Cyril

Billy Bauer passed away Yesterday I heard Billy Bauer passed away. Billy was the guitarist of the Lenny Tristano Group and the Woody Herman Orchestra. He also worked with the Lenny Tristano Group and the Woody Herman Orchestra.to name a few __________________________________________________ Billy Bauer Billy Bauer, born in New York, 14/Nov/1915, was already an established professional guitarist in New York when players like Johnny Smith and Jimmy Raney arrived on the scene. He played with the Jerry Wald band before joining Woody Herman in 1944 as a member of the 1st Herd. And in 1946 he played with Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden. Billy Bauer established and distinguished himself as a solid rhythm player with these bands but it was in the small groups that emerged from these bands, lead by Chubby Jackson, Bill Harris and Lennie Tristano, that Billy Bauer established himself as a significant soloist in the evolving bebop movement. Billy Bauer's solo work with these groups has been sited as some of the best examples of early bebop guitar. But, more significantly, his solo work has been sited as some of the most progressive playing for any era. His work with Lennie Tristano in the mid 1940's certainly represented some of the most progressive guitar playing up to that time. The trio and duet recordings Bauer made with Tristano around 1945 are especially interesting. Tristano and Bauer enjoyed a natural synergy in style and approach to their music. Tristano's intricate arrangements were a perfect match for Bauer's guitar. These examples demonstrated that Bauer was not just a good guitarist, but also an outstanding musician. His unison playing with Tristano was precise, and his accompaniment to Tristano's piano represented some of the best and earliest examples of great guitar comping. Billy Bauer continued his pioneering guitar work with Lee Konitz in the 1950's and 1960's. As with Lennie Tristano, Bauer found a kindred musical spirit in Konitz. Konitz's avant-garde saxophone work was a perfect match for Bauer's advanced guitar. On the recording Lee Konitz especially, the two musicians demonstrated a unique musical dialogue across a range of styles from bop and cool to the avant-garde. Duet For Saxophone and Guitar, was an unusual instrument paring, that really allowed Bauer’s great musicianship to be heard. Early in 1956, Billy Bauer made recordings under his own name. Let's Have a Session and Plectrist put Bauer front and center throughout, playing great jazz guitar. In the history of jazz guitar there have been many examples of great musicians who are often overlooked for the enormous influence they had. Billy Bauer is one of these. Anyone interested in the early evolution of the guitar in bop and cool jazz should start with Bill Bauer. He led the way for guitarists like Jimmy Raney, and along with Lennie Tristano, brought the piano, guitar, bass trio to a whole new level. He won Downbeat and Metronome polls during 1949-1953. Bauer spent most of the 1950s as a busy studio musician, although he did find time to record with the popular J.J. Johnson-Kai Winding quintet (1954), Bobby Hackett (1957), Cootie Williams (1957), and Lee Konitz (1955 and 1957). In 1961, he opened his own jazz club in Long Island, NY, and then worked in lounges. In 1970, Bauer opened up his own guitar school. He cut back drastically on his freelancing after a serious ear infection hit in 1975, but remained active as a teacher.

RIP Oscar Brown Jr CHICAGO (AP) Oscar Brown Jr., a songwriter who composed lyrics for Miles Davis and shared billings with other jazz greats, died Sunday after a brief illness. He was 78. Brown was hospitalized in mid-April after emergency surgery to stop the spread of an infection in his lower spine. His niece, Lauren Hudson, said her uncle had been released from the hospital but was readmitted about two weeks ago. He died at Saint Joseph Hospital from complications of the illness. Brown was known for his compositions ''The Snake,'' ''Signifyin' Monkey'' and his lyrics for Miles Davis' ''All Blues.'' Early in his career, Brown shared bills with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. Brown, who was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, also ran and lost twice for political office -- first for the Illinois legislature and later for a seat in the U.S. Congress Oscar Brown Jr. become a legendary recording artist - as both a singer and a songwriter. At age15, Oscar made his professional debut in the national radio series, Secret City. And by 21, Oscar had become the first to broadcast new about "America's largest minority" during his daily Negro Newsfront radio program. During this period, Oscar attempted two unsuccessful bids to hold political office - first for the Illinois State Legislature and then for Congress. It was during this time that Oscar also began seriously composing songs, which he had previously only done as a hobby. Efforts by his father to steer his son into a business career provided to be unsuccessful. Oscar Brown Sr. was a prosperous South Side attorney and real estate broker. At the 1958, Chicago opening of A Raisin in the Sun, Oscar Brown Jr. met Robert Nemiroff, a professional manager of a New York music-publishing firm. Nemiroff brought Oscar to the attention of Columbia Records. Soon afterwards, Oscar signed a recording contract and his career as a singer was launched. While recording his first album, Sin and Soul, Oscar also signed with Nemiroff to produce Kicks & Company. This ambitious musical was crafted during the period when Oscar was supposed to be trying to sell real estate. Upon the 1960 release of Sin and Soul, Oscar Brown Jr. began a new life. Producer Al Ham left Columbia Records to become Oscar's first manager. Together, they secured an engagement at the Village Vanguard in New York City and Oscar was an overnight sensation - rarely had an artist burst on the entertainment scene to such acclaim. By then, the aspiring young playwright was presenting Kicks and Company. All of these efforts culminated in an unprecedented two-hour appearance on NBC at the invitation of Today Show host Dave Garroway. Although Kicks and Company never made it to Broadway, Oscar Brown Jr. was no longer an unknown. He was now listed as a playwright in America's publication of "Who's...Who." Oscar began sharing the bill with such greats as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderly. These appearances earned him great critical acclaim from coast to coast. His one-man show, Oscar Brown Jr. Entertains, resulted in his being hailed: "A musical genius…", “…the high priest of hip…" and "…all the great ones rolled in to one.”

Sonny Stitt

Some more info: Hugh Davies - electronics Born: April 23, 1943 in Exmouth, Devon, U.K. Died: January 1, 2005 in London, U.K. Hugh Seymour Davies, one of Britain's most brilliant and resourceful free improvisers, died on New Year's Day, 2005, at the age of 61. He had been ill for some time and passed away at North London Hospice. Hugh Davies died in London from cancer on the 1st January, 2005. Hugh was a pioneer of live electronic music, an inventor of musical instruments, a composer, educator, and renowned researcher into the history of electronic music. An assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1964 to 1966, he participated in the recording of Stockhausen's Mikrophonie I in 1965. Other recordings included wonderful LPs by Music Improvisation Company and Gentle Fire, and his solo albums for FMP and Grob. Anybody involved in live electronics, electronic improvisation, hardware hacking, or, come to that, anybody who needs a table in order to be able to perform, owes a debt to Hugh. Hugh Davies is a composer primarily concerned with 20th century instruments and sound sources. He is an inventor of instruments, a performer (principally specialising in presentations with his own instruments) and researcher. In 1967 he founded the Electronic Music Studio at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He directed the studio until 1986 and was Research Consultant there from 1986 to '91. He also holds positions in other institutions' music departments. Between 1986 and 1993 he was also a part-time consultant on electronic instruments to the Music Department of the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague, Holland. Since 1999 he has been a part-time Researcher in Sonic Art at the Centre for Electronic Arts of Middlesex University, London. As a composer, apart from more or less traditionally notated music for conventional instruments, he has concentrated primarily on electronic music (live and on tape) and music theatre, as well as - since 1967 - works for his invented amplified instruments, playing them not only in his own solo concerts but also in group improvisations with musicians from many other countries. Since 1971 he has specialised in presenting concerts of composed and improvised music performed entirely on invented instruments and found objects, both as a soloist and in ensembles. His sound sculptures and installations involve the participation of the exhibition visitors, often with a degree of remote control that partly limits the performance possibilities; other features include tactile elements and interactions between the participating members of the public. Davies has published extensively. A book - with accompanying CD - of his creative writings, including environmental music projects and sound documentation, is planned for later this year.

Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Eric Dolphy

The late Mal Waldron's wife is a Japanese and he loved Japan. (Living in Brussels she was a photographer). Mal told me often, his wife was very jealous.... Mal loved the Japanese history, etc. etc.

Bud Shank !!!

Me too!!!

What is European Jazz??? It's just that the European countries are not really into each other. Also, there's not much promotion about other countries, and I'm sure there are good things happening in for example Germany, but there's just no promotion to promote the music. But, you have to remember that it's not only the UK, Italy, France, etc. ( I never heard of Swedish jazz)!

Whatever happened to him? One of the "Young Lions" of the late '80s, altoist Christopher Hollyday created a big stir when he appeared on the scene, but maintained a surprisingly low profile after the early '90s. During 1989-1992, Hollyday recorded four CDs for Novus, and was starting to develop his own voice when he was dropped from the label.