Today's Featured Biography
Art Lillard
Art Lillard is a drummer, composer, arranger and bandleader. He has been leading his Heavenly Big Band since 1987, playing in many New York area nightclubs and concert spaces. The band has two recordings on Summit Records, “Reasons to be Thankful” and “Certain Relationships.”
Art's seven-piece swing band, Blue Heaven, appeared on international television, playing original compositions on two episodes of CBS's "Guiding Light" series.
Art's theater background includes productions by the Amas Repertory Theater under the leadership of the late Rosetta Lenoire and many years with the Theater for the New City. In 1992 and '94 Art toured Europe with the Broadway show “Ain't Misbehavin,” including performances at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy and the Pori Festival in Finland, and in 1995, '96 and '98 he toured Europe and South America with an original production of “Phantom of the Opera.”
Art has written hundreds of compositions in a wide range of musical genres. Regularly commissioned by performers, producers and other composers to arrange music for vocalists and instrumental groups, he also wrote and scored the soundtrack for a film, The Wannabees. Some of his compositions can be heard on episodes of the MTV productions, “Jackass” and “Cat House,” on HBO’s “True Blood,” and in the movie, “Teacher of the Year, as well as in an online Mercedes Benz commercial.
Over the years Art has played professionally with such notables as Harry Allen, Billy Bang, Don Braden, Cameron Brown, Jaki Byard, Joe Cohn, Junior Cook, Dave Douglas, Billy Drewes, Dominique Eade, George Garzone, John Hicks, Cecil McBee, Donny McCaslin, Charles Moffett, Bob Mover, James Spaulding, and Ira Sullivan.
A native of Florida, where his musical studies began, Lillard relocated to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music. There he earned merit scholarships, a Faculty Association Award for Performance, and, in 1981, his bachelor's degree in jazz composition and arranging. In addition, he studied privately with drummer Joe Hunt, jazz educator/composer Karl Berger, classical composer/conductor Michael Rosenzweig, Brazilian percussionist Portinho, the late Tom Boras of New York University's Jazz Department, and acclaimed big-band leaders/composers Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely, and Mike Holober. He studied advanced harmony and counterpoint with respected music educator Paul Caputo. Art has also been for many years a respected teacher and mentor to his own students.
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