Jazz Articles about Bill Dixon

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Bill Dixon: 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur

by John Sharpe
August 8, 2008

Trumpeter Bill Dixon works with an orchestral conception, even when playing solo, so it is fascinating to hear what happens when he has 17 musicians at his disposal. Dixon first came to prominence as the organizer of the 1964 October Revolution in Jazz, and later taught at the prestigious Bennington College in a near 30 year tenure. Few of his large ensemble works have made it to disc, but this piece, commissioned by Arts For Arts, and recorded on its ...

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Bill Dixon: 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound: Darfur

by Nic Jones
June 17, 2008

If there's an opposite of aging that isn't growing ever youthful then Bill Dixon's got it. It comes here in music of infinite color, played by an ensemble entirely empathetic with his aims and intentions yet still capable of putting some personal stamp on it. As such it gets to grips, in no uncertain terms, with one of the perennial paradoxes of creative music.

It's clear, on something like “In Search Of A Sound," that instrumental color must have been ...

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Bill Dixon: In Rehearsal, In Performance

by Marc Medwin
February 2, 2008

"Composition is the assembling of musical materials that are generally accessible to every musician and their placement into a new order."

“Improvisation is the instantaneous realization of composition without the benefits or demerits of change or alteration." --Trumpeter/Composer Bill Dixon on Composition and Improvisation.

“Don't just jump in--don't play right away." Bill Dixon's rich baritone voice quieted the assembled musicians without ever rising above a mezzoforte. “Listen to the note you're tuning to before you start to play--I ...

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Bill Dixon With Exploding Star Orchestra: Bill Dixon With Exploding Star Orchestra

by Greg Camphire
February 1, 2008

Prolific bandleader Rob Mazurek follows his 2007 Exploding Star Orchestra debut, We Are All From Somewhere Else, with this landmark vehicle for the legendary yet elusive Bill Dixon. Bill Dixon With Exploding Star Orchestra is a sprawling meeting of minds, as Dixon fronts a thirteen-piece ensemble on a set designed especially for him. At the height of his expressive powers, Dixon's signature trumpet tones are scrawled all over the album's lengthy suites with masterful artistry.

“Entrances/One" and “Entrances/Two," both written ...

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Bill Dixon: Bill Dixon With Exploding Star Orchestra

by Troy Collins
January 29, 2008

The arrival of a new recording featuring an extremely rare appearance by legendary trumpeter Bill Dixon is reason enough for celebration. When said album also features cornetist Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, the rewards are twofold. Bill Dixon came to prominence organizing the 1964 October Revolution in Jazz, while simultaneously co-founding the Jazz Composers Guild, featuring fellow visionaries like Paul Bley, Sun Ra, and Archie Shepp. Despite his seminal beginnings, Dixon's discography has been sporadic, due to his ...

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Bill Dixon: The Morality of Improvisation

by Clifford Allen
August 20, 2005

Followers of improvised music are very good at expanding on the personalities of artists, and that oral tradition has certainly been aided by the musicians through a sort of 'educational mythology.' To be sure, the personalities of Miles, Trane, Cecil, Mingus and Ornette are fascinating and notable, but this interest in the men and their whims often comes at the expense of their work - in other words, the empirical aspect of what these men are doing and have done ...

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Bill Dixon: The Benefits of the Struggle

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 2005

By Bill Dixon I appreciate your interest in having me say some things that you can present in your paper to interested readers, readers that may be interested in my work, how I go about it, how I have existed, what my work means, how that work is arrived at and my general feelings as they relate to music and art and all of those things [everything in toto, if one really wants to look at it ...