Bill Folwell
William Sheldon "Bill" Folwell (born May 1, 1939 in Rochester ; † October 2, 2019 ) was an American rock and jazz musician ( double bass , electric bass , trumpet ).
Live and act
Folwell appeared in the late 1950s with local musicians around Pee Wee Ellis and Chuck Mangione , but also with Jimmy Heath . He studied at the Manhattan School of Music until 1962, before doing his military service in the 79th Army Band (mostly in Panama) from 1963 to 1965 . In the early 1960s he appeared (still as a trumpeter) in Carla Bley's trio . After military service, he worked in the Uni Trio with Perry Robinson and Tom Price, but also with Ed Curran . From 1966 he belonged to Albert Ayler's band and played with him first at the Newport Jazz Festival and in Europe, for example at the Berlin Jazz Days , but then continued in various constellations until 1969 and was also involved in numerous recordings with him, for example with Henry Vestine whom he introduced to Ayler. At first he worked here on the double bass with a noticeably intense bowplay. On the albums produced by Bob Thiele , he switched to the electric bass. At the same time he worked from 1967 as a trumpeter and vocalist in the prog rock band Ars Nova and was involved in their album of the same name. He worked briefly for John Lee Hooker ; he can be heard on his album Simply the Truth produced by Thiele . He was also part of The Insect Trust ( Hoboken Saturday Night , 1970). Then he recorded with Buddy Guy ( Hold That Plane! ).
In 1972 he was a founding member of The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo and was part of the band as Billy Superball until 1980; he was also seen as a prisoner in the film Loose Shoes (1980). He spent the rest of his life as a teacher in Pinellas County . It wasn't until 2018 that he presented the album Suite for the End of the World (with clear echoes of Ayler's music) as a bassist with The Oddyssey Quartet , which also includes saxophonist David Pate, and the album We Are All Branches of in 2019 the same tree followed.
Web links
- obituary
- Bill Folwell at Discogs (English)
- Billy Superball in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Interview (1998)
- Interview (WKCR 2007)
Individual evidence
- ^ John S. Wilson, in: Perry Robinson The Traveler. 2002, p. 112
- ↑ Meeting (jazzword.com)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Folwell, Bill |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Folwell, William Sheldon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rock and jazz musician (bass, trumpet) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 1, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rochester |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd October 2019 |