BILLY BAUER: Plectrist

BILLY BAUER
Da excepcional safra de guitarristas dos anos 40 e 50, Billy Bauer foi o que manteve laços mais estreitos com o "Cool Jazz", talvez por ter tocado no grupo do pianista Lennie Tristano, um dos grandes expoentes daquele estilo. Bill nasceu no Bronx em 1915, e teve seus primeiros contatos com a música tocando banjo, ukulele e, depois, guitarra. Começou a tocar profissionalmente numa época em que despontavam como guitarristas, Johnny Smith e Jimmy Raney. Em 1946, tocou com Benny Goodman e Jack Teagarden. Nesta época, destacava-se mais como guitarrista rítmico e não como solista. Porém, isso mudou quando iniciou seus trabalhos ao lado de Lenny Tristano, Bill Harris e Chubby Jackson. Aí Bauer se envolveu mais com o bebop e os improvisos. Esta experiência em acompanhar e solar é perceptível quando ouvimos Bauer tocar em formações menores com Lennie Tristano, como em duos, trios ou até mesmo em quarteto. Na década de 40, Billy Bauer tinha um som muito inovador e a qualidade de seus solos, na verdade, soam inovadores até hoje. Nas décadas de 50 e 60, trabalhou com Lee Konitz e em 1956 gravou seu único disco como líder: "Billy Bauer - Plectrist". Quando a indústria fonográfica começou a ficar cada vez mais complicada para o jazz, Billy abriu uma escola de música e começou a lecionar. Em 1970, foi fundada a Billy Bauer Guitar School em Long Island, N.Y. Billy Bauer faleceu aos 89 anos, em 2005 e, até pouco antes de morrer, continuava dando aulas de guitarra. Escreveu também uma autobiografia chamada "Sideman".
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BILLY BAUER
Billy Bauer (1915 - 2005) 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 a recording under his own name. 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. In later life Bauer taught at the New York Conservatory of Modern Music and his own Billy Bauer Guitar School in Roslyn Heights, New York. He also published instructional books on studying music and playing the guitar. Near the end of his career, Bauer appeared at the 1997 JVC Tributes for Barney Kessel and Tal Farlow. Bauer led the way for guitarists like Jimmy Raney and student Joe Satriani. In 1997 he published his autobiography "Sideman".
Biography by Jason Ankeny
©Copyright 2005 Classic Jazz Guitar
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ALBUM REVIEW
A brilliant bop improviser with an advanced harmonic conception, Billy Bauer is the most overlooked member of a largely neglected generation of guitarists. First emerging with Woody Herman in the 1940s and soon appearing on Lennie Tristano's breakthrough recordings, Bauer was winning Metronome and Down Beat polls by the end of the decade. In the '50s, he concentrated on studio work, occasionally doing sessions with Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday, then he gradually settled into a long and gratifying career teaching and playing out of the spotlight. While his ongoing reflections on music are included in his 1997 autobiography, Sideman, Bauer's recordings as leader were rare, and reissues even rarer. This reissue of Plectrist, from 1956, marks the first time a Bauer-led session has been available on CD in North America. His ballad work has a distinctively dark sound and an effortless, flowing lyricism, while his inventiveness at bop tempos is strongly evidenced in the four complete takes of "The Way You Look Tonight." Whatever the tempo, Bauer's lines are filled with surprising turns, executed with grace and a buoyant sense of swing. He's joined here by pianist Andrew Ackers, a thoughtful accompanist but reluctant soloist, and the excellent rhythm team of bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Osie Johnson. Acker's reticence opens up the field for some close interplay between Bauer and Hinton, including the beautiful conclusion of the guitarist's ballad "Lady Estelle's Dream." "Blue Mist" is an unaccompanied solo that highlights Bauer's strikingly pianolike chordal imagination.
By Stuart Broomer - amazon.com
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MINHA OPINIÃO: tem razão o Jason Ankeny quando diz ali em cima que Billy Bauer - apesar de ter permanecido na obscuridade, fora dos holofotes - deve ser encarado como um dos nomes mais proeminentes na história da guitarra de jazz. Eu acrescentaria que, não só Bauer, mas Tal Farlow, Sal Salvador, Mundell Lowe, Jimmy Raney e Barney Kessel são fundamentais. Afinal, foram eles que, cada um à sua maneira (mas unidos pelo mesmo cordão umbilical: Charlie Christian), sedimentaram os caminhos da guitarra no jazz, elevando o instrumento à sua verdadeira dimensão. Este álbum PLECTRIST (palavra inventada para dar título ao LP - numa tradução livre, significaria "guitarrista elétrico") é uma raridade, por se tratar do único álbum em que Billy saiu da sua assumida condição de coadjuvante, para liderar seu próprio grupo. Indispensável para guitarristas e apreciadores do instrumento.
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BILLY BAUER: Plectrist

PERSONNEL:
Billy Bauer - guitar
Andrew Ackers - piano
Milt Hinton - bass
Osie Johnson - drums

TRACKS/FAIXAS
1. It's A Blue World
2. Maybe I Love You Too Much
3. Lincoln Tunnel
4. Night Cruise
5. Too Marvelous For Words
6. Lady Estelle's Dream
7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
8. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
9. The Way You Look Tonight
10. Lullaby Of The Leaves
11. Blue Mist
12. The Way You Look Tonight - Alternative Take
13. The Way You Look Tonight - Alternative Take
14. The Way You Look Tonight - Alternative Take
15. Lullaby Of The Leaves - Alternative Take