Bill Cantrall

Carving a niche for himself in the Jazz world, trombonist, Bill Cantrall is well rooted in the solid traditions of the music. This New Jersey native now resides in New York where he continues to hone his craft as a regular player and composer built on years of dedicated study and paying his dues. Bill moved to Chicago to pursue two Bachelor Degrees in music and electrical engineering at Northwestern University. While studying engineering, Bill continued to develop his playing and composing/arranging with encouragement from his teachers Don Owens, Chicago Symphony trombonist Frank Crisafulli, and jazz pianist, Mike Kocour. After completing his studies at Northwestern University, Bill gained valuable experience performing in Chicago with various salsa groups, big bands, and sitting in with musicians including Edwin Sanchez, Von Freeman, Rob Mazurek, Jeff Parker, George Fludas, and the Sabertooth Quintet. While in Chicago, he also recorded additional solo trombone work on a remix of ‘Samba de Janeiro’ for Tommy Boy Records produced by Ralphi Rosario. Missing his roots in the New York area, and longing to be a part of the vibrant New York City jazz scene, Bill moved to the ‘Big Apple’ to pursue his Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at Queens College all while continuing to perform with a number of salsa groups, such as Miles Pena and Los Hermanos Morenos, and recording as lead trombone with the big band, Cubarama, on ‘A Tribute to Mario Bauza’ for the Pimienta label. Later, Cantrall also enjoyed the opportunity of performing with the Gil Evans Orchestra at the Sweet Basil in New York. During this period, Bill had the opportunity to study big band and small group writing with Sir Roland Hanna and Michael Mossman, while also getting the chance to perform with an Orchestra conducted by ‘Dvorak to Duke Ellington’ author Maurice Peress. Cantrall’s debut release as leader, ‘Axiom’, which features Ryan Kisor, Sherman Irby, Stacy Dillard, Rick Germanson, Gerald Cannon, and Montez Coleman, was released in Summer 2008. The hard swinging album features Cantrall’s distinct septet arrangements of seven original compositions, as well as two reworked standards, Cole Porter’s ‘After You’, and’ Tangerine’ from collaborators Johnny Mercer and Victor Schertzinger.

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