Jim McNeely, Musical Director

A pianist and composer-arranger, McNeely graduated form the University of Illinois.  He has performed with and written for Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and the Phil Woods Quintet.  He is currently pianist and composer-in-residence for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and leads his own Tentet.  A six-time Grammy nominee, he and his compositions can be heard on his own recordings and on albums by Woods, Getz, Lewis, Liebman, and Bob Brookmeyer, among others.  McNeely is the former chief conductor of the Danish Radio Big Band, and he continues to write for such European ensembles as the West German Radio (WDR) Big Band and the Metropole Orchestra (Holland).  A clinician on an international basis, he is an artist-in-residence at N.Y.U.  In addition, he teaches at William Paterson University.