Gillis: Symphony X

Here is a disc of music to be enjoyed. Anyone who likes Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms, will enjoy Gillis. This is a true “crossover” CD. Gillis was born in Cameron, Missouri and studied the trumpet and trombone as a boy. He performed in the Cameron Rotary Club band and in his high school orchestra. In high school he formed his own jazz band for which he wrote arrangements and original music. At 17, he moved to Ft. Worth, Texas and enrolled in Texas Christian on a trombone scholarship (don’t you love this guy’s roots?). He studied orchestration and composition at North Texas State in Denton, then got a job as arranger and producer for a Ft. Worth radio station. He then went to the NBC station in Chicago, lasted one year there and went to NBC in New York where he served as the chief producer and writer for the NBC Symphony Orchestra concerts. He established a close personal relationship with Toscanini who conducted many of his works. After the Orchestra disbanded in 1954, he became vice-president of the Interlochen Music Camp, then Chairman of the Music Department at Southern Methodist University (1967-68), chairman of the fine arts department at Dallas Baptist College (1968-1972) and in 1973 he was appointed composer-in-residence at the University of South Carolina. So, you are thinking, Gillis sounds like a typical academic composer. Hardly. Gillis’ music will not only brighten your day, but your entire holiday season. All the works but the Symphony No. 5 1-2 are recorded here for the first time anywhere.