William Louis DeArango (20 September 1921 – 26 December 2005) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

guitarist.

Career

DeArango was self-taught on guitar. While he attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, he played with Dixieland bands at night. After serving in the Army from 1942 to 1944, he moved to New York City and worked with

Don Byas Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also l ...

and

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor Saxophone, saxophonist. He performed in the United States and Europe and made many recordings with Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, a ...

. A year later, he recorded with

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

, and

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

. He worked as a sideman with

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Edward F. Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened to "Jaws"): it is either said that ...

Ike Quebec Ike Abrams Quebec (August 17, 1918January 16, 1963) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career in the big band era of the 1940s, then fell from prominence for a time until launching a comeback in the years before his death. Crit ...

Slam Stewart Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart (September 21, 1914December 10, 1987) was an American jazz double-bass player whose trademark style was his ability to bow the bass (arco) and simultaneously hum or sing an octave higher. He was a violinist before swit ...

, then led his own band with

Terry Gibbs Terry Gibbs (born Julius Gubenko; October 13, 1924) is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader. He has performed or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson,Theroux, Gary"Gibbs, Terry".''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press. R ...

. In 1947, DeArango returned to Cleveland. In the 1960s he opened up a guitar store and taught guitar lessons. DeArango also performed locally for two decades. He recorded an album with pianist

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

in 1954. Late in the 1960s, he managed the rock band Henry Tree and performed regularly in the 1970s at the Smiling Dog Saloon in Cleveland with

Ernie Krivda Ernie Krivda (born February 6, 1945, in Cleveland, Ohio as Krvda Ernö) is a jazz saxophonist, flutist, bandleader, and educator. Ernie Krivda, who is of Hungarian and Sicilian heritage, began his professional career in 1963 with the Jimmy Do ...

and Skip Hadden, mixing hard rock and

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

. His next recording was on the album '' Another Time/Another Place'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

, 1978) by

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, in New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea. Biography Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, ...

, then ''298 Bridge Street'' (1981) by

Kenny Werner Kenny Werner (born November 19, 1951) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 1951, and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Werner began playing and performing at a young ...

, and ''Names'' (1983) by

Jamey Haddad Jamey George Haddad (born July 2, 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American percussionist who works primarily in the fields of jazz and world music and specializes in hand drums. Biography Haddad is of Lebanese ancestry. From the age of four, he ...

. In 1993, he released his second solo album, ''Anything Went'', with

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. T ...

. He entered a nursing home in 1999 and suffered dementia until his death seven years later, although he continued performing locally until late 2001.

Discography

As leader

* ''Bill DeArango'' (

EmArcy EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by Bob Shad for the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Cli ...

, 1954) * ''Anything Went'' (GM, 1996)

As sideman

With

Charlie Ventura Charlie Ventura (born Charles Venturo; December 2, 1916 – January 17, 1992) was an American tenor saxophonist and bandleader from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Career During the 1940s, Ventura played saxophone for the bands ...

* ''Jumping with Ventura'' (EmArcy, 1955) * ''Charlie Ventura's Carnegie Hall Concert'' (Columbia, 1956) * ''Crazy Rhythms'' (Regent, 1957) * ''East of Suez'' (Regent, 1958) With others *

, '' Another Time/Another Place'' (Muse, 1978) *

, ''

The Complete RCA Victor Recordings ''The Complete RCA Victor Recordings'' is a 1995 compilation 2-CD set of sessions led by Jazz trumpeter and composer Dizzy Gillespie recorded for the RCA Victor label between 1937 and 1949. Reception Writing for Allmusic, Richard S. Ginell stat ...

'' (Bluebird, 1946

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

) *

, ''Names'' (Ananda, 1983) *

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His recor ...

, ''Mainstream Jazz'' (Continental, 1945

962 Year 962 ( CMLXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine expeditionary force under General Nike ...

– relevant session originally under

, ''Bird Lives'' (Continental, 1945

– three tracks only * Michael Bocian, ''I Am the Blues'' (Ulua Music, 1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeArango, Bill 1921 births 2005 deaths American jazz guitarists Guitarists from Ohio Ohio State University alumni 20th-century American guitarists American male guitarists Musicians from Cleveland Jazz musicians from Ohio 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians