Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly Home Page

"I studied at The New England Conservatory of Music just long enough to learn about Captain Beefheart . The day that I left school was the same day that I began writing music. I currently compose music for the Lit Moon Theater Company and my ensemble, The Gove County Philharmonic. Gove is a town in Kansas. (We are not from Gove.) Gove is also my wife's maiden name, and means to stare stupidly. (No reference to my wife or the town.) -Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly has been writing music for more than twenty-five years. He leads the Gove County Philharmonic and the Gove County String Quartet. He has received an Individual Artist Award for Composition from the Santa Barbara Arts Council. For his work with the Lit Moon Theater Company he earned three Independent Theater Awards. The first was for his original scoring of "Peer Gynt" the second for "The Master and Margarita" and a third for the company's adaptation of "Hamlet". In 2001 he was featured in Santa Barbara Magazine as one of the year's 25 Intriguing People. He has been commissioned by the Ojai Camerata (Jeff Kaiser, director) to write a work for choir and string quartet. Connolly's work for Theater and Dance been performed by numerous companies on both the East and West coasts as well as in Russia and Bulgaria. He has traveled with Lit Moon to perform at the Edinburgh and Montreal Fringe Festivals as well as the "Wild Side Festival" at the Centaur Theater in Montreal. As a musician, Connolly's Double Bass work in orchestral, jazz, folk, and free-improvised settings have been sought after for nearly thirty years. His tenure with The Nate Birkey Quintet has produced three recordings, as has his work with brother, Boston songwriter, Kevin Connolly. Jim Connolly's playing has been featured with Eugene Chadbourne, Bonnie Barnett, Jeff Kaiser, Queen Mab, Michael Frey, The Plymouth Philharmonic, and Area 51.

Discography

As Leader:

The Circus Doesn't Stop At Gove (pfMTNUM CD004)

As Sideman:

Nothing Is Not Breath (Jeff Kaiser Double Quartet, 9Winds NWCD206)

Nowhereland Soundtrack (Jeff Kaiser, pfMENTUM CD006)

Indelibly You (Nate Birkey Quintet, Household Ink)

Kevin Connolly (Kevin Connolly, Eastern Front Records)

Around the Bend (Kevin Connolly, Real Records)

Back to the Hills (Queen Mab)

In My Country (Michael Frey )