Jazz Articles about Billy Bang

Billy Bang: Vietnam: Reflections

by Jim Santella
July 7, 2005

From jazz's modern edge comes Billy Bang's second reflection on the impact of the Vietnam war experience. Along with fellow Vietnam veterans Ron Brown, Butch Morris, Michael Carvin, and Ted Daniel, the creative violinist interprets a program of originals and traditional folk songs (from Vietnam) to remember the people whose lives were changed. On both sides.

It's been more than thirty years since the end of the war. Much has changed. Relations between Vietnamese and American governments are now getting ...

Billy Bang: Vietnam: Reflections

by John Kelman
June 5, 2005

With his previous record, Vietnam: The Aftermath, violinist, veteran, and anti-war activist Billy Bang exorcized some of the demons that continued to haunt him for thirty years following his return from a tour of duty in Vietnam in the '60s. With Vietnam: Reflections, an album that blends traditional Vietnamese folk melodies with modal grooves and tender ballads, he moves further towards reconciliation. It doesn't exactly shake any musical foundations, but that's not the point of this deeply personal project that ...

Billy Bang: Untitled Gift

by Rex Butters
January 20, 2005

Billy Bang Untitled Gift 8th Harmonic Breakdown 2005

This essential set reactivates two historic sessions led by vibrant violinist Billy Bang. Like the legacies of too many innovators of the last 25 years, Bang's sweetness, bravado, and blues traveling the outlands languishes in small label vaults, like those of Anima. Despite the assertions of superficial jazz histories, the '80s had more going on than a neo-con coup and the ugly wanking death ...

Billy Bang

by Robert Spencer
May 7, 2004

Violinist Billy Bang is a marvelous bridge from early jazz - his strong influence and tribute subject Stuff Smith - to the most cutting-edge innovations of the avant-garde. His violin playing is astonishingly versatile, encompassing the lyricism of classical playing, a considerable rhythmic sense, and a flair for the dramatic that makes his solos consistently listenable and rewarding. Born in 1947 in Alabama, Bang grew up in New York City and started violin early. Why the violin? ...

Unsung Recordings by Billy Bang

by Robert Spencer
May 7, 2004

Rainbow Gladiator 1981 Soul Note

Expansive and warm, this is one of Billy Bang's best recordings. Tyler had a rough, appealing tone, and he was able to match the passionate lyricism of Bang's own playing. Morris is an uncommonly strong bassist; Rosewoman plays with authority; Dennis Charles is deservedly legendary. The title track runs fourteen minutes and is the brilliant, good-humored jewel of the disc, recalling in mood the sunny Pharoah Sanders releases on Theresa around ...

A Fireside Chat with Billy Bang

by AAJ Staff
November 14, 2003

Billy Bang hasn't had an easy life, but neither is the music he plays. Bang's improvisations require advanced citizenship. Concentration in an age where the average attention span rivals the box office presence of Gigli (Martin Brest/Bennifer film apparently seen by two people, who told two other people). But to his credit, through difficult times, he outlines below, Bang has continued on. Continued playing his unique brand of jazz and we're all better for it, even if we don't have ...

Billy Bang: Vietnam: The Aftermath

by Matt Rand
June 22, 2002

After a particularly intense solo, Frank Lowe slung his tenor saxophone over his right shoulder and looked toward the floor. Covered by a large knit cap, Billy Bang's tenor player held the pose throughout the trumpet solo, seemingly unaware of the machine gun his instinctive stance suggested he was carrying. It was a private moment that he offered the audience, a glimpse at the enduring distress of the accidental soldier. The evening's performance was filled with such moments, ...