Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Jim McNeely (born
May 18, 1949) is a Grammy award winning jazz pianist, composer, and
arranger. Jim was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of
Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City
in 1975. In 1978 he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. He spent
six years as a featured soloist with that band and its successor, Mel
Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (now The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.) 1981 saw
the beginning of Jim's 4-year tenure as pianist/composer with the Stan
Getz Quartet. From 1990 until 1995 he held the piano chair in the Phil
Woods Quintet. In 1996 he re-joined the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as
pianist and composer-in-residence, a position that he still holds. From
1998 to 2003 he was chief conductor of the DR Big Band in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and is currently chief conductor of the HR (Hessischer
Rundfunk) Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany.