Craig Pilo

raig Pilo grew up in a small Connecticut town near the Rhode Island border.  At age 15 he began playing in the pit for musicals at a local equity theater in nearby Westerly, Rhode Island. Craig continued to play drums in musicals at the Colonial Theater and in the Fife and Drum Corps throughout his high school years. At age 15 Craig joined a senior fife and drum corps from Boston Massachusetts and took the train from Connecticut to Boston almost every weekend he wasn’t working at the Colonial. The Middlesex County Volunteers was an all-star assembly of musicians from all over the east coast. MCV traveled more frequently than the junior corps, played bigger and better venues, and even did a tour of England in 1989. The drummers in MCV hippped Craig to the private teachings of Alan Dawson in 1989. Shortly after getting his drivers license, Craig began racking up miles on his car driving nearly 2 hours each way to get to his one hour lesson with Alan. Craig and Alan studied Stick Control and Alan would often play vibes to teach Craig how to trade fours and play jazz with a soloist.

In 1990 Craig was accepted at the University of North Texas College of Music and while he earned a small drumline scholarship, he enrolled as a jazz studies major.  Craig spent a lot of time in  the drumline during his first two years at UNT.  He always felt comfortable in the drumline setting, but Craig went to UNT to study drum set.  

While at UNT Craig was able to study with Ron Fink and Ed Soph to further his understanding of drums and percussion.  He attended weekly departmentals under the direction of Dr. Robert Schietroma (“Doc”) and watched other drummers perform in all areas of percussion. Doc was a major influence on Craig and was an intricate part of Craig's development as a professional.  In the fall of his third year at UNT he played in lab bands and studied the art of Big Band drumming.  Big Band drumming was Craig’s first love and now he had an opportunity to hone the craft.  By 1994 Craig was playing with many local Dallas bands and traveling throughout the Midwest.  In the spring of 1995 he graduated from UNT with a Bachelors Degree in Music. He stayed in Dallas for the following year to work around town and practice.

In August of 1996 Craig moved to Los Angeles and took whatever playing jobs came his way.  In the fall of 1997 he got a call to go on the road with famed trumpeter Maynard Ferguson . The fall tour of Maynard’s Big Bop Novouea Band was to promote a recent CD “One More Trip to Birdland”.

When he finished with Maynard in December of 1997 he began to accumulate a nice list of resume credits in and around Los Angeles.  Since 1997 Craig has had the opportunity to record for several TV shows, radio theme songs, and several movies. He’s performed with many groups and individuals such as Pat Boone, Frankie Valli, Deniece Williams, Player, Billy Vera, The Dazz Band, Peaches and Herb, Don Rickles, Tommy Roe, Greg Adams, Chris Montez, Honycone, Malo, Heatwave and many more.