Greg Pattillo (born July 1, 1977) is an American

beatboxing Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a Roland TR-808, TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.flutist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

originally from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, but now operating in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He was lauded by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "the best person in the world at what he does." His performance videos on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, showcasing "beatbox flute," have been viewed more than 70 million times. Pattillo earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first dire ...

as a student of Joshua Smith, the principal

flutist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

of the

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...

. After a summer spent as the acting principal flute of

Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra The Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO; ) is an orchestra based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. It was founded in 1957. The orchestra's current artistic director is Long Yu ( 余隆). It is the only Chinese symphony orchestra that has toured five cont ...

, Pattillo moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

where he was a founding member of the Collaborative Arts Insurgency and the 16th and Mission Thursday Night gathering for performers. Though noteworthy for his innovations combining beatbox and flute, Pattillo deserves recognition as an arranger and composer who infuses elements of jazz and hip hop into his compositions for flute and Project Trio. Pattillo enjoys

freelancing ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

as a soloist, and is the flutist of the group PROJECT Trio. PROJECT Trio is a chamber music ensemble based in Brooklyn. The trio features Greg Pattillo on flute, Eric Stephenson on cello, and

Peter Seymour Peter Seymour (born November 17, 1977, in Dallas, Texas) is a double bass player and composer who resides in Brooklyn, New York. He is the co-creator, manager and bass player of Project Trio, an internationally touring chamber music ensemble. He h ...

on bass. In June 2007, Pattillo was named one of 21 winners of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's "Music Under New York" program. Among other things the award gives Pattillo an official permit, of sorts, to play music in the subway. Pattillo was also seen on an episode of Nickelodeon's TV series, ''

iCarly ''iCarly'' is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007, to November 23, 2012. The series tells the story of Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove), a teenager who creates and hosts ...

'' (and was said to be Sam's cousin who was not in jail) and has videos and recordings on iCarly.com. He also appeared as a guest on one episode of ''

Lily Allen and Friends ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

'' in the UK shown on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

. In May 2010, he premiered a concerto for Beatbox Flute, composed by

Randall Woolf Randall Woolf (born August 23, 1959) is an American composer known for his diverse contemporary works for chamber orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo players, often combined with digital audio, turntables, and video. He studied composition priv ...

and performed with the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra. Greg currently works with his band PROJECT Trio, along with many showcases.

References

External links

Greg Pattillo's videos

Greg Pattillo on MySpace

PROJECT Trio

Project Trio on Facebook
American beatboxers Living people 1977 births Cleveland Institute of Music alumni 21st-century American singers 21st-century American flautists {{flautist-stub

See also

References

External links