Charles (Chip) McNeill

Biography

In addition to his position with the University of Illinois School of Music, Professor McNeill is Musical Director and Jazz Tenor Saxophonist for Grammy award-winning recording artist, Arturo Sandoval. He has toured with and recorded the compact discs (CDs) Americana and Hot House with Arturo Sandoval. In 1998, Hot House won a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording. To his credit, Professor McNeill won a Grammy for his performance on Hot House, and two of his charts were nominated for Grammys from the recording. Professor McNeill also has performed and toured with the legendary jazz trumpeter, Maynard Ferguson, with whom he has produced, written, and performed on several CDs, including Live in London, These Cats Can Swing, and Maynard Ferguson’s final CD, The One and Only. He has recorded performances with Nat Adderley, David Liebman, Duffy Jackson, Ira Sullivan, the Woody Herman Orchestra, Ted Shumate, and Larry Willis. Professor McNeill’s most recent CD is “The Whirl” on Armored Records.

He has performed with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, and Wynton Marsalis. Professor McNeill has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and Noto Jazz Festival in Japan. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall in Sydney, Australia, and the London Palladium. He also has performed for jazz radio and television productions in Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom, India, and Indonesia. Before joining the University of Illinois School of Music, he was Chair of Jazz Studies at Florida International University in Miami and Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg.

Professor McNeill believes in adapting to the learning styles and needs of each of his students. Being an active performer allows him to provide his students with leading-edge jazz training. He notes, “My role as teacher and mentor includes sharing my experience as a performer and helping my students remain open to technique, technologic, and cultural changes that affect music and how they play.”