212:"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."
244:-inspired leadership style. "Chick had a lot of 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."
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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
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That night the fear 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
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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 . I like to play jazz with that electric-rock sound. For me it's a lot closer to a horn than
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Connors was born in Los
Angeles, California, in 1949 and began to play the guitar at the age of 14. 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 with a heavy blues/rock group called Middle
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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 . 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
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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."
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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 he'd joined. He explains, "Everything started getting less aesthetic, more rock. Just too much like
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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."
141:"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
264:. "It was great," he stated in a 1985 interview, "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."
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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
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and bassist Dennis Parker. He met up with drummer and vibraphonist Glenn
Cronkhite, who introduced him to greater knowledge of jazz. Connors also played with bassist
298:) in 1974, making the switch from electric to acoustic guitar. Simultaneously he began to study classical guitarists. Two more albums on acoustic guitar followed:
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In 1973, after sitting in on a gig, Connors joined Return to
Forever, a fusion band led by keyboardist Chick Corea's that included bassist
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Connors has been giving private lessons while continuing his studies. He plays plectrum style on a classical jazz guitar and a
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In 1974, Connors left Return to
Forever, and began to explore the New York jazz and session scene, performing with guitarist
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of them, then go off into the Chick Corea 'outness.' I ended up in New York two weeks later."
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Bill
Connors biography by Scott Yanow, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
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Connor's disenchantment with the group also stemmed from certain objections to Corea's
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Earth. He found his way to jazz, the music that would lead to a lifelong commitment.
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This article is about the jazz musician. For the baseball player, see
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Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof
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Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof
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354:(1979) and with Tom van der Geld and Richard Jannotta on
322:(1980, ECM). During 1976 and 1977, Connors recorded with
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Bill
Connors discography, album releases & credits
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on guitar (on "Twinkle" track only). His next album,
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in New York City. He toured Europe, performing with
173:Connors moved to San Francisco in 1972 to join the
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378:(1986), included bassist Kennedy and drummer
267:During this period, recording with vocalist
280:—a real classic—and it has this piece by
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358:(ECM) in 1979. In 1984, Connors recorded
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802:Improvising Artists Records artists
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686:(2004) album review by John Kelman
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721:(2004) album review
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91:1973–present
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466:Tone Center
440:(ECM, 1980)
432:(ECM, 1978)
405:Discography
364:Tom Kennedy
348:(1978) and
285:happened."
242:Scientology
221:Lenny White
155:Miles Davis
133:Early years
123:Chick Corea
104:Tone Center
64:jazz fusion
731:Categories
672:at Discogs
583:References
520:Quiet Song
496:Love, Love
473:As sideman
372:Steve Khan
368:Dave Weckl
324:Lee Konitz
308:, bassist
258:Jan Hammer
235:Mahavishnu
207:Steve Gadd
143:Bill Evans
78:Instrument
70:Occupation
42:1949-09-24
515:Paul Bley
456:Assembler
450:Double Up
410:As leader
386:in 1987.
384:Assembler
376:Double Up
366:on bass,
328:Paul Bley
191:Art Lande
229:(1973).
159:Coltrane
147:Jim Hall
125:'s band
73:Musician
651:, 1985.
575:Forever
527:, 1974)
468:, 2004)
444:Step It
424:, 1975)
397:and an
360:Step It
719:Return
709:Return
699:Return
684:Return
561:&
536:Places
462:Return
345:Places
330:, and
96:Labels
81:Guitar
56:Genres
362:with
282:Henze
553:Path
356:Path
338:and
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119:jazz
60:Jazz
36:Born
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422:ECM
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100:ECM
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