13 Facts About Billy Bang

Billy Bang, born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer.

Billy Bang was fairly small, so he received a violin instead of either of his first choices, the saxophone or the drums.

Billy Bang studied the violin until he earned a hardship scholarship to the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, at which point he abandoned the instrument because the school did not have a music program.

Billy Bang had difficulty adjusting to life at the school, where he encountered racism and developed confusion about his identity, which he later blamed for his onset of schizophrenia.

Billy Bang felt that he had little in common with the largely privileged children at the school, who included Jackie Robinson, Jr.

Billy Bang left the school after two years and attended a school in The Bronx.

Billy Bang did not graduate, decided not to return to school after receiving his draft papers, and at the age of 18, he was drafted into the United States Army.

Billy Bang spent six months in basic training and another two weeks learning jungle warfare, arriving in South Vietnam just before the Tet Offensive.

Billy Bang pursued and then abandoned a law degree, before becoming politically active and falling in with an underground group of revolutionaries.

In 1977, Billy Bang co-founded the String Trio of New York.

Billy Bang explored his experience in Vietnam in two albums: Vietnam: The Aftermath and Vietnam: Reflections, recorded with a band which included several other veterans of that war.

Billy Bang had been scheduled to perform on the opening day of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival on June 10,2011.

Billy Bang is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.