James Edward Pugh is a trombonist, composer, and educator. He is noted as the lead trombonist with Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

's Thundering Herd (1972–1976) and Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

's Return to Forever

Return to Forever

Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...

 Band (1977–1978). For 25 years, he worked as a freelance trombonist in New York City. In recent years, he toured and recorded with the rock group Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

, is a founding member of the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble, and is on faculty as Distinguished Professor of Jazz Trombone at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

.

Early years

Born in Camden, New Jersey

Camden, New Jersey

The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...

 and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania

Butler, Pennsylvania

The city of Butler is the county seat of Butler County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, situated north of Pittsburgh. The population was 15,121 at the 2000 census.- History :...

, Pugh began studying piano at age five and trombone at age ten. Before attending the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

, he studied trombone with Matty Shiner of Duquesne University

Duquesne University

Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...

 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While at Eastman, Pugh studied with Emory Remington

Emory Remington

Emory B. Remington was a trombonist and music teacher. His unique method made him one of the most well-known and influential trombone educators in history...

, Donald Knaub, Chuck Mangione

Chuck Mangione

Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione is an American flugelhorn player and composer who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.-Early life and career:...

, Ray Wright, and was awarded Eastman's coveted Performer's Certificate. After graduating from the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

, Pugh toured with the Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

 Band and with Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

 before settling to New York City, where he remained for 25 years.

As a performer and recording artist

Since the 1980s, Pugh became New York's top-call freelance trombonist for film scores, records, and music for television and radio advertising. He can be heard on more than four thousand recording sessions.

His trombone is heard in collaboration with classical and popular artists and orchestras such as Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

, Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

, Eos, Concordia, St. Luke’s Orchestra, André Previn

André Previn

André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...

, Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

, Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

, Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

, Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

, Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

, and Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

.

Pugh added his sound to feature film soundtracks including A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League . Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell...

, When Harry Met Sally, and Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black is a 1998 American fantasy romance film produced by Universal Studios, directed by Martin Brest and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Forlani, loosely based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday...

; and on hit Broadway cast recordings such as City of Angels

City of Angels (musical)

City of Angels is a musical comedy with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the "real" world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the "reel" world of the fictional film.-Productions:City of Angels...

, Fosse

Fosse

Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr...

and Victor/Victoria

Victor/Victoria (musical)

Victor/Victoria is a musical with a book by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and additional musical material by Frank Wildhorn...

.

In 2003, Pugh “re-premiered” the Nathaniel Shilkret

Nathaniel Shilkret

Nathaniel Shilkret was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director born in New York City, New York to an Austrian immigrant family.-Early career:...

: Trombone Concerto

Concerto for Trombone (Shilkret)

Concerto for Trombone is a 1942 instrumental crossover work in three movements, which trombonist Tommy Dorsey, one of the best known musical entertainment stars of his time, commissioned Nathaniel Shilkret, a noted conductor and composer of music for recording, radio and film, to write...

 at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 with Skitch Henderson

Skitch Henderson

Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.- Biography :...

 and the New York Pops Orchestra. This mid-twentieth century work was written for Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...

.

Pugh is the only recipient of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Science's Virtuoso Award for Tenor trombone, awarded after being voted Tenor Trombone MVP by the New York recording community for five years.

In 2008, NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 named his album, X Over Trombone in their list of best classical CDs of 2008.

As a composer

Pugh's original music and arrangements has been on National Public Radio, in film scores, on "jingles", and on record. Pugh wrote the theme music for Performance Today

Performance Today

Performance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio show, currently hosted by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations...

, the daily classical music program on public radio. His composition, Lunch with Schrödinger's Cat, received a Lincoln Center premier in 1989 by Marin Alsop and the Concordia Chamber Orchestra. Pugh premiered his "Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra" in May 1992 with the Williamsport Symphony. It received its New York premier in March 2000 with Joseph Alessi

Joseph Alessi

Joseph Alessi is a world-renowned, primarily classical, trombonist; he is the current Principal Trombone of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and an active soloist, teacher/clinician and recording artist. Alessi is considered the finest player in modern times....

 as soloist and Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...

 conducting the New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

. A founding member of the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble, Pugh’s compositions can be heard on a recent Signum CDs Scenes of Spirits and The Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble Plays The Music of James Pugh and Daniel Schnyder.

As an educator

Pugh is on faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

. In the past, he taught at SUNY-Purchase College, the University of the Arts

University of the Arts (Philadelphia)

The University of the Arts is one of the United States' oldest universities dedicated to the arts. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia...

 Philadelphia, and at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

. In the summer, he has been on faculty at the Skidmore Summer Institute of Jazz at Skidmore College

Skidmore College

Skidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....

. He appears at schools as a guest artist and clinician.

In the field of instrument development

Pugh has been involved with the development of the Edwards small bore tenor trombone and has worked with Dave Monette in the development of the Monette TS11 and TS 6 small shank tenor trombone mouthpiece. He plays and endorses Monette mouthpieces exclusively.

Discography

Solo projects

1981: Crystal Eyes - Pewter Records

1984: The Pugh /Taylor Project - DMP Recording

2001: Pugh Mosso - CD recorded in Brisbane, Australia with the ConArtists, big band from the Queensland Conservatorium

2002: E'nJ "Legend and Lion" with Eijiro Nakagawa - SuperKids Recording, Japanese release

2004: Echano - CD recorded in Brisbane, Australia with the ConArtists, big band from the Queensland Conservatorium

2004: E2’nJ2 - TNC Records

2006: E'nJ "Just Us" - SuperKids Recording, Japanese release

2007: X Over Trombone - Albany records

2007: Holly and The Ivy - Montclair Citadel Band of the Salvation Army

as sideman

1972: Giant Steps, with Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

1973: Thundering Herd, with Woody Herman

1976: The 40th Anniversary Concert, with Woody Herman

1977: Musicmagic, with Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

 and Return to Forever

Return to Forever

Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...

1977: Return to Forever

Return to Forever (album)

Return to Forever is a jazz fusion album by Chick Corea, simultaneously functioning as the debut album by the band of the same name. Unlike later albums by the group, it was released by the ECM label and produced by Manfred Eicher. The album was not released in the USA until 1975...

 - Live, with Chick Corea

1978: Secret Agent, with Chick Corea

1988: The Disney Album, with Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook is an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide and The Music Man among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter...

1989: When Harry Met Sally, with Harry Connick, Jr.

1992: League of Their Own, with James Taylor

James Taylor

James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....

1994: Mr. Gentle and Mr. Cool, with David “Fathead” Newman

1994: Scampi Fritti, with Marc Beacco

1995: Honey and Rue, with Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle , is an African-American operatic soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid 1970s. She made her opera debut in...

; St. Luke’s Orchestra, Andre Previn

André Previn

André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...

, conductor

1995: Rush Hour, with Joe Lovano

Joe Lovano

Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...

; Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...

, conductor

1996: Two Lane Highways, with Jay Leonhart

Jay Leonhart

Jay Leonhart is a noted bassist and songwriter working in jazz and popular music. He has performed with diverse artists including Judy Garland, Carly Simon, Bucky Pizzarelli, Sting, and Frank Sinatra...

 and Friends

1999: Crossing the Bridge, with Eileen Ivers

Eileen Ivers

Eileen Ivers is an Irish-American musician.Eileen Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents and grew up in the Bronx. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of nine. Her teacher was the Irish fiddler Martin Mulvihill. She toured with Mick Moloney's band The...

1999: Songs from the Last Century, with George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

2000: Eight, with Walter Blanton

2000: Two Against Nature

Two Against Nature

Two Against Nature is the eighth album by Steely Dan, released in 2000. The album won the group four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, and marked the first Steely Dan studio album in 20 years, following 1980's Gaucho. It has been certified 2x platinum in the US.Two Against Nature marked...

, with Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

2002: Looking for America

Looking for America

Looking for America is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded in 2002 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2003.-Reception:...

, with Carla Bley

Carla Bley

Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...

2003: Alegría

Alegría (Wayne Shorter album)

Alegría is an album by saxophonist Wayne Shorter released on Verve Records in 2003. It the second album to feature the 'Footprints Quartet' of Shorter, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade....

, with Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...

2003: Everything Must Go

Everything Must Go (Steely Dan album)

Everything Must Go is the 9th and most recent album by Steely Dan, originally released June 10, 2003. It was Steely Dan's second album following their 20-year studio hiatus, which spanned from 1980 through 2000...

, with Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

2007: This Meets That, with John Scofield

John Scofield

John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...

1989–present Manhattan Jazz Orchestra – all recordings

1998–present Super Trombone – “Super Trombone,” “Hello Young Lovers,” “Take Five,”, "Basie" and “Mission Impossible”

Broadway Recordings

1992 City of Angels

City of Angels (musical)

City of Angels is a musical comedy with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the "real" world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the "reel" world of the fictional film.-Productions:City of Angels...

1995 Will Rogers' Follies

1998 Victor/Victoria

Victor/Victoria (musical)

Victor/Victoria is a musical with a book by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and additional musical material by Frank Wildhorn...

2000 Fosse

Fosse

Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr...

Motion Picture Soundtracks (featured soloist)

Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black is a 1998 American fantasy romance film produced by Universal Studios, directed by Martin Brest and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Forlani, loosely based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday...

The Birdcage

The Birdcage

The Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski. The script was written by Elaine May...

Brighton Beach Memoirs

Brighton Beach Memoirs

Brighton Beach Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.-Characters:*Eugene Morris Jerome, almost 15...

Shining Through

Shining Through

Shining Through is a 1992 British-American World War II film drama, directed and written by David Seltzer and starring Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith, with Liam Neeson, Joely Richardson and John Gielgud in supporting roles. Although based on the novel of the same name by Susan Isaacs, the...

Biloxi Blues

Biloxi Blues (film)

Biloxi Blues is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Matthew Broderick. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his semi-autobiographical 1985 play of the same title.-Plot:...

Classical (not as soloist)

Mass, Charles Wuorinen

Charles Wuorinen

Charles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...

Ponder Nothing, The Chamber Music of Ben Johnston, Music Amici

The Music of Irwin Bazelon

Irwin Bazelon

Irwin Bazelon was an American composer of contemporary classical music.Contemporary American composer Irwin Bazelon’s music is known for its interesting rhythms and its emphasis on the brass and percussion sections. In total, Bazelon composed nine symphonies and over sixty orchestral, chamber, and...

Collage - New York Trombone Quartet

Bright Sheng

Bright Sheng

Bright Sheng is a Chinese-American composer, conductor, and pianist. He has lived in the United States since 1982 and is on faculty at the University of Michigan. In 1999, the White House commissioned Sheng to compose a piece to honor the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at a state dinner hosted by...

: Lacerations, 92nd St. Y Orchestra, Gerard Schwartz, conductor

EOS Orchestra - 5 CDs for Sony-BMG

Concordia Orchestra - 6 CDs for various labels

The Silk Road Project with YoYo Ma

The Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble Plays the Music of James Pugh and Daniel Schnyder, Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble