Bill Connors

Extrapolation · #1 09-21-2011, 04:05 PM

Anyone here a fan of Bill Connors? Most probably know him only through the first electric Return To Forever album, and although he is very much under-recorded (his choice it seems), he has some great music out there.

After he left RTF he woodshedded finger-style classical guitar, and has a couple of brilliant solo guitar albums: Theme To The Guardian and Swimming With A Hole In My Body. He also has a great album called Of Mist And Melting with Jan Garbarek, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette, and worked as sideman on a some ECM releases like Julian Priester's Love, Love. There's also a great Lee Konitz date called Pyramid with him and Paul Bley from around this period.

In the 80s he came out with three trio fusion albums that, despite their almost painfully 80s production, have amazing playing. I believe he stopped recording in '87 and didn't come out with anything until Return in 2005, which is one of my favorite albums and I think his best; I highly recommend picking this one up if you're unfamiliar with him.

Old RTF video:

YouTube Video

4thstuning · #2 09-21-2011, 04:09 PM

I really like his work with RTF but I haven't heard anything from him since.

Extrapolation · #3 09-21-2011, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4thstuning

I really like his work with RTF but I haven't heard anything from him since.

Check this out:

YouTube Video

marcwhy · #4 09-21-2011, 09:25 PM

He's on some cuts from the new RTF double-CD release.

jbear · #5 09-21-2011, 11:44 PM

Step It
Assembler
Double Up
The Return
Four amazing recordings. More please.

Flat · #6 09-22-2011, 03:39 AM

Anybody here remember that "Soundsheet" (a vinyl magazine insert that you could tear out and play like a record) that Bill Connors did for Guitar Player magazine back in the early 1980s?

An amazing kind of detuned double-tracking something or other version of Layla. Really great stuff, imho. Haven't heard it in years, but here it is on youtube:

YouTube Video

Another Connors album that I loved back when was "Swimming with a Hole in My Body." That one was all or mostly acoustic, lots of nylon string playing in a lovely, atmospheric ECM style. I'll have to dig out some old LPs...

.

Extrapolation · #7 09-23-2011, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flat

Anybody here remember that "Soundsheet" (a vinyl magazine insert that you could tear out and play like a record) that Bill Connors did for Guitar Player magazine back in the early 1980s?

An amazing kind of detuned double-tracking something or other version of Layla. Really great stuff, imho. Haven't heard it in years, but here it is on youtube:

Another Connors album that I loved back when was "Swimming with a Hole in My Body." That one was all or mostly acoustic, lots of nylon string playing in a lovely, atmospheric ECM style. I'll have to dig out some old LPs...

That was great I had never heard that before.

Swimming With A Hole In My Body is one of my favorites by him. I've only been able to find Theme To The Guardian on CD but came across the former in a used record store and it plays flawlessly.

JZGuitarman · #8 09-26-2011, 05:05 PM

I remember I was in a shady part of The Hague, in Holland, in some obscure Jazz Record store in the early eighties. I was looking for an Allan Holdsworth album. I was talking to the store owner about AH and said :'Nobody plays like Allan Holdsworth'. He said: "Yes, I know someone" , and handed me the LP "Assembler" from Bill Connors. Holy Crap! It sounded very much like AH. I did not think that was possible! Amzing guitar player!

Banksia · #9 09-26-2011, 08:20 PM

I agree with JZ. I've got Step It, Assembler and Double Up and I've always thought Bill sounded a bit like AH. I also got Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy when it first hit the stores and Theme to the Guardian - although it was spelt "Gaurdian" and I was never sure whether it was just a spelling mistake. I also had the first Stanley Clarke album which featured Bill. A couple of years back I was on a guitar site where someone listed Bill as a favourite and I was shocked - I thought I was his only fan!

Extrapolation · #10 09-28-2011, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Banksia

I agree with JZ. I've got Step It, Assembler and Double Up and I've always thought Bill sounded a bit like AH. I also got Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy when it first hit the stores and Theme to the Guardian - although it was spelt "Gaurdian" and I was never sure whether it was just a spelling mistake. I also had the first Stanley Clarke album which featured Bill. A couple of years back I was on a guitar site where someone listed Bill as a favourite and I was shocked - I thought I was his only fan!

ECM seems to never have corrected that error, it's spelled that way on my CD as well.

Hopefully Return was not his final album; though as far as I know there are no plans or rumors of him recording again, besides those tracks he played with RTF on sporadic dates on their tour a couple years ago.

MackBolan · #11 09-29-2011, 12:14 AM

He went from a Gibson Les Paul to a classical guitar to a Charvel Strat style to a Gibson L5,might I call that evolution.

Soco · #12 10-04-2011, 01:32 PM

[quote=Flat;171999]Anybody here remember that "Soundsheet" (a vinyl magazine insert that you could tear out and play like a record) that Bill Connors did for Guitar Player magazine back in the early 1980s?

An amazing kind of detuned double-tracking something or other version of Layla. Really great stuff, imho. Haven't heard it in years, but here it is on youtube:

YouTube Video

Sounds a lot like early 80's Holdsworth!

Uncle Salty · #13 11-04-2011, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcwhy

He's on some cuts from the new RTF double-CD release.

How does he sound? Les Paul through Marshalls or L-5 through his homemade amp?

I love Connors' playing with RTF but found his '80s albums a bit too 'Holdsworthian'. I miss that ferocious, rock attack he had in the early-to-mid '70s.

Extrapolation · #14 11-05-2011, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Salty

How does he sound? Les Paul through Marshalls or L-5 through his homemade amp?

I love Connors' playing with RTF but found his '80s albums a bit too 'Holdsworthian'. I miss that ferocious, rock attack he had in the early-to-mid '70s.

The session photos in the booklet for Forever show him playing a Les Paul. He sounds great, especially on "Señor Mouse". It's a shame he had to drop out of the RTF IV tour, you can tell they really have a chemistry on those few recordings. At least you get a couple of tracks with Jean-Luc Ponty, "After The Cosmic Rain" and "Space Circus". I saw RTF IV with Gambale, and was admittedly disappointed. His playing is technically amazing, to be sure, but it left me feeling cold; definitely would have been a much better band with Connors.