BILL BLACK


bb-banjo


Born in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Bill is a proud New Yorker. He is fortunate to have been the son of parents who shared their love of music with both their sons, although the music was the American popular variety (think Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hammerstein) and not Irish traditional!

Bill attended high school and college in Brooklyn, graduating cum laude from Saint Francis College with a BA in French in 1965. He became interested in Irish music through the influence of his Dublin-born wife Pat, whom he met in 1967 shortly after his discharge from the Navy.

He did his Irish traditional apprenticeship in New York in the early 1970's, learning the music with the likes of "the Joe Burkes" (accordion and banjo respectively), Andy McGann, Johnny Cronin, Paddy Reynolds, Mike Rafferty, and many others. His first instrument was classical guitar; mandolin, tenor banjo, and bouzouki were added over the years (the first bouzouki was a gift from some Greek friends).

The kindness and patience of the New York traditional community of the 1970's have had a great influence on Bill's own attitude towards younger players, who he believes deserve to be treated with the same respect as was shown to him in his early days of playing.

In 1975 Bill co-founded the legendary Eagle Pub sessions with John Dillon, and remained active in the New York session scene at places like Wilde's, The Real McCoy, and Ryan's Daughter. It was in the course of his involvement with these sessions that Bill became acquainted with the younger New York area musicians like Jerry O'Sullivan, Brian Conway and his sister Rose, Joanie Madden, Eileen Ivers, Billy McComiskey, and the Kelly brothers Willie and Joe, all of whom have remained friends as they have moved on to the highest levels in the world of Irish traditional music.

Soon after moving to Cape Cod in 1979, Bill became an active member of the Boston scene, then as now replete with excellent musicians like Larry Reynolds, Séamus Connolly, Paddy Cronin, the McDonaghs, Billy Caples, Joe Joyce, Jimmy and Sally Kelly, and countless others who took - and continue to take - great pride in all aspects of the Irish tradition. At present Bill is heavily involved in the Cape Cod traditional scene, which has grown quite robust in recent years as the result of the arrival on the Cape of some excellent traditional musicians.


Additional information / links:

= Maintains a webpage called CapeIrishNews which lists traditional activities in the Cape Cod area. He has been a regular (or irregular) contributor to the IRTRAD mailing list since 1995.

=  Founded and performs in the local traditional groups Cape Tradition and Carraroe

= Does classical and choral composing and arranging as well as traditional tune composing, web archiving, production, etc. (Relevant websites at the end of this bio.)

= Currently (July 2011) leads weekly trad sessions at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton (Fridays) and Tommy Doyle's Pub in Hyannis (Saturdays)

= Published (1995) a tune book called Music's the Very Best Thing, which contained over 350 dance tunes that had never been published before. Bill's own contributions to the traditional repertoire are on his Tunes Online website .

= Published (2010) a book of piano arrangements of traditional Irish material . A similar book for classical guitar is a "work in progress".

= Founding member of the Northeast Ceili Band , which brings together the best of ceili musicians from the New England and New York areas. The band's "Cape Cod Ceili Weekends" in January of each year are the high point of the winter season for many of the area's set and ceili dancers, and are growing in popularity as the word gets out into the set dance world.

= Started the annual "Afternoon of Music" which held in Falmouth every December and - with the help of other area musicians, business people, and the community at large - has raised in excess of $50,000 for the local Homeless Prevention Fund.

= Charter member (now "retired") of the Greater Falmouth Mostly All-Male Men's Chorus, founded in 1991.


Bill's webpages (all can be accessed via the www.capeirish.com homepage)



updated 5/23/2012