Billy Bang
Today we’re listening to Billy Bang, an American violinist and composer. He was born in Alabama in 1947 and moved at a young age to the Bronx, where he grew up. At 18 he was drafted into the army and served a tour of duty in Vietnam around the time of the Tet Offensive.1 Upon his discharge, he spent time studying law and participating in activism until committing himself to the violin. He was immersed in New York’s free jazz scene, going on to collaborate with artists like Don Cherry and Sun Ra (whose Arkestra he played in). In the early 2000s, he released jazz albums into which he channeled his memories of war; he told the Jazz Times that following his discharge, “I lived in Vietnam, totally, all the time.” Vietnam: Reflections, which came out in 2005, reaches for a kind of post-traumatic peace, and features Vietnamese musicians playing traditional instruments and songs, a kind of international encounter Bang described as “the opposite of war.” Reflections was the followup to Vietnam: The Aftermath, which came out in 2001, with faster tempos and expressions of strife.
Vietnam: Reflections - Billy Bang (70m, vocals on even numbered tracks)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
Vietnam: The Aftermath - Billy Bang (71m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
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