh Mahanthappa. He has appeared on over 30 album recordings, as well as the concert DVD “Quincy Jones: Live at Montreux 1996”.
Carrillo is also extremely active in jazz education, and was appointed as Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006. Prior to his appointment at Illinois, he served on the faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, as well as at Northwestern University. He also has helped to spread jazz awareness to Chicago’s inner city schools through the Ravinia Jazz-in-the-Schools outreach program. Carrillo continues an active career as a guest artist/clinician at secondary and collegiate jazz programs across the nation and internationally.
Gear
Adams A4LT Bb Trumpet with 5.5" bell
Conn Vintage One Flugelhorn (Fred Powell design)
Bach 3D mouthpiece
Bobby Shew Flugelhorn mouthpiece
Tags
Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective: Fiesta at Caroga
by Jack Bowers
Whenever the word Afro-Caribbean" appears in an album's title, there are sure to be plenty of bold and exciting rhythmic passages, and Fiesta at Caroga, recorded by the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective at the 2022 Caroga Lake (New York) Music Festival, is no exception to the rule. The Collective, founded by guitarist Jose Guzman, is comprised for the most part of music professors at several central Illinois universities. As for the music itself, it leans heavily on such ...
read moreMaddie Vogler: While We Have Time
by Jack Bowers
Regardless of one's opinion of the music (from this vantage point, quite favorable), it is always a pleasure to welcome a jazz group led by a woman whose talents reach beyond voice or piano. Maddie Vogler, who presides over an admirable sextet on While We Have Time (and wrote all the music therein), plays alto saxophone, and does so about as well as any of her peers, male or female. When she is not gigging or recording, ...
read moreMaddie Vogler: While We Have Time
by Dan McClenaghan
In the introduction to alto saxophonist Maddie Vogler's debut recording, While We Have Time, are two striking images. The first is the cover shot, a pair of venerable unmatched hands, depicting those of the artist's immigrant grandmothers, beautifully and simply adorned. The second image is the inside photo of a vibrant young woman, an alto saxophone cradled in her hands. Maddie Vogler. Unusually for a debut, it is a set of all originals, but Vogler is up to ...
read moreTito Carrillo: Urbanessence
by Paul Rauch
Trumpeter Tito Carillo's second bite of the apple on Origin was more than a decade in the making, following up his outstanding first release, Opening Statement (Origin, 2011). With Urbanessence (Origin, 2022), the Chicago-based artist is truly up to the task, producing a work which is an homage to everyday life in the city. The narrative makes the point that cities are home to creators, visionaries and an army of people who are motivated by the hope they provide. Cities ...
read moreTito Carrillo: Urbanessence
by Jack Bowers
Urbanessence, the second album as leader from Chicago-area trumpeter, composer and educator Tito Carrillo, is a rhythmic showcase for ten of his buoyant original compositions, all of which embody his love of BAM (Black American Music) and the lyric legacy of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Peru. Carrillo, a bold and burnished improviser from the Freddie Hubbard-Lee Morgan-Donald Byrd school of hard bop, shares the front line with the energetic and versatile saxophonist Troy Roberts (who plays ...
read moreRyan Cohan: Originations
by Paul Rauch
There is a risk in creating art that reflects in essence, one's own personal journey. What that journey reveals within the context of one life may not carry the same value to a collective audience. In the case of Chicago based composer/pianist Ryan Cohan, his explorative delve into his own bi-cultural roots as presented on his new release, Originations (Origin, 2020), would not resonate with listeners if the music itself was not thrilling. Music provides unity like no other communicative ...
read moreAll About Jazz Top 10 Songs: October 2022
Source:
All About Jazz
All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the songs featured in October, these ten represent our reader's favorites as indicated by total listens. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration here. Enjoy! Top Tracks Sittin at the Bar Eugenie Jones From: Players 04:50 The Moon, the Sun, the Truth Gentiane MG From: Walls Made of Glass
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Enter the "Tito Carrillo - Opening Statement" CD Giveaway at All About Jazz!
Source:
All About Jazz
"[Carrillo] has acquired a reputation as a fluid improviser, doubly- blessed with a warm lyric style and technique to burn." -Chicago Tribune
"...musical truth in an unabashed, fiery trumpet style, rooted in the post-bop styles of Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard and laced with a tinge of Latin American soul."
JOHN BARRON, THE JAZZ WORD
Primary Instrument
Trumpet
Location
Chicago
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Photos
Music
Ropa Vieja
From: While We Have TimeBy Tito Carrillo
Momentum
From: UrbanessenceBy Tito Carrillo
Imaginary Lines
From: OriginationsBy Tito Carrillo
Truth Seeker
From: Opening StatementBy Tito Carrillo