BILL BORIS

  Bill Boris is a prolific jazz guitarist who performs throughout the Chicago area. Bill attended Berklee College of Music and received his B.A. from Notre Dame University.  He has performed or recorded with David “Fat Head” Newman, Fred Wesley, Tony Monaco, Marco Pignataro, Geof Bradfield, Arthur Prysock, Eric Alexander, Charles Earland, Irene Reid, Manfredo Fest, and Robert Irving III.  He played on the Mike Frost Project C.D., “Comin’ Straight at You”, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2007. Bill released his debut C.D. “Hold Back” in 1999, featuring original compositions. He has performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Barbados Jazz Festival, the Kaunas Jazz Festival in Lithuania, the Szczecin Jazz Festival in Poland, the Pescara Jazz Fest in Italy, and the South Shore Jazz Festival in Chicago. He has also appeared at the Jazz Showcase, the Green Mill in Chicago and Catalina’s in Los Angeles. Bill is currently leading a trio, performing original compositions, and new arrangements of standards and pop tunes. His most recent C.D., Bright Moments, was released  in 2018. Bill contributed a chapter focusing on the role of the guitar in a big band for "Jazz Zone", the first lesson-plan based Jazz curriculum, published in 2020.

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   Bill is the Coordinator of Guitar and Bass Studies, and associate chair of the Music Department at Columbia College Chicago where he has been a jazz guitar instructor and ensemble director since 2001.  He has led workshops at the Pescara Conservatory in Italy and Popakademie in Mannheim, Germany.

 Bill has been the director of the Columbia College Fusion Ensemble since 2006. The Fusion Ensemble  performs annually at the Elmhurst and Notre Dame Jazz Festivals, and has received numerous  awards from the DownBeat Student Music Awards including "Best Small Combo Award" in 2019. The group has performed at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago with Donny McCaslin, Stephon Harris, Tia Fuller, Russell Gunn, and at the Jazz Education Network convention in New Orleans with Wycliffe Gordon.