Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bill Pierce, known to many as Billy Pierce, was born September 25, 1948 in Hampton, Virginia. He studied with Joe Viola and Andy McGhee at Berklee College of Music, and with Joe Allard.

In the early 1980s he was recruited by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Through the late Eighties and into the late 1990s he recorded simultaneously  as a leader while also in Tony Williams’s quintet in the mid-1980s to early 1990s.

As a leader he has recorded seven albums and another 18 as a sideman with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Geoff Keezer, Kevin Eubanks, Makoto Ozone, Superblue, Tony Williams, and Lazlo Gardony.

As an educator Billy says he likes seeing music being carried on by young people developing, achieving their dreams, and being a part of history. Many of his students have made a name for themselves: Antonio Hart, Mark Gross, Javon Jackson, Walter Smith, Mark Turner, Miguel Zenon.

Saxophonist Billy Pierce, who is the former chair of the Berklee woodwind department, continues to perform, tour and educate.

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