Jim Connolly

Artist Profile:

Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly studied at The New England Conservatory of Music just long enough to learn about Captain Beefheart, and to figure out how not to practice. “The day that I left school was the same day that I began writing music.” Currently composes for the Lit Moon Theater Company (a wonderful and brave group in Santa Barbara) and his own ensemble, The Gove County Philharmonic. “Gove is a town in Kansas. (Jim is 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.) The idea is to improvise, play for the clowns, have fun, be very serious, and be the band that played on the Titanic as she went down.”

Jim has been playing bass with the Nate Birkey Quintet since the ensemble was formed in 1997.

Jim Connolly has been writing music for more than twenty years. 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 two Independent Theater Awards. The first was for his original scoring of “Peer Gynt” and another for “The Master and Margarita”.

In 2001 he was featured in Santa Barbara Magazine as one of the year’s 25 Intriguing People. 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 Festival Fringe. As a musician, Connolly’s Double Bass work in orchestral, jazz, folk, and free-improvised settings has 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.

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 Festival Fringe. As a musician, Connolly’s Double Bass work in orchestral, jazz, folk, and free-improvised settings has 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.