RIP Experimental Jazz Trumpeter Bill Dixon
From his publicist comes the news that Bill Dixon, the experimental jazz trumpeter and composer, died in his sleep last night at his home in North Bennington, Vt. He was 84 years old.
Dixon was a professional musician for over 60 years and one of the most reliable exploratory voices in jazz—a word he hated. His music, in (very) large and small ensembles as well as solo work and collaborations, pushed continually outward, both artistically and politically; Dixon was the organizer of 1964's infamous festival "The October Revolution in Jazz," and the founder of the influential early collective the Jazz Composers Guild. He continued to defy convention over nearly three decades as an educator, making his legacy immense.
William Robert Dixon was born on Nantucket Island, Mass., in 1925, and grew up in Harlem. His family was nonmusical, but Dixon fell in love with the trumpet after seeing a Louis Armstrong concert as a child. He bought his first trumpet in high school, then attended the Hartnette Conservatory of Music in Manhattan after serving in the Army during the closing months of World War II. He began his career after graduating from Hartnette in 1951, but also began composing on his own; at the same time, however, he worked a day job at the United Nations, where in 1958 he founded a listening and discussion group for the diplomats, the UN Jazz Society.
Throughout the 1960s Dixon established himself in collaborations with forward thinkers Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, and avant-garde dancer/choreographer Judith Dunn. He also gained a reputation as a composer and bandleader in his own right, including a band co-led with Shepp and a large-ensemble recording, 1967's Intents and Purposes, commonly regarded as his masterpiece.
In 1968 Dixon took a teaching position at Bennington College in Vermont. He remained affiliated with Bennington for 28 years, gaining tenure and founding and chairing the school's Black Music Division for 19 years. Meanwhile, however, his recording and performing (as well as painting, examples of which often adorned his album covers) continued unabated, including a remarkably consistent string of albums recorded for the Italian Soul Note label in the 1980s and '90s. His most recent recordings included two large-ensemble pieces, 2007's 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur and 2008's Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra, a collaboration with Chicago post-rocker Rob Mazurek. Shortly after the release of the latter, however, Dixon withdrew from performance due to illness, which persisted until his death last night.
He is survived by his longtime partner Sharon Vogel and two children.
2:01 pm
At Bennington, Bill Dixon once told my best friend Mark Pennington, a gifted drummer, the following quote verbatim: "Allright man..now Mark...the main problem with your drumming is..that you're white...And there are NO white innovators in this music, man. Now that might sound like a racist statement, but it happens to be true....Aha aha aha...Allright man..now go practice..." But all kidding aside, Dixon was a smart man who taught me alot and I remain appreciative. Tim Halpern
6:58 pm
Your post on Bill is inaccurate at the end. Bill did not ever withdraw from performing!
After 'Exploding Star' Bill went on to record Tapestries for Small Orchestra on the Firehouse 12 label. This 2 CD/DVD archival set has received international acclaim. In May, we brought the orchestra from that recording to the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville for a performance that brought the packed house to it's feet in a standing ovation. That evening was recorded and will be released before the end of the year. Bill was working on the details of this project, the design of the CD package, right up to his death. Bill ended life in the same manner as he lived it: hard at work on his art, constantly challenging himself and never wasting a moment.
7:51 pm
Bill's music travels to the heart, and when I feel the need to hear sound that is true, Bill Dixon's music is what I absorb. It covers my body in energy that is not found in any other music. Bill's focus was the purity of the sound and investing it with intention, and that was something he never, ever compromised. I hope Bill's everlasting spirit is bathed in the sounds he imagined, produced, and helped others to hear, forever.
When I was a young person, Bill Dixon, in partnership with Judith Dunn, developed my creativity. He helped me believe that there were interesting discoveries to be made by not being afraid to try anything, and by working hard. He also helped me understand that mistakes create opportunities, and that using these opportunities IMMEDIATELY can unleash incredible inventions and even more opportunities. The power of this teaching has never left me. I am deeply grateful.
And, I never thanked you but I do thank you now, Stephen Haines, for sending me that CD set Tapestries for Small Orchestra. I could hear each musician, so clearly understanding what Bill was after, and making it happen in so many ways. Great music. Great musician/composer/artist/teacher.
8:22 pm
In case my above posting is not clear, Bill Dixon had a good sense of humor. He was no saint, nor pretended to be. We shared many laughs; and I'm sure what he said above, he said in jest. That said, there's no doubt that he was very proud that so called "Black Music" was a uniquely indigenous art form largely evolved by African Americans. Duke Ellington understood, too, that the word "jazz" could be pejorative, insulting and, at times in history even racist. I recall that Bill, like Duke Ellington, hated labels. Ellington said "If you have to label my music as anything, call it 'freedom of expression' music. " Bill Dixon, I do miss you.
1:08 am
I tried to study with Bill, but because I also studied in the "white" music department he completely ignored me. Or maybe it was because I was the only male in a class of 10 students. I asked him about it and that just made it worse. I was very young and his behavior was confusing and disturbing. I'm sorry he died, but my experience with him was pretty awful.
7:55 am
Well, 'tough love' certainly was part of the equation, i remember. Not easy to hang in there, but he definitely instilled a sense that there existed somewhere a deep perfection which could possibly be reached (in a dream?), and not without suffering. How we longed for this!
I remember the groaning pair of double basses, and bill's closemic'd lo tones and vertically charged squees full of mysterious air! Really nothing like it.
Also the cologne, the cashmere, the harveys bristol creme, ha.
Glad to have known you, Bill, and thank you for everything!
love, jonathan
1:11 pm
As a student of his for two years I know that he certainly suffered fools gladly. He wasn't without a sense of humor, as my fellow alum Mr. Halpern pointed out. I think he had to balance seriousness of intent with mirth because of his dual Quixotic mission of changing Jazz (which he thought of as too crass as it did also signify the sexual nature of the music, therefore belittling its roots as a truly black culture invention) to Black Music and teaching to a mostly white student body.
He will be missed, but not forgotten.
3:35 pm
Bill Dixon: Uncompromising, thorny, hilarious. Loved to drive his Jag. Loved to tell us how pampered and privileged we were. How unfunky we were. Called Sonny Rollins a prostitute for playing with the Rolling Stones. Unable ever to please him, we flailed about, trying to find a noise he'd sign off on. An unforgettable character. Learning from him was brutal and beautiful. I'm grateful for that experience.
11:07 pm
i had the great good fortune tp have BIll as my advisor 3 of my 4years at Bennington. He kept me from quitting, called me on my shit, and taught me unmeasurable lessons in discerning music and commerial vs. pure art. He was always supportive and challenging with me, tho several girls had bad interactions. I appriciate him being ahead of his time in political inncorrectness as much as composition.
by the way,where is mark pennington? i dated him for a while.....
8:45 am
A great artist, will miss his fire making....