Bill Barron papers, 1893-2012

Bill Barron, born William Barron, Jr. on March 27, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator.

Barron’s interest in music was encouraged by his mother Rella Barron who bought him a piano at age 9 and gave him his earliest lessons. He subsequently took up the saxophone at age 13 and the instrument became his primary focus. During his early studies in theory, harmony, and counterpoint at Mastbaum Vocational High School in Philadelphia, he joined Mel Melvin’s Orchestra, a band whose alumni included luminaries John Coltrane, Jimmy Heath, and Johnny Coles. In Mel Melvin’s Orchestra, Barron wrote his first composition entitled Mel Leaps In, a tribute to tenor saxophonist Lester Young who was an early and significant influence on Barron.

After leaving Mastbaum Vocational High School, Barron briefly went on the road with the Carolina Cotton Pickers and was then inducted into the Army in 1943, where he performed in and arranged music for the Army Band alongside saxophonist Ernie Henry and pianist Randy Weston. After being discharged from the Army in 1946, Barron enrolled at the Ornstein School of Music (later Combs College of Music) in Philadelphia and studied composition there with modernist Leo Ornstein, in addition to theory, composition, and arranging with Denny Sandole; arranging with Edmund Deluca; and saxophone and clarinet with Michael Guerra.

Barron left the Ornstein School of Music in 1954 shortly before completing his studies to perform with a quartet led by pianist Red Garland, as well as to write and arrange music for Garland’s big band. He then performed in a band led by drummer Philly Joe Jones before moving to New York, New York in 1958. Barron quickly found work there with pianist Cecil Taylor and also appeared in bands alongside bassist Charles Mingus and trumpeters Donald Byrd and Ted Curson. During this time, he released a number of LPs of his own on Savoy Records and Audio Fidelity, in addition to several releases as a sideman on Riverside Records, Atlantic Records, and United Artist Records. After a European tour with Ted Curson in 1964, Barron continued to lead his own groups while making guest appearances with Randy Weston and trombonist Grachan Moncur III, as well as performing with Cecil Taylor in 1965 at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. He returned to Europe in 1966, appearing at numerous clubs, concerts, and festivals in Belgium and Scandinavia.

Barron resumed his composition studies at Combs College of Music (previously the Ornstein School of Music) in Philadelphia with Romeo Cascarino in 1966 and earned the B.M. in composition in 1968. The same year, he was appointed Director of the Jazz Workshop at the Bedford Lincoln Neighborhood Museum, a program established by bassist Chris White’s jazz school Rhythm Associates. Barron continued his formal studies in 1972 upon enrolling at University of Massachusetts Amherst in Amherst, Massachusetts, eventually earning the D.Ed. in 1975.

Barron was subsequently appointed Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Afro-American Music in 1975 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and was later promoted to Professor of Music. He served as Chair of the Music Department from 1984 to 1987. During his tenure at Wesleyan University, Barron taught courses in jazz improvisation, conducted the Wesleyan University Big Band, and performed with fellow jazz faculty, including drummer Ed Blackwell; bassist Wes Brown; trombonist and tubist Bill Lowe; and pianist Fred Simmons. He also organized an international symposium hosted by Wesleyan University in 1986 entitled Jazz Improvisation in a World Music Context, which was notably attended by pianist Billy Taylor and drummers Ed Blackwell and Max Roach. Barron toured the Netherlands in 1987 with Dutch pianist Nico Bunnink and spent ten days in Moscow in the fall of 1988 lecturing to and performing for the USSR Union of Composers, which was to be his final appearance abroad. Barron died of cancer on September 21, 1989 in Middletown, Connecticut.