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Billy is a player who was formidable in his day yet barely talked about now. If I recall, he was associated with Lenny Tristano and his school. He played well but he seemed to lack a unique musical identity where you hear him and instantly say - "That's Billy Bauer!" With Charlie, Barney, Tal, Howard, Wes etc. you knew who you were hearing right sway.
Last edited by AndyV; 09-11-2023 at 02:15 PM.
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09-11-2023 01:47 PM
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Love Billy Bauer, Plectrist is a top 5 album for me.
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A friend of mine studied with BB when he was a kid up till he had reached the point where Billy said to him, "Well, I taught you everything I know. I can't teach you no more. I gotta send ya to someone else".
BB had very New Yawk accent; he sounded like Archie Bunker in both his speech, and some of the things he'd say. His studio was located above a bar, and Billy would be sitting on a bar stool having a taste.
BB tried to push Lennie Tristano on him again and again, but my friend didn't dig the Lennie scene.
Week after week it would be the same thing; "You know there's this guy in Jamaica, a blind pianist who I used to play with that teaches this method.." But my friend refused to give in.
Finally BB gave up. "Well if you don't wanna go to Lennie, who the hell do ya wanna go to?"
My friend answered, "Tal Farlow".
Billy got up and walked over to his file cabinet saying, "Tal Farlow...... knows all the tunes, can play them in any key, at any tempo..." And he gave my friend the card with Tal's number on it, and they never saw each other until decades later.
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There used to be his website where you could order his method books, but it seems to be gone now. Here is the last Internet Archive capture from March of this year.
Jazz Music Books and Sheets | For Guitar, Piano, Saxophone
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Same goes for me. I find it hard to believe that people wishing to play jazz guitar in the swing style, wouldn't be aware of Bauer (just like all those that came up in the 50s like Farlow, Raney, Kessell, Ellis, Roberts, Salvador, Smith, etc.....).
Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Likely because he only has the one lp as a leader, though I have an anthology. Originally Posted by jameslovestal
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With him as a sideman? Can you post a track list? Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Billy Bauer – Anthology (1987, Vinyl) - Discogs Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Great player! His album “Let’s have a session,” the ad-lib version, is a lot of fun.
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He's an excellent player but I'd put Bauer in the second tier of 50s jazz guitarists with people like Sal Salvador, Chuck Wayne, Barry Galbraith, Remo Palmier, etc. ... well known and very respected, but not as influential as Tal Farlow, Jimmy Raney, Barney Kessel, Johnny Smith etc. but to some degree, it might be a factor of more limited exposure.
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Oh I have this one! It's great Originally Posted by wintermoon
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I studied with Billy Bauer in the mid 70s through early 80s. At the time, his studio was in Albertson Long Island upstairs of a business but it wasn't a bar and I never say him "having a taste". He never pushed Lennie Tristano on me at all and wasn't using Lennie's methods (I also studied with Lennie for a short time in the late 70s). He was doing his own thing and had his own methods focused on guitar. Lennie taught all instruments so his approach was geared accordingly. I can say that Billy thought very highly of Tal Farlow, Pat Martino, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, and Wes Montgomery among others. I would say his heyday was late 40s through early 50s having been a Metronome All Star for a number of years running during that time. He had roots in the swing era and was the best rhythm and chord melody player I've ever heard. Originally Posted by sgcim
Last edited by RobbieAG; 09-15-2023 at 11:39 AM.
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My friend was studying with him in the 60s to early 70s, so he wasn't in Albertson, or maybe the bar moved by the time you started with him. I never said he used Lennie's methods, I said he pushed Lennie on him when my friend exhausted all of BB's knowledge. Lennie died in 1978, so you couldn't have absorbed all of BB's knowledge if you started in the late 70s, so BB would have no reason to push Lennie on you. Originally Posted by RobbieAG
One cool thing BB had was a guitar ensemble that only pros played in back then, but my friend was so good, he was the only student who was allowed to play in it.
BB also brought the top pros he worked with in the 60s out to his studio to give weekly concerts, like Phil Woods, Clark Terry, etc...
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I took some lessons with Billy Bauer around 1982. At that time I was still living in Australia and I flew to New York, got a room at the Vanderbilt YMCA, and took lessons for a few months with Jim Hall, Bucky Pizzarelli and Billy Bauer. It was over the summer and I just remember how sweaty and hot it was the whole time I was there. I was 23 years old and had the best time of my life. Of the three of the teachers Billy was most interested in making me play with a metronome and playing with good technique. I memorized some chord solos of his including Blue Mist which I played for him. I think he was really tickled that I had gone to the trouble of memorizing these pieces of his.
10 years later I moved to New York and 10 years after that moved to LA where I am today. I still remember my early days with those guys though and how influential they all were on me.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Actually, I started in the mid 70s (corrected), not late 70s (it was around 1975 or 1976). No doubt things changed from the 60s and early 70s. I studied with Lennie briefly around that time before he died a few years later. We did have what Billy called "The Guitar Club" which met on a weekday morning where students went through charts arranged for multiple guitars. I remember we frequently ran through some of the tunes on Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool LP. I don't remember any of the top pros coming - at least not ones that I was familiar with. I know for a fact that Jim Hall once attended as there was a picture of it, but probably before my time there. Originally Posted by sgcim
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