Billy Bang Sextet - Sweet Space

I posted this lp a few years ago but I recently had a request for a repost which I am happy to oblige. What a better excuse for digging out this great record. In my earlier  review I called this lp "shambolic". I don't necessarily get that anymore. Well I do kinda, but this thing grooves in a way I was just learning to appreciate back then.

Now I'm grooving on it on one of the last nights I can sit outdoors without a fire. And it's hitting all the right buttons.


Recorded live at the Loeb Student Center north lobby, New York University, November 15, 1979.

Billy Bang Sextet
Sweet Space

1. A Pebble Is A Small Rock
2. Sweet Space
3. Loweski For Frank (T.F.R.)
4. Music For The Love Of It

Billy Bang - violin
Frank Lowe - tenor sax
Luther Thomas - alto sax
Butch Morris - cornet
Curtis Clark - piano
Wilbur Morris - bass
Steve McCall - drums


Vinyl rip 

Billy Bang - Distinction Without Difference

Is this record really from 1979? Damn, I was three years outta high school. I was the only person I knew who was really "into" jazz. No one I knew had an inkling about this shit. I had no inkling about this shit. I can only look back and think that this would have flattened me at the time.
This is a solo outing. Some solo recordings work better than others but most often are only necessary to the dire hard fan. This is short enough and entertaining enough to appeal to any one with interest in Bang's work.

This Swiss label has been responsible for some of the most under the radar great jazz lps of all time. My pleasure to offer...

Billy Bang:
Distinction Without Difference

1. Improvisation on Sweet Space
2. Loweski
3. part of a Distinction Without A Difference
4. Thenme For Masters
5. Sometime Later
6. Skip To My Lou (traditional)

Billy Bang - violin

recorded live on Sunday August 12 1979 at GAKU Gallery NYC

1980 hat Hut records 1R04

Sonicphonics - Exploded Views

And now for something completely different....

This is just about the farthest reaches of jazz I can go. Not really free jazz, but a eclectic cross of jazz, electronica and no wave, as the label implies.

This disc is mesmerizing in places and damn near danceable in others. The fact that this was performed live only adds to my fascination.

It was Bang's presence that drew me to this record. His contributions are in no small part why I dig it. But truly his is but one facet of one of these recordings where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

C'mon, give it a try, I dare you!

Sonicphonics
Exploded Views

1. Off Land
2. Freight Connections
3. Thin Ice
4. Altered State Transmission
5. Cryptics
6. Exploded Views
7. Deranger
8. Data Change
9. Mesmerize

Geoff Serle - drums, programming, keyboards, congas
Jon Dobie - guitars, saxophones
Adrian Northover - saxophones, wind synthesizer, theremin
Billy Bang - violin
Colin McLean - dub effects

all compositions by Sonicphonics
produced by Geoff Serle & Sonicphonics
live sound mix by Gunter Seiser (Salzburg) & Colin McLean (Poitiers)
recorded live at Jazz im Theatre Festival, Salzburg, February 1999 & Confort Moderne, Poitiers, February 1997

This time it was taken from disc...NMCD10

Billy Bang - Vietnam records

A pair of records tonight.

Billy Bang's virtuosity and ability to bring the violin into the modern jazz canon is unrivaled. His adaptability to various idioms is well documented, especially his work with Kahil el Zabar's Ritual Trio. Perfect recordings and highly recommended.
These two recordings, made 3 years apart are surely the pinnacle of his career.
Somehow after spending time in the jungles of Vietnam during the infamous Tet Offensive, he still managed to walk away with an interest in the native sounds. Whether that happened then or it was something he dug into later, I'm not sure but all of us benefit from these incredible lps.
The themes and titles are irreverent at times, and the music itself often digs deep into the local sounds burying them in modern jazz, but the feeling of SE Asia is there for those that want to listen.

Billy Bang - Vietnam the aftermath

1. Yo! Ho Chi Mihn is in the House
2. Moments for the KIAMIA
3. Tunnel Rat (Flashlight and a .45)
4. TET Offensive
6. Bien Hoa Blues
7. Mystery of the Mekong
8. Fire in the Hole
9. Saigon Phunk

Billy Bang - violin
Frank Lowe - tenor sax
Sonny Fortune - flute
John Hicks - piano
Curtis Lundy - bass
Ron Brown - percussion
Michael Carvin - drums

Justin Time records just 165-2 2001

Billy Bang - Vietnam Reflections

1. Reflections
2. Ru Con
3. Lock and Load
4. Ly Ngua O
5. Doi Moi
6. Reconciliation 1
7. Waltz of the Water Puppets
8. Trong Com
9. Reconciliation 2

Billy Bang - violin

James Spauling - alto sax & flute
Henry Threadgill - flute
Ted Daniel - trumpet
John Hicks - piano
Curtis Lundy - bass
Michael Carvin - drums
Ron Brown - percussion
Co Boi Nguyen - vocalist
Nihan Thanh Ngo - dan tranh

Justin Time records just 212-2 2005

Billy Bang - Changing Seasons

Billy Bang, a violin player is mostly associated with the New York Loft scene of the late 70's/early 80's. His music tends to be cerebral and invorgorating at once. This record is from June of 1980. I managed to aquire it when a friend handed me a stack of lps that he wanted transferred to digital. The lp Changing Seasons was released in between the two more well known lps Sweet Space and Rainbow Gladiator.

Billy Bang - Violin

William Parker - Baritone Sax

Toshi Tsuchitori - Percussion & Autoharp

*track 2 - BB and Masahiko Kono - trombone

Changing Seasons - Bellow Records 004

1. Summer Night (with crickets)

2. Playful Spring

I Brass Bow

II The Elephant and the Mosquito

3. Aduwa In Autumn

4. Winter Rains

recorded 6/28/80 and * 12/27/80 NYC

produced by BB and Kazunori Sugiyama