Bill Bickford

Bill Bickford, born and raised in Norwalk, CT, began to play guitar by listening to blues records a la Lightnin' Hopkins and studied with the late Linc Chamberland. He started professionally with local R&B and soul bands before moving to NYC in '77. After some schooling which included a scholarship funded year at Berkley and two at City College of NY, studying composition and arranging with Mario Davidovsky, Edgar Summerlin, and John Lewis of Modern Jazz Quartet, and a few years of free-lancing with Jack McDuff, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Larry Elgart, Bill Bickford first appeared on record with trumpeter John McNeil on 2199681 In 1982, Bickford joined Joseph Bowie's Defunkt where he remained for the next ten years, contributing several compositions on six records and receiving praise on numerous international tours. Sandwiched in between were gigs with singer Mose Allison, Donald Byrd, the JB Horns and the late Native American saxophonist Jim Pepper. Bickford can be heard with his own trio Bigfood on 2878233, also with the funk/trash band Liquid Hips on 1415228, and Static, in a jazzier setting with bassist Ed Schuller on 2306981 or 4556225 with Jim Pepper. Check Paradox (33) - for power funk-rock live with Billy Cobham and Wolfgang Schmid. And, of course, the CD "Cool Bop Phonics"