Artist Biography
From such exotic locales as Singapore and Hawaii to major music festivals throughout North America, alto saxophonist Willie Sordillo’s music has taken him around the world. With the band, Flor de Caña,which he co-founded and co-led, he is a three-time Boston Music Award winner. He has seen an album he produced and which features his playing and compositions become a top 10 hit on the Billboard Magazine World Music listing and heard one of his co-arrangements played on the ever popular "ER" television program. |
 Photograph by Josh Billings | Willie began playing saxophone at the age of nine, studying
first with Pop Bethel, a former member of the legendary John Philip Sousa Marching Band, and later with William Shadle, first clarinetist with the New Jersey Symphony.
Years later, he pursued his love for jazz studying theory and technique with nationally acclaimed reed master Billy Novick. His early love of the playing of Paul Desmond
and Stan Getz is evident in his warm, mellifluous tone and flowing lines, though his playing is as deeply influenced by masters like Charlie
Parker, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. With a background which includes up-beat Latin jazz and be-bop, Willie has a love for ballads which invite him to express his soulful/spiritual nature. A
musician with wide-ranging interests, Willie has been a presence in the Boston R&B/soul/funk circuit over the course of many years. Willie began playing jazz as a sophomore in high school when a couple of upper classmen from the school big band invited him to join them in forming a group modeled after the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Though the quartet was formed to perform in a school talent show, the success of that program led to Willie's first taste of performing in clubs and private parties, gigging both with this quartet and as a freelance player. For some of these gigs where alcohol was served he was required to borrow an older musician's ABC card and play under an assumed name. The experience proved invaluable under any name, and presaged his later decision to become a professional musician. |
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While in college, Willie became fascinated with the North American folksong tradition, which led to a career as a folk performer
and singer/songwriter. A highly proficient acoustic guitarist and singer, Willie recorded two solo albums for the historic Folkways label and toured nationally
as a solo artist for several years. In addition, he produced compilations for Folkways and Flying Fish, Walls to Roses: Songs of Changing Men and Feeding the Flame:
Songs by Men to End AIDS, which contributed to the pro-feminist dialogue on gender issues and helped raise funds to support AIDS services for minorities. All of these recordings
remain available through popular download sites like Amazon.com and itunes, as well as directly from their distributers, Rounder Records and the Smithsonian Institution. In 1984, following an invitation to participate in a cultural exchange tour to Nicaragua, Willie helped found Flor de Caña, the Latin ensemble which would be his home for the next 10 years. The band recorded two CDs for Flying Fish and shared the stage with such notables as Tito Puente, Rubén Blades, Poncho Sanchez, Richie Havens and Pete Seeger. The band performed throughout North America and in Central America and the Caribbean. Since 1994, Willie has focused his energies on the New England music scene. In addition to leading his own groups, Willie has been a featured performer with the Latin jazz ensemble La Luna Quintet, with the bossa nova group Sambossa, with vocalist/pianist Geoffrey Dana Hicks, and with the Mystic Chorale, the Marlene Jazz Ensemble, the Mood Elevators, the Blue Suede Boppers, Chops Turner, The Manny Santos Quintet, The Other September Quartet, The RPS Band, James Brown impersonator “JC” and Enfusion, and Four Corners, among others. He led a band featuring vocalist Wanetta Jackson in front of 8000 people at the Amistad to Boston Celebration Day at the Fleet Boston Pavilion in the fall of 2003. Willie has performed with jazz icons Avery Sharpe and Kurt Elling. Willie has had a long-term, though occasional musical partnership with the extraordinary pianist, Jacqueline Schwab. Jacqueline can be heard on the sound tracks to most of Ken Burns' documentary films and has played her personal interpretation of Americana, Celtic, Latin American and spiritual repertoire at venues as prestigious as the White House, the Smithsonian Institution, A Prairie Home Companion and The Late Show with David Letterman. Willie and Jacqueline meet somewhere in the middle of their varied musical passions, stretching each other in challenging and rewarding ways. For more information about Jacqueline, visit her website: Jacqueline Schwab.com Willie is currently most active in collaboration with vocalist Zoë Krohne and bassist Doug Rich, performing an eclectic mix of folk, R&B, jazz, gospel and contemporary original material. In addition to playing in concert and club venues and at private events, this trio formed the nucleas of the house band for the weekly Jazz Worship service at Old South Church in Boston, for which Willie served as musical director for 18 years, retiring from this role on September 7, 2023. The three also toured the Midwest in June of 2019 under the name, The Ballad Project. Willie and Zoë's new collaboration as co-leaders, launched in the fall of 2023 is called Harmony Grove. Willie's past performances include the Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham; AIDS Walk Boston; Latin Jazz concerts at the Barbieri School (co-leading a band with world-renowned Latin Jazz stars Victor Mendoza and Eguie Castrillo), family concerts at the Connolly Library in Jamaica Plain; a house party in one of the storied mansions along Newport's famous Cliff Walk, the Charles River Creative Arts Program, Slades, Scullers, the Regattabar, the Midway Cafe and Jamaica Plain's PorchFest. In addition to serving as musical director for Jazz Worhip at Old South Church, Willie served for two years as muscial leader for OpenSpirit, a creative worship service in Framingham, MA and frequently brings jazz worship to churches across New England. Willie has been a featured in-studio guest on Worcester's WICN and WGBH's "Eric in the Evening." A writer as well as a player, Willie's original compositions have been reproduced in a number of magazines, songbooks and textbooks and he has had the pleasure of hearing his songs recorded by other musicians. He has composed theme music for four movies, including the award winning documentary, Project Censored. Willie is often found in the recording studio as a session musician and producer. Recordings featuring his saxophone work include Muévete and Bailando en la muralla by Flor de Caña, Cartagena, with the Geoffrey Hicks Quartet, Besame Mucho, a duo session with Geoffrey Hicks, The Color of Grace and The Colors of Love by Judy Hanlon, and Ben Tousley's recordings Open the Gates and Take My Hand. His acoustic guitar playing is featured on all of banjoist Pat Scanlon's recordings, including his double CD, Extremists for Peace. Willie's most recent CD as a leader, echoing, features some of the Boston area’s finest jazz musicians. For a list of Willie's studio recordings, please vist the Discography page of this website. For information about booking or to receive e-mail announcements of upcoming performances, please email Willie. |
