Background
Stillman was born in 1980 in London, England and raised in Croton-on-Hudson, New New York
Stillman was born in 1980 in London, England and raised in Croton-on-Hudson, New New York
He received scholarships to attend the Manhattan School of Music in 1998 and the New School University in 2002. He is hailed as "a writer and a stylist that has found a previously unoccupied slot in the jazz spectrum." (Jazz Review United Kingdom) Stillman has been recognized as one of today’s truly original creative voices by The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine, JazzMan, Jazziz, JazzThing, Jazz-Times and National Public Radio. A former student of Lee Konitz and David Liebman, he has performed and recorded throughout the United States, Europe and Japan with his own ensembles, and with those led by Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Paul Motian, John Abercrombie, Andy Milne’s Dapp Theory, Michele Rosewoman, Joe Lovano, Eivind Opsvik, Tyshawn Sorey, Vic Juris and The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
Stillman has been a featured artist on WKCR, Weekend America and LIU Radio programming.
He has received two Outstanding Performance Awards (1996 and 1998) and the Rising Star Jazz Artist Award (2004) from Down Beat Magazine. And received the CMA/American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Award for Adventurous Programming and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Young Jazz Composers Award in 2005. He received two Outstanding Performance Awards in 1996 and 1998 and the Rising Star Jazz Artist Award in 2004 from Down Beat Magazine. He was a semifinalist in the 2002 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition and in 2005 he received the CMA/American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Award for Adventurous Programming and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Young Jazz Composers Award. lieutenant Could Be Anything (2005, Fresh Sound) and The Brothers’ Breakfast (2006, Steeplechase) received critical acclaim from the New York Times, and four star awards from British Broadcasting Corporation Jazz Review and Downbeat Magazine.
