Bill Napier (clarinetist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bill Napier (actually James William Asbury , * 1926 in Asheville , North Carolina , † April 30, 2003 in Hayward (California) ) was an American jazz musician ( clarinet ) from Dixieland .

Live and act

Napier began learning to play the clarinet when he was twelve years old in Jesuit school. A year later he discovered jazz music and moved to San Francisco in the 1940s. There worked in the Dixieland scene; first recordings were made in 1950 with Turk Murphy 's Jazz Band. In the following years he played a. a. with Bob Mielke ’s Bearcats, Bob Scobey ’s Frisco Band, Gene Mayl ’s Dixieland Rhythm Kings ( Jazz in Retrospect , Riverside 1958) and with Clancy Hayes . In 1961 Napier toured Europe with the Harlem Globetrotters Basketball Road Show ; In 1976 he performed with the New Bay City Jazz Band at the sixth International Traditional Jazz Festival Breda . In the 1970s and 1980s he was still a member of the Magnolia Jazz Band, Golden Age Jazz Band, the Dick Oxtot Band and Bob Schulz and His Frisco Jazz Band. In 1994 he made live recordings in trio with Larry Scala (banjo) and Robbie Schlosser (double bass). In the field of jazz he was involved in 46 recording sessions between 1950 and 1999. His stylistic role models were Omer Simeon , Jimmie Noone and Jimmy Dorsey .

Bill Napier should not be confused with the mandolin player of the same name, Bill Napier (1935–2000).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Russell Carlson: Bill Napier Dies. JazzTimes , May 1, 2003, accessed June 15, 2018 .
  2. Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed June 15, 2018)