Bill Dixon
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Bill Dixon (October 5, 1925 – June 16, 2010) was an American musician, composer, visual artist, and educator. He played the trumpet, flugelhorn, and piano, often using electronic delay and reverberation as part of his trumpet playing.
He was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
His studies in music came relatively late in life, at the Hartnette Conservatory of Music (1946-51). He studied painting at Boston University and the WPA Arts School and the Art Students League. During the early 1960's he had a job at the United Nations, and founded the UN Jazz Society.
In 1964 Dixon organized and produced the 'October Revolution in Jazz' in New York City and founded the Jazz Composers Guild. He was relatively little recorded during this period, though he co-led some releases with Archie Shepp and appeared on Cecil Taylor's Blue Note record Conquistador! in 1966.
He was Professor of Music at Bennington College, Vermont, from 1968-1995. From 1970 to 1976 he played "in total isolation from the market places of this music", as he puts it. Solo trumpet recordings from this period were later released by Cadence Jazz Records, and later collected on the self-released multi-CD set Odyssey along with other material.
He was one of four featured musicians in the Canadian documentary Imagine the Sound (along with Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, and Paul Bley), 1981.
In recent years he recorded with Cecil Taylor, Tony Oxley, William Parker, Rob Mazurek, and many others.
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Discography
As leader
- Archie Shepp - Bill Dixon Quartet (Savoy, 1962)
- Bill Dixon 7tette & Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 (Savoy, 1964, split LP)
- Intents and Purposes (RCA, 1967)
- Bill Dixon in Italy volumes 1 & 2 (Soul Note, 1980) with Alan Silva, Freddie Waits
- Considerations 1 & 2 (Fore, 1981)
- November 1981 (Soul Note, 1981) with Silva, Lawrence Cook
- Thoughts (Soul Note, 1985) with Peter Kowald
- Son of Sisyphus (Soul Note, 1988)
- Vade Mecum volumes 1 & 2 (Soul Note, 1994)
- Papyrus volumes 1 & 2 (Soul note, 1999)
- Berlin Abbozzi (Free Music Production, 1999) with Matthias Bauer, Klaus Koch, Tony Oxley
- Odyssey (Archive Editions, 2001)
- 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound (Aum Fidelity, 2007)
- Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey, 2008)
- Tapestries for Small Orchestra (Firehouse 12, 2009)
As sideman or co-leader
- Conquistador! (Blue Note, 1969, Cecil Taylor)
- Opium for Franz (Pipe, 1977, with Franz Koglman)
- The Enchanted Messenger: Live from Berlin Jazz Festival (Soul Note, 1996)
- Taylor/Dixon/Oxley (Victo, 2002, with Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley)
- Bill Dixon/Aaron Siegel/Ben Hall: Weight/Counterweight (Brokenresearch, 2009)
As Producer (P) or Composer (C)
- The Marzette Watts Ensemble: The Marzette Watts Ensemble (Savoy, 1969)(P,C)
- Marc Levin and his Free Unit: The Dragon Suite (BYG, 19??) (P)
- Jacques Coursil Unit: Way Ahead (BYG, 1969) (C)
