Bill Tasillo
American bandleader and promoter
William Benedict Tasillo (1889–1945), was an early 20th century bandleader, ensemble manager, nightclub owner and musician
from Hartford, Connecticut. He was a cornetist and trumpeter with Paul Whiteman, Mal Hallet and B.A. Rolfe's orchestras. His contributions to big band entertainment and promotion in Connecticut and elsewhere in the Northeast were numerous. He was the founder of "Bill Tasillo's School of Popular Music", one of the earliest independent jazz and dance band training schools in the Northeast.
Early life and education
Tasillo was born in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, to Italian immigrant parents on October 5, 1889. He was
educated in Hartford public schools, where his musical training was set in motion by instructor William D. Monnier.
Career
Playing with regional bands such as those led by Mal Hallet, Tasillo was known as a member of Paul Whiteman's Orchestra at one time. He mentored many later famous jazz musicians who played in his bands or nightclubs in Hartford, including reed player Robert "Bobby" Davis, saxophonist John "Jack" W. Eby and bandleader and pianist Earle "Nappy" Howard.
In Hartford, Tasillo was first associated with the Foot Guard Hall, an event venue for the Connecticut Governor's Foot Guard. Before 1921, he was a member of Satriano & Tasillo's Orchestra, led by Rocco Satriano.
“Bill Tasillo” enters the record as american bandleader and promoter. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bill, Tasillo and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Bill Tasillo” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bill, Tasillo and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q134309070. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1889, 1945 and 1921.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bill Tasillo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.