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Bill Averbach jazz trumpeter,
composer, vocalist Bill Averbach is a seasoned musician with over 30 years of
professional music experience. He has performed worldwide and recorded with
many well known recording artists not just in the jazz genre, but world-beat,
classical, folk, country, rock, and blues genres. He has recorded with many
well known songwriters and taken an active role in the development of many
emerging new artists. His experience with audiences extends beyond just
performance. As a music specialist and lecturer Bill is comfortable speaking
to a small room or a large audience exhibiting his candid and comfortable
style as a communicator. A graduate of Bard
College, Bill had extensive exposure to the jazz greats of the Progressive
Jazz Era. He was fortunate to have the opportunity of studying, interacting,
and performing with Roswell Rudd, Karl Berger, Paul Motian, Lonnie Hillyer,
Carla Bley, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Giuffre, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Dave
Holland, Martin Banks, and many East Coast jazz players. In addition, as a
composition major his formal training included work with world-class
composers and performers Joan Tower, Benjamin Boretz, Luis Garcia-Renard, and
Eli Yarden. In Austin Bill performed
with many musicians including Alejandro Escovedo, Butch Hancock, the Killer
Bees, Omar Kent Dykes, Ponty Bone, Doug Sahm, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Marsha
Ball, John Mills, Toby Anderson, Will Taylor, Mark Ruben, Bookah Michel,
Mitch Watkins, Tina Marsh, Richard Rodriguez, Lucky Oceans, D’Jalma Garnier,
Jim Haber, Danny Levin, Tony Garnier, Hoyt Axton, Sonny Terry, Glover Gil,
Ted Roddy, Rodney Craig, Freddie Krc, Robbie Sherwin-Jordan, Larry Lesser,
Jay Rozen, Burton Greene, Alex Coke, Mike Mordechai, Steve Zirkle, David
Levy, Craig Marshal and the Lucky Strikes, Suzanna Sharpe (Samba Police),
Suzi Stern, Donna Menthol, Rene Mesritz, David Perkoff, Steve Schwelling,
Horacio Rodriguez, Martin Banks, James Polk, and many others… Bill is also a composer
who is constantly working on projects that range from Jazz tunes to film
scores to musical arrangements for singers and producers to his Jazz Opera
and of course the Klezmer music. Some of his recent
projects can be heard on this site by clicking on the
SOUNDS link. |
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BAM-JAZZ music of the 20’s,
30’s and beyond In 1997 while working on a casino ship in the Gulf of Mexico
Bill came across a number of ex-Las
Vegas musicians with a penchant for swing. They suggested that he form a band
that focused on the music of Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong,
Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the king of Vegas Swing, Louis Prima; they
said he the “the voice”. As a result Bill formed the BAM-JAZZ Quartet which has expanded as more musicians
discovered the band. The band’s main goal was “fun music” that swung.
Although the band is not tied to just a select few artists their main thrust
is Swing and the Jumpin’ Jive of the 20’s and 30’s. With songs like Minnie
the Moocher, I Like ’em Fat Like That, Caledonia, and Jump Jive and Wail the
audience can’t help movin’ and groovin’. Donning their zoot suits and retro
clothing the band exacts an image of what the great fun was (and still is)
all about. |
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The Austin Klezmorim music from the
steppes of texas If you think you know klezmer the Austin Klezmorim will
expand your horizon. This band is the oldest klezmer band in the Southwest.
They have performed thoughout the US for over 25 years and their music is
played worldwide. The music is a mix of old, traditional, new, and definitely
Texas. The Austin Klezmorim play the traditional E. European, the Early
American Yiddish theatre, the precursor to Broadway, and modern klezmer mixed
with jazz, tango, tejano, country, and
cajun. Anywhere the musicians go becomes fair game for this band. With
so many years of experience together the band can virtually play anything
(which is ideal for weddings by the way). But their offerings go
beyond weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other Life events. The Austin Klezmorim
have performed at festivals, in concert, on film scores, for jugglers and
dancers, for lots of kids, on radio and television, and in the lecture hall
at colleges and universities. As members of the Texas Commission on the Arts
Touring Artists Roster the band has managed to bring the music to the
Academic world through programs on the history, style, and theory of the
music. They’re newest recording
BUBBA’S WALTZ has just been released and is drawing lots of attention. Bubba’s Waltz is
a collection of original Klezmer pieces by Bill Averbach that reflect his
experiences in Texas mit a bissle Swing thrown in as a bonus. |
