Background
MM, Duquesne University
Christian Dillingham is a Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer, and educator whose artistic range bridges jazz and classical music with rare authority. Praised as “a 21st Century artist to keep an eye on” (Chicago Jazz), Dillingham is a sought-after collaborator whose nuanced interpretations and expressive musicality have earned him a distinguished presence across both arenas.
A central figure in Chicago’s rich jazz scene, Dillingham has performed and recorded with dozens of distinguished musicians, including Sean Jones, Jazzmeia Horn, Terreon Gully, Jeff “Tain” Watts, John Legend, Kirk Franklin, Herlin Riley, Peter Bernstein, Kevin Mahogany, Willie Pickens, Dee Alexander, Joe Farnsworth, Bobby Broom, Greg Ward, and Mike Reed. Venue credits include the Green Mill, the Jazz Showcase, Hungry Brain, Constellation Chicago, Andy’s Jazz Club, Elastic Arts, and the Chicago Jazz Festival, among others. Dillingham also leads his own ensembles — the Christian Dillingham Quartet and the Christian Dillingham Trio — which showcase his original compositions.
On the classical stage, Dillingham is a tenured member of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta and holds membership in Present Music (Milwaukee), Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the Matt Jones Orchestra, and the Chicago Philharmonic. He has also performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony, the Gateways Music Festival, the Chicago Opera Theatre, and the modern orchestra Alarm Will Sound.
A prolific recording artist, Dillingham appears on a wide assortment of jazz albums as a sideman and has contributed to classical recordings by Present Music, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and Camerata Chicago. As a leader, he has released two albums on Greenleaf Music with his quartet—Cascades, his acclaimed debut, and Halcyon—followed by As It Relates To Now, featuring his trio, which has received widespread critical acclaim. All three albums include his original compositions.
Dillingham brings the same rigor and passion to the classroom. A member of the jazz studies faculty at Northwestern University, he previously taught double bass and coached chamber music at Northern Illinois University and served on the faculty at Indiana University from 2020 to 2024.
A native of Brookfield, Ohio, Dillingham holds a Bachelor of Music in performance with an emphasis in jazz from Youngstown State University and a Master of Music in performance from Duquesne University, where he studied with former Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Principal Bass Jeffrey Turner. He has also participated in the National Repertory Orchestra Festival in Breckenridge, Colorado, and the School for Improvisational Music in New York.