Billy Bauer

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Billy Bauer was an American jazz guitarist, born on 14 November 1915 in New York. As a child he played ukulele and banjo before switching to guitar. He played in the band of Jerry Wald, recorded with Carl Hoff in 1941 and in 1944 joined Woody Herman's First Herd. In 1946 he also played with Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden. In small groups around the bassist Chubby Jackson and the trombonist Bill Harris he grew into a soloist in bebop.

Music and breakthrough

From 1946 he worked with the pianist Lennie Tristano. The two found each other in style and approach, and their search for what they called intuitive music led in 1949 to recordings that appear on Crosscurrents, with Intuition and Digression. Later he formed a duo with the saxophonist Lee Konitz. Their recordings, including Duet For Saxophone and Guitar, were described as some of the most beautiful duet recordings in jazz, and the unusual pairing of saxophone and guitar gave the guitar a new role in jazz. He also played in the bands of the NBC Tonight Show and the Today Show, in the early years of television. Under his own name he made only one album, Plectrist in 1956.

Influence

In his last decades Bauer taught, among others Denny Dias of Steely Dan and Joe Satriani. In 1997 his autobiography Sideman appeared. He died on 17 June 2005 in New York. Bauer showed that the guitar in modern jazz could be an equal conversation partner.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1956Plectrist

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• After Hours: Session 2^NL Reader