Jim Campilongo - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jim Campilongo is a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

/composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

from San Francisco, currently residing in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Most of his original music is instrumental, although he has featured the singers Norah Jones

Norah Jones

Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...

and Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...

on his last two releases, and he is a member of The Little Willies

The Little Willies

The Little Willies is a band formed in 2003. It features Norah Jones on piano and vocals, Richard Julian on vocals, Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums....

, which also includes Jones. Campilongo plays a Fender Custom Shop

Fender Custom Shop

The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments, housed within their headquarters complex in Corona, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop primarily exists to compete with smaller companies and independent luthiers that, in turn, build products reminiscent of those...

Campilongo Signature Fender Telecaster

Fender Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...

Early life

Jim Campilongo was born in San Francisco, CA on July 8, 1958. At 9 years of age Campilongo discovered The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix through his two sisters. He became very interested in improvisation saying in one interview, "I knew I liked improvisation and long musical journeys...so I used to buy albums based exclusively on how long the tracks were.... That’s how I discovered John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

Live in Japan, John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

Devotion, a couple of different Cream

Cream (band)

Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...

albums."

Early career

Campilongo’s career began in the mid 1970s when he studied guitar in his native San Francisco with Bunnie Gregoire, who taught the pre-teen to embrace everything from George Van Eps

George Van Eps

George Van Eps was an American swing and Mainstream jazz guitarist noted both for his recordings as a leader, and for his work as a session musician. He was also the author of instructional books that explored his approach to guitar-based harmony...

to John Denver

John Denver

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...

.
Campilongo's first instrument was purchased with Green Stamps. During high school he regularly jammed with drummer pal Ken Owen and at 17 began performing with area bands. One of Campilongo's greatest influences at the time was Roy Buchanan

Roy Buchanan

Roy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still...

whom he saw at least 20 or 30 times in the Bay area.

Career

Campilongo started his recording career in San Francisco in 1996 with Jim Campilongo and the 10 Gallon Cats. After several years of performing with the Cats Campilongo left to pursue a new direction with his music and reached a new creative pinnacle with 1998’s Table For One.

In 2002, Campilongo left San Francisco and moved to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, where he formed his Electric Trio, which toured Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

and recorded the acclaimed album American Hips on Blue Hen Records. In 2003 Campilongo formed the group The Little Willies

The Little Willies

The Little Willies is a band formed in 2003. It features Norah Jones on piano and vocals, Richard Julian on vocals, Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums....

with Norah Jones

Norah Jones

, Richard Julian, Lee Alexander

Lee Alexander (musician)

Lee Alexander is an American bassist, songwriter, and music producer best known for his work on Norah Jones's albums Come Away With Me, Feels Like Home, and Not Too Late.-Biography:...

, and Dan Rieser. He has performed, live and in the studio, with artists such as Cake

Cake (band)

Cake is an American alternative rock band from Sacramento, California. Consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Gabe Nelson and drummer Paulo Baldi, the band has been noted for McCrea's sarcastic lyrics and deadpan voice, DiFiore's trumpet parts, and...

, Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes is an American indie rock band founded by singer-songwriter and guitarist Conor Oberst. It consists of Oberst, multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike Mogis, trumpet and piano player Nate Walcott, and a rotating lineup of collaborators drawn primarily from Omaha's indie music...

, JJ Cale, Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson

Teddy Thompson

Teddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson...

, Al Anderson

Al Anderson

Al Anderson is an American-born songwriter and guitarist.Anderson attended Montclair High School where he learned to play the trombone. He later attended the Berklee College of Music, and took up bass guitar...

, Gillian Welch

Gillian Welch

Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely...

/David Rawlings

David Rawlings

David Todd Rawlings is a professional guitarist and singer. He is best known as the longtime musical partner of bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch.David attended the Berklee College of Music and studied with guitar professor Lauren Passarelli....

, Peter Rowan, Jo Williamson, Sunny Ozell, Marilyn Carino and Julia Darling.

The wide range of artists that Jim Campilongo has performed with speak to the rich musical style that he has developed. Almost any musical genre or sub-genre can describe his playing style. TimeOut NY's Steve Smith wrote, "His prodigious talent is always evident as the band burns through tunes crammed with rock, jazz and country flourishes." In 2007 he released Heaven Is Creepy which was his best received to date.

His latest album is the 2010 release Orange. Produced by New York based Anton Fier

Anton Fier

Anton Fier, , is an American drummer, composer and bandleader. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.Fier was an early member of The Lounge Lizards and The Feelies. He was in The Lodge , worked with Pere Ubu, was briefly in the Voidoids and founded The Golden Palominos...

of Golden Palominos and recorded in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, Orange features Campilongo with acoustic bassist Stephan Crump and drummer/percussionist Tony Mason.

Campilongo maintains a residency at The Living Room

The Living Room

The Living Room is a music venue on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side in New York City that was established in 1988. The Living Room is co-owned by Steve Rosenthal and Jennifer Gilson. The Living Room has showcased some of the best of New York City’s singer/songwriter, alt-country, and rock world...

on the Lower East Side

Lower East Side

The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

in New York City

New York City

where he plays nearly every Monday night. Notable guest artists that have joined him on stage at The Living Room include; Charlie Hunter

Charlie Hunter

for the New Zealand racehorse trainer and driver see: Charlie HunterCharlie Hunter is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader....

, Steve Cardenas, Norah Jones, Adam Levy

Adam Levy

Adam Levy is an accomplished jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. Levy has recorded with Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Sex Mob, and Amos Lee, and has released several solo albums as well. is his latest....

, Martha Wainwright, Chris Cheek

Chris Cheek

Chris Cheek is an American jazz saxophonist. He has worked as a sideman on more than sixty albums in his career, and has been bandleader of four critically acclaimed solo albums.-Biography:Cheek was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri...

, Leah Siegel, and Nels Cline

Nels Cline

Nels Cline is an American guitarist and composer, currently the lead guitarist of alternative rock band Wilco. David Carr of the New York Times describes Cline as "one of the best guitarists in any genre."-Career:...

.

Jim Campilongo's original music can be heard on national commercials including National Grid, Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...

, SBC, Michelin

Michelin

Michelin is a tyre manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne région of France. It is one of the two largest tyre manufacturers in the world along with Bridgestone. In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns the BFGoodrich, Kleber, Riken, Kormoran and Uniroyal tyre brands...

and Jack Daniel's

Jack Daniel's

Jack Daniel's is a brand of sour mash Tennessee whiskey that is among the world's best-selling liquors. It is known for its square bottles and black label. As of November, 2007, one blogger was claiming that it was the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee by...

. Campilongo is also a published guitar teacher and contributing editor for Guitar Player Magazine.

In January 2011, Jim Campilongo was nominated for The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards under the Instrumental Song category for "Awful Pretty, Pretty Awful".

Albums

2010 Orange, Jim Campilongo
2006 Heaven is Creepy, Jim Campilongo Electric Trio
2003 American Hips, Jim Campilongo Electric Trio
2000 Live At The DuNord, Jim Campilongo Band
2000 Heavy, Jim Campilongo & the 10 Gallon Cats
1998 Table For One, Jim Campilongo Band
1997 Loose, Jim Campilongo & the 10 Gallon Cats
1996 Jim Campilongo & the 10 Gallon Cats, Jim Campilongo & the 10 Gallon Cats

Other Projects

The Little Willies, "For The Good Times" – Milking Bull Records/EMI (2012)
Rosita Kess "Northern Sky" Dauphine Records (2011)
Sun Rise "Sun Rise" Jim Campilongo Band on "This Old Man" Starbucks Coffee Company (2011)
Nick Casey "Can't Reason Through Love" Guitar on "Bandages" (2011)
Jo Williamson "Be The Man" Joscream (2011)
Norah Jones "Featuring Norah Jones" Little Willies guitar on "Love Me" Blue Note (2010)
Howard Fishman "The World will Be Different" guitar on "Summer Rain" on Autumn Monkey Farm Records (2010)
Marika Hughes "The Simplest Thing" (Sideman and Writer) "Pepper" DD Records (2010)
Martha Wainwright "I Know You're Married.." Rounder (2008)
Two Foot Yard "Borrowed Arms" Yard Work (2008)
Teddy Thompson "Upfront and Down Low" Verve Records(2007)
Sean Walsh "American Music" Eyeball Records (2007)
Brandi Shearer, "Close to Dark" – Amoeba Records (2007) (Sideman and Co-Writer "Swampland" )
Chiara Civello "The Space Between" Universal Music Europe 2007 Co-Writer "L Train"
The Little Willies, "The Little Willies" – Milking Bull Records/EMI (2006)
Sasha Dobson "Modern Romance" Secret Sun (2006) As Writer "Cold To Colder"
Mudville, "Iris Nova" – (2006)
April Cope, "Petals Fall" – Limelight Disc (2006)
Richard Julian, "Manhattan" – Blue Note (2006)
Wild Animus (Audiobook) – Too Far (2006)
"Feber 2 New York" New York Compilation — Amigo Music (2005)
Steve Yerkey, "metaneonatureboy" – Echo Records (2005)
David Gleason, "Just Fall To Pieces" – Well Worn Records (2005)
Julian Summerhill, "The Hologram Cowboys Lay Down With Their Horses" – 2005
Michael Shelly, "Goodbye Cheater" – confidentialrecordings 2005
Mudville, "The Glory Of Man Is Not In Vogue" – (2004)
Sonya Greta, "Vigilante Arcade" – (2003)
Ann Dyer, "When I Close My Eyes" – Sunnyside 2001 As Writer "Sarah"
Joe Goldmark, "Strong Like Bull but Sensitive Like Squirrel" – Hmg Records (2001)
Kurt Stevenson and Kate Maher — Pentecostal Bouffant Record, "Songs for Camp and Tabernacle" – 2001
"Fortune Cookies" – Various Artists Fortune Records (2000)
"Full Tan" – Vol. 1 Various Artists Fonit Cetra Records (1999)
Joe Goldmark, "All Hat No Cattle" – Hmg Records (1999)
"Stranger Than Fiction" – Various Artists Oglio Records (1999)
Cake, "Prolonging the Magic" – Capricorn (1998)
San Francisco Song Cycle, Vol. 1 Various Artists Olde West (1998)
Jim Greer, "Rover Songs" – Fortune Records (1998)
"Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf" – Various Artists — Red House (1998)
Joe Goldmark, "Steelin' the Beatles" – Lo-ball Records (1997)
Preacher Boy and The Natural Blues, "Gutters and Pews" – Blind Pig (1996)
Preacher Boy and The Natural Blues, "Preacher Boy & The Natural Blues" – Blind Pig (1995)
Stephen Yerkey, "Confidence, Man" – Heyday (1995)
Looters, "Imago Mundi" – Monster Music (1992)
Wilson Gil And The Willful Sinners, "Gunstore, Liquourstore Project" – (1992)
Komotion International Various Artists (1989)
Click Dark, "President's Breakfast" – (1988)
Katt, "Katt" – Nutone (1987)
Po Go Bo, "Po Go Bo" – Nutone (1987)
The Know, "The Know" – Nutone (1987)

External links

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