Jim Pugh
Jim
Pugh began studying piano at age five and trombone at age ten. Before attending
the Eastman School of Music, he studied trombone with Matty Shiner of Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh, PA. While at Eastman, Jim studied with Emory Remington,
Donald Knaub, Chuck Mangione, Ray Wright, and received Eastman's coveted
Performer's Certificate.
Upon leaving Eastman, Jim joined the Woody Herman Band as lead trombone and featured soloist and recorded extensively with Woody over the next four years include two Grammy Award-winning albums, Giant Steps and Thundering Herd, and The 40th Anniversary Concert. After leaving Woody, he recorded and toured with Chick Corea for two years.
Since settling down in New York, Jim has been in constant demand for the recording of films, records, and jingles, having performed on over four thousand recording sessions to date. He spent the summer of 2000 playing and touring with the eclectic rock group Steely Dan and is the only recipient of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Virtuoso Award for trombone, awarded after being voted Trombone MVP by the New York recording community for five years.
Recent CD projects include the new Steely Dan CD Everything Must Go and Summer 2003 tour, lead trombone on the forthcoming Carla Bley big band recording Looking For America and a two trombone jazz outing entitled E'nJ – Legend and Lion with Eijiro Nakagawa. His album, Crystal Eyes, has been released on his label, Pewter Records, and his compact disc with bass trombonist David Taylor (The Pugh/Taylor Project) was named one of the ten best CDs by the audiophile publication The Absolute Sound.
On the classical side, Jim plays or has played principal trombone with the EOS and Concordia chamber orchestras, St. Luke's Orchestra, the 92nd Street Y Orchestra, Orpheus, and Speculum Musicae and is a member of the New York Trombone Quartet. Jim repremiered the Nathaniel Shilkret Trombone Concerto in January 2003 at Carnegie Hall with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops Orchestra. This piece was premiered by Tommy Dorsey and Leopold Stokowski in 1945.
Jim’s composition Lunch with Schrödinger's Cat received a Lincoln Center premier in 1989 by Marin Alsop and the Concordia Chamber Orchestra. Jim performed the premier of his Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra in May 1992 with Robin Fountain conducting the Williamsport Symphony. It received its New York premiere in March 2000 with Joseph Alessi and Leonard Slatkin conducting the New York Philharmonic.
Jim is currently professor of trombone at Purchase College Conservatory of Music, State University of NY. He endorses Edwards trombones and Monette mouthpieces exclusively. (Edwards)