He played a more uptown instrument than the downtown jazz clubs. But, it was clear that he was Billy Bang’s primary musical inspiration. His violin technique was impressive and his knowledge of contemporary classical forms was evident. However, Bang’s raw, sometimes almost guttural tone and old-fashioned sense for swing and lexicon vocalic expressive devices made him a jazz musician. Bang could have ripped lines straight from George Crumb’s compositions, but he infused them with an emotionalism that is unique to jazz. Bang performed in both the abstract (as a solo musician, playing on skeletal melodic material), and as part of a larger ensemble (with Sun Ra’s Arkestra for example). Every performance was full of surprise. Bang was born as Billy Walker in Alabama, and moved to Harlem with his mother as an infant. As a youngster, he was small and was gifted a violin when he showed an interest in music. He was nicknamed Billy Bang, after a cartoon character. He became fascinated by Afro-Cuban rhythms and switched to percussion in early 1960s. Bang was a hardship student at a Massachusetts prep college and played drums alongside Arlo Guthrie, a folk singer. Bang was drafted and sent to Vietnam. Bang became radicalized after returning to the U.S., and he worked in the antiwar movements. Bang started playing music again in late ’60s. Bang was inspired by free jazz in the mid-’60s, particularly the music of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Bang returned to his original instrument after Coleman’s violin work and the influence of Leroy Jenkins, a germinal free-jazz violinist. Bang studied with Jenkins, and became involved in the New York’s burgeoning free jazz scene. He performed in many of the lofts downtown that hosted avant-garde music and collaborated with Sam Rivers and Frank Lowe. In the early 1970s, Bang started his own band, the Survival Ensemble. Bang, along with John Lindberg, guitarist and James Emery, co-founded the String Trio of New York in 1977. Bang is best-known for his involvement with this group. He left the band in 1986. He was also a member of the Material bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society. He also led his own bands. Bang briefly played in a funk group called Forbidden Planet during the mid-80s. He collaborated with Don Cherry, Marilyn Crispell and James “Blood” Ulmer on several projects. Tribute To Stuff Smith Bang formed his own bands and led a few impromptu groups on record dates in the 1990s. Tribute To Stuff Smith (Soul Note) was recorded in 1992 with Sun Ra, bassist John Ore and drummer Andrew Cyrille. In 1996, Bang recorded Spirits Gathering together with Dennis Charles and the CIMP label. He recorded Bang On! for Justin Time the next year. He also recorded Commandment (For Alain Kirili’s Sculpture), an album of solo violin for Alan Schneider’s NoMore record label. In 2000, Big Bang Theory was released. Then came a second album, Vietnam: The Aftermath, in 2001, and Vietnam: Reflections, 2005, which were both based on Bang’s Vietnam experience. In 2007, Above and Beyond: A Grand Rapids Evening was a live set. Billy Bang, 63, died from complications of lung cancer at his Harlem home on April 11, 2011.
