Biography
Among the bebop era’s most inventive and technically masterful guitarists stood Bill DeArango, although his name stayed largely unfamiliar beyond dedicated jazz circles. After appearing on sessions alongside such figures as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he walked away from a flourishing New York career and returned to his hometown of Cleveland, surfacing again only at rare intervals across the next fifty years. Born September 20, 1921, the self-taught musician performed in Columbus-area Dixieland ensembles while enrolled at Ohio State University. Following U.S. Army service from 1942 to 1944, he moved to New York City, where his first night on the scene included sitting in with Don Byas’s group at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street and securing an immediate regular post with Ben Webster’s band. DeArango’s singular style drew heavily from Charlie Christian’s single-string innovations, allowing him to master the emerging bop vocabulary with unusual speed; after roughly a year with Webster he left to participate in his first recording date, accompanying vocalist Sarah Vaughan with Parker and Gillespie. Subsequent dates supported Slam Stewart, Ike Quebec, and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and in late 1945 he led his own initial session for the Haven label, enlisting Webster on tenor saxophone. The guitarist’s best-known work remains the landmark 1946 date led by Gillespie that produced the enduring performances “A Night in Tunisia,” “Ol’ Man Bebop,” and “Anthropology.” He next worked behind trumpeter Ray Nance before co-leading a band with vibist Terry Gibbs.
Yet in 1947 DeArango suddenly relocated back to Cleveland, effectively ending his national profile. Apart from a well-received 1954 EmArcy collaboration with pianist John Williams, more than twenty-five years passed before he appeared on record again, although he continued to perform locally and operated a University Heights record shop that became a gathering point for area jazz players. The rise of rock & roll and a new wave of guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix drew DeArango into managing the Cleveland psychedelic band Henry Tree, to which he contributed uncredited guitar on their self-titled 1968 debut LP. During the early ’70s he regularly headlined the Smiling Dog Saloon with saxophonist Ernie Krivda and drummer Skip Hadden, adapting free-jazz principles to a hard-rock setting. In 1978 he made a cautious return to the jazz mainstream on drummer Barry Altschul’s Muse album Another Time/Another Place. The Kenny Werner session 298 Bridge Street appeared in 1981, followed two years later by Names with Jamey Haddad. In 1993 the seventy-two-year-old DeArango recorded the comeback album Anything Went with rising saxophonist Joe Lovano, earning praise for the depth and sophistication of his improvisations. After that release he largely withdrew from active performance, aside from occasional appearances at Cleveland’s Barking Spider, and entered a nursing home in 1999, where he struggled with dementia until his death on December 26, 2005.
Yet in 1947 DeArango suddenly relocated back to Cleveland, effectively ending his national profile. Apart from a well-received 1954 EmArcy collaboration with pianist John Williams, more than twenty-five years passed before he appeared on record again, although he continued to perform locally and operated a University Heights record shop that became a gathering point for area jazz players. The rise of rock & roll and a new wave of guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix drew DeArango into managing the Cleveland psychedelic band Henry Tree, to which he contributed uncredited guitar on their self-titled 1968 debut LP. During the early ’70s he regularly headlined the Smiling Dog Saloon with saxophonist Ernie Krivda and drummer Skip Hadden, adapting free-jazz principles to a hard-rock setting. In 1978 he made a cautious return to the jazz mainstream on drummer Barry Altschul’s Muse album Another Time/Another Place. The Kenny Werner session 298 Bridge Street appeared in 1981, followed two years later by Names with Jamey Haddad. In 1993 the seventy-two-year-old DeArango recorded the comeback album Anything Went with rising saxophonist Joe Lovano, earning praise for the depth and sophistication of his improvisations. After that release he largely withdrew from active performance, aside from occasional appearances at Cleveland’s Barking Spider, and entered a nursing home in 1999, where he struggled with dementia until his death on December 26, 2005.
Albums