Bill Cunliffe Trio with Mike Gurrola & Mark Ferber

Bill Cunliffe (piano), Mike Gurrola (bass), Mark Ferber (drums)

Bill Cunliffe is a jazz pianist, composer and Grammy Award-winning arranger. He got his start playing and arranging for drummer Buddy Rich, and touring with Frank Sinatra. In 1989 Bill won the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he performed with the Clayton Brothers and the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra for ten years, and currently plays with the Joe La Barbera quintet (former drummer with Bill Evans) and with his trio. He has also performed with James Moody, Benny Golson, Red Rodney, Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan, Freddie Hubbard, Bob Berg, Junior Cook, Sonny Fortune, Woody Shaw, Michael Brecker, George Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, Houston Person, Hubert Laws and Art Blakey.

Cunliffe’s film work includes the score for “On the Shoulders of Giants,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s homage to the Harlem Rens basketball team of the 1920s and ’30s. He was awarded a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for “West Side Story Medley,” on the album “Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson” (Resonance Records, 2009). His piano concerto, Overture, Waltz and Rondo, was nominated for a Grammy in 2012.

His latest release, currently receiving significant airplay nationwide, is “Border Widow’s Lament” (2022, Night Is Alive Records) with Martin Wind, bass, and Tim Horner, drums.

All shows at Sam First are 21+ (no one under the age of 21 will be permitted)

Show Times: 7:30pm & 9:00pm, and a separate ticket is required for each show.

Notice of Recording: Sam First live streams and records all concerts. By entering Sam First, you understand that your image and/or voice might be included in those recordings. Sam First reserves the right to use any photography, video or audio recording taken at this event, without the expressed written permission of those included within the photograph/video.