Bill O’Connell is a native New Yorker who studied classical composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Early in his career, he played and composed in various salsa and jazz settings that set the tone for his musical style.

In 1977, he joined salsa great Mongo Santamaria, writing and performing with him for over two years. Following that he worked with Chet Baker and jazz legend Sonny Rollins with whom he toured the United States and Europe.

Bill, an internationally recognized composer, has his original compositions on CDs by Mongo Santamaria, Emily Remler, Charles Fambrough, and on virtually every recording made by flutist Dave Valentin. He has also written for television including a documentary about Latin Jazz legend, Tito Puente.

Over the years, Bill has displayed his versatility performing, writing and arranging for numerous other jazz artists including Gato Barbieri, The Fort Apache Band, and vocalists Jon Lucien, Kenny Rankin, and Astrud Gilberto. Bill was featured as a pianist and arranger on the recent CD (2010) by trombonist Conrad Herwig, “The Latin Side of Herbie Hancock”. His 10 solo recordings which consist predominantly of his own compositions are “Searching” on the Inner City label, “Love for Sale” on the Pony Canyon Label, “Signature, featuring Bill O’Connell” on the Blue Moon Mesa label, “Lost Voices” on the CTI label, “Black Sand” and “Latin Jazz Fantasy” on the Random Chance label , “Triple Play’ and “Zocalo” on the Savant label , “Rhapsody in Blue” on the Challenge/Twinz label and “Triple Play + 3” on the Zoho label. They have received wide critical acclaim throughout the world.

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