Billy Bang

Solos & Duos Series

Billy Bang

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Bezanson Recital Hall   8:00 pm
$10 general, $5 students

Over the past 25 years, Bang's hard-edged tone, soulful sense of traditional swing and evocatively expressive style has enhanced over two dozen albums by top names in a variety of genres, from the blistering funk of Bootsy Collins and the harmolodic groove of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society to the intergalactic uproar of Sun Ra. With more than 15 albums under his own leadership, nearly a dozen more in co-led endeavors, and five more with the String Trio of New York (which he co-founded in 1977 with guitarist James Emery and bassist John Lindberg), Billy Bang is one of the most prolific and original members of the progressive scene. "From Bang's violin comes everything we know about black music and a lot we have yet to learn about rhythm, subtlety and swing," writes Ntozake Shange.