Bill Connors

Infobox musical artist



Name = Bill Connors
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
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Born = September 24 ,1949
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Genre = Jazz
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Years_active = 1973 - present
Label = ECM
Evidence
Tone Center
Associated_acts = Return to Forever
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Bill Connors (born September 24, 1949) is a jazz musician notable for being a legato technique master, adept at both the acoustic and electric guitar, and successfully played jazz-rock, free and fusion material in the '70s and '80s. His best early solos were in the jazz-rock genre, where his use of distortion and electronics was balanced by fine phrasing and intelligent solos. His first great moment of fame occurred when he joined Chick Corea's Return to Forever in 1973, recording "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy", though he quit in 1974 and was replaced by Al Di Meola. His decision to leave Return to Forever to concentrate more on acoustic guitar was satisfying artistically: he recorded three acoustic albums and then three electric albums as a leader/soloist, and recorded and performed with others. The quality, innovation and thoughtfulness of his work has always garnered strong praise.

Early years

Connors was born in Los Angeles, California in 1949 and began to play the guitar at the age of fourteen. After three years of extensive self-study of the rock and blues influences that were his first inspiration, he began to play gigs around the Los Angeles area. He soon found his way to jazz, the music that would lead to a life-long commitment.

"I'd been playing for about four years", he explained at the time of his RTF tenure, "and suddenly had an overnight change. I didn't want to be a blues guitarist anymore. I began listening to people like Bill Evans, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, [bassist] Scott LaFaro, Miles Davis, [John] Coltrane -- anyone who had a 'jazz' label. Django Reinhardt really got to me. The first time I heard one of his records, I thought that was just what I wanted to be. He had all the fire, creativity, and energy that rock players have today. And the amazing purity of his melodies -- you just knew they came from a totally instinctive place."

He and Django differed however over the matter of electronics with Bill preferring the sound of the electric instrument. "I always wanted to use the electric guitar in a sophisticated context, like with Chick [Corea] . I like to play jazz with that electric-rock sound. For me it's a lot closer to a horn than the traditional guitar, and that's what I love about it; I can sustain notes, get into different kinds of phrasing -- do things other instruments do naturally, only the guitar does it with the aid of technology."

Connors moved to San Francisco in 1972 to join the Mike Nock Group (formerly known as "The Fourth Way") with drummer Eddie Marshall and bassist Dennis Parker. He met up with drummer and vibraphonist Glenn Cronkhite, who would introduce him to a new depth of jazz sounds and study. In those early years in the city by the bay, Connors played with numerous top-flight musicians, including Cronkhite, bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Art Lande.

Return to Forever

In 1973, after sitting in on a gig, Connors was signed on to Return to Forever, keyboardist and composer Chick Corea’s pioneering fusion group that featured bassist Stanley Clarke and (then) drummer Steve Gadd.

"A miracle!" Bill claims. "Chick was my hero. I wanted to be Chick Corea on guitar. I didn't know him, but whenever I really wanted to get off on music I'd play some of his piano solos and Return To Forever songs. I heard that Chick was looking for a guitarist. Steve encouraged me to call Chick, and though I was very nervous, I did, and he invited me to come over to the club where he was working and sit in. I was so scared that I almost turned him down. But after running around and saying to everyone, 'Guess who I'm going to play with tonight,' and everyone telling everyone else, all this energy was formulating -- and I took to my room and practiced my ass off."

That night, the fright totally disappeared. "The minute I got up on stage I had this feeling like I'd been preparing for this all my life. I was so relaxed that I felt as.though I was in my own living room. Chick and I played musical games -- he'd play these real simple lines and I'd be giving my interpretations of them, then go off into the Chick Corea 'outness.' I ended up in New York two weeks later."

But there is often a problem when wishes come true; in April 1974, after the band's tour of Europe and Japan, Bill quit the group. The musical direction seemed to him to be changing from what it was when Connors joined. He explains, "Everything started getting less aesthetic, more rock. Just too much like Mahavishnu (John McLaughlin). I was having trouble expressing myself the way I wanted to in that context."

Connors' disenchantment with the group also stemmed from certain objections to Corea's Scientology-inspired leadership style. "Chick had a lot ideas that were part of his involvement with Scientology. He got more demanding, and I wasn't allowed to control my own solos. I had no power in the music at all. Then, we'd receive written forms about what clothes we could wear, and graphic charts where we had to rate ourselves every night -- not by our standards, but his. Finally, we had to connect dots on a chart every night. I took all of it seriously because I had a lot of respect for Chick, but eventually I just felt screwed around. In the end, my only power was to quit."

After Return to Forever

After leaving Corea, Connors explored the New York jazz and session scene, performing with people such as guitarist John Abercrombie and keyboardist Jan Hammer. "It was great,"he states, "because it wasn't this contrived thing in order to communicate to the audience. We were *playing* again and *learning* again, and it felt real good."

During this period, record dates with artists as diverse as vocalist Gene McDaniels and Stanley Clarke kept the guitarist's creative impulses occupied with a variety of challenges -- but not for long. "Around 1975, I'd decided to become a classical guitar player", he muses. "I did my first solo album in 1974, and just decided on the spur of the moment to do it all on acoustic. That was just such a contrast from blowing people's ears off with my 200-watt Marshall that it really started to capture me." A further impetus came with Connors' discovery of classical artist Julian Bream. "I was sitting with his album "20th Century Guitar" [RCA, LSC2964] -- a real classic -- and it has this piece by [German composer] Henze that I really loved. It was just getting to me, so I sat down for a couple of days and transcribed it -- on my steel-string guitar, with my funny pick-and-finger technique [laughs] . When I got it, it gave me so much pleasure that I said, 'Okay, I'm going to be a classical guitar player.' And that's what happened."

"I bought a bunch of books and a classical guitar, and started with the C scale, playing 'i m i m' [index, middle, index, middle] , etc. For about three years, I practiced eight hours a day: up early, play for five hours, take a break, and play for three more hours. I'd throw in some extra hours if I could. My reading sure improved after that. You've got to understand that I come from an unschooled background -- all my schooling is self-inflicted [laughs] . I like scales, technique, and intelligence, but they weren't *natural* for me. Being a blues player was natural for me, but it wasn't enough."

Bill Connors' albums are all still in print in CD format, and recent press continues to praise his work, his contributions to the field of music, and his continued innovations (see [http://www.billconnorsguitarist.com] press page). "Bill Connors has always lived and played ahead of the times..." ("Guitar Player" June 2005 [http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=4&storycode=8549] ). "Playing a mellow-toned Gibson L5 through his own hand-crafted amp, Connors is an emotional, sophisticated and subtle soloist to go with flawless technique..." ("Los Angeles Daily Times", February 2005).

Discography

With Return to Forever

* Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973)

With Stanley Clarke

* Stanley Clarke (1974)

As a Solo Artist

*Theme To The Guardian (1974)
*Of Mist And Melting (1977)
*Pyramid Trio recordings with Lee Konitz & Paul Bley (1977)
*Swimming With A Hole In My Body (1979)
*Step It (1984)
*Double Up (1986)
*Assembler (1987)
*Return (2005)

With other musicians

*Julian Priester - Love, Love (1973)
*Tom Van Der Geld - Path (1979)
*Jan Garbarek - Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof (1978)
*Jan Garbarek - Places (1977)
*Various Artist - (2005)

References

*Bill Connors Before and After Chick Corea::Interview by Frankie Nemko (Reprinted from Guitar Player magazine: October 1974)

*"I'm Just Pulling Together Eric Clapton And John Coltrane"::Interview by Gene Santoro (Reprinted from Guitar Player magazine: May 1985)

*Return from Forever::by James Santiago - Interview provided by Virtual Guitar Magazine