Discover Top Posts Tagged with #billy bang

Jazz fusion and blues rock violinist and guitarist Don "Sugarcane" Harris (June 18, 1938 – November 30, 1999)

#Don “Sugarcane” Harris #Frank Zappa #John Mayall #John Lee Hooker #Don & Dewey #Little Richard #Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee #Billy Bang #violin #guitar #Jazz fusion #blues rock #rock and roll #R&B

Billy Bang - Lucky Man (Official Trailer)

BBE TV

In March 1967 Billy Bang was conscripted to fight one year in the jungles of Vietnam, an experience that left him emotionally desolate and profoundly confused about his american idendity. Upon his return he tried to forget his nightmares through alcohol, drugs and music. ‍ Fourty years later he decides that the only way he will be able to repair his emotions and find some closure to his trauma is to return to Vietnam, this time with his violin.

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#music #billy bang #documentary film #vietnam #Youtube

Billy Bang - Lucky Man

In association with IF Music, BBE Music presents ‘Lucky Man’: music from the eponymous documentary film, charting jazz violinist and Vietnam veteran Billy Bang’s brave return to the country, 40 years after the War. The film ‘Lucky Man’ by Jean-Marie Boulet & Markus Hansen follows Billy Bang as he returns to the battlefields of his past, this time with a violin in-hand instead of a rifle. The documentary follows Billy as he travels the length and breadth of Vietnam to collaborate with local musicians, discover the culture he never got to experience the first time around, and to try to find some closure for the haunting trauma that still lingers within. The trip took place in 2008, three years before Billy Bang’s passing and these never-before released field recordings, lovingly polished at The Carvery studio in London, capture the musician’s many poignant musical encounters along the way. The journey took him from Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, through to the highlands and the Banhar and Jorai gongs of the Montagnards, north across the 17th parallel, climaxing with ‘Mystery of the Mekong’, his collaboration with the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra. The album ‘Lucky Man’ is composed of recordings captured throughout Billy Bang’s travels in Vietnam, interspersed with his candid thoughts about music, art, war, and his return to the country. Trần Mạnh Tuấn, the saxophonist featured on ‘Jungle Lullaby’ is well known in Saigon, where he owns a club called Sax n’Art, in which the live collaboration was recorded. In the more rural Kon Tum province, The Banhar Gong Group of Kuntum perform one of their traditional pieces, over which Billy’s off-the-cuff improvisation simply soars. The Phu Dong Family Band (a collective comprising an incredible 25 members of leader Duc Dau’s family) appears on ‘New Saigon Phunk’ and ‘Song for Don Cherry’, recorded in their native Ho Chi Minh City. Duc Dau is also a collector of ancient traditional instruments, and he plays a primitive stone Lithophone called a Dan Da with Billy in an energetic and exciting live jam that feels more like a duel at points.

#billy bang #jazz #vietnam #improvised music #world music #2008 #bbe music #if music #violin

Rising Tones Cross (1985)

Rising Tones Cross is easily one of the best film documents of Free-Jazz from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Made by Ebba Jahn, and released by FMP in 1985, it features Charles Gayle, Rashied Ali, Peter Kowald, John Zorn, Billy Bang, William Parker, Jeanne Lee, Charles Tyler, Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Don Cherry, Peter Brötzmann, Jemeel Moondoc, David S. Ware and Frank Wright among many others.

#Free Jazz #charles gayle #peter kowald #rashied ali #john zorn #billy bang #william parker #jeanne lee #charles tyler #roy campbell #daniel carter #don cherry #peter brotzmann #jemeel moondoc #david s ware #frank wright

Listen/purchase: Medicine Buddha by Billy Bang, William Parker

#free jazz #Billy Bang #William Parker #Bandcamp

I was looking forward to the visit to the nation’s capital. The weather was spectacular 36% humidity, almost Scottsdale-perfect. Headed out to far NW and ended up at HR Records, where the prices, from what I remember, were always reasonable.

As I’m walking into the store, a man passes me going the other way and says, “Fuckin’ white people, ruined America.” I can’t argue with the brother, but I did walk out with some sweet finds.

First up: “Changing Seasons” by Billy Bang. I know Billy we both worked in the jazz department at Tower Records on 4th and Broadway. I remember how excited he was when his new release arrived and the buyer gave him the green light for his bin card. This one’s not far out, but it’s a trip; Billy’s violin is always front and center.

Then there’s the “Clarinet Summit Vol 2” lp that is a live album recorded at the Public Theater. I have a long history with this idea, ensemble, collective, whatever big fan of John Carter and Alan Batiste the whole band is 🔥.

Then there’s the real score: “Live at the Royal Festival Hall” a duo recording of legendary American pianist Jaki Byard with his celebrated UK counterpart, Howard Riley. One critic called it a “rare Anglo-US encounter” featuring “dense, vigorous duos” , and another hailed it as a “rare meeting of two masters” . Their interpretations of Thelonious Monk are introspective and furious by turns an introspective journey through “’Round Midnight” followed by a wild take of “Straight, No Chaser.” This is exactly the kind of find that makes digging through bins worthwhie two masters in their element, captured live.