Outline No. 12

"This music is some of the most adventurous and challenging I have done to date. I have attempted to write in musical curves prior to this recording, but not for nearly as many instruments. I believe this is only the beginning, the prototype for a much larger and involved body of work. These compositions enabled me to better understand the styles of phrase-length writing, polyphonic texture, and atonal group articulation. I must take my hat off to Mr. Lawrence "Butch" Morris, who faithfully conducted and interpreted the compositions. From the beginning of the recording, Butch was in complete control, inserting all the appropriate dynamics, to better accentuate the character and colors of the music. Butch spiritually brought out the virtuosity of all the musicians, in both written and improvised sections. It was my good fortune to know the musicians personally before we undertook this project. This enabled me to write within the range of the musicians' personalities. This concept is not new, it has been used by composers and arrangers from Duke Ellington to Sun Ra, but it does allow an effective musicial vision to develop. To achieve the proper balance between written and free techniques, I needed musicians equally proficient in both categories. (...)" Billy Bang Recorded at OAO Studio, Brooklyn, NYC, July 1982