Bill Elgart or Billy Elgart (b. November 9, 1942, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

) is an expatriate

Expatriate

An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...

 American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 drummer. He is related to Les

Les Elgart

Les Elgart was an American swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter.Lester E. Elgart began playing trumpet as a teenager, and by age 20 had landed professional gigs. In the 1940s he played in bands led by Raymond Scott, Charlie Spivak, and Harry James, and occasionally found himself in bands alongside...

 and Larry Elgart

Larry Elgart

Larry Elgart is an American jazz bandleader, who with his brother, Les, recorded the original rendition of "Bandstand Boogie", theme to the long-running teen dance show, American Bandstand.-Biography:...

.

Elgart was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts

Chelsea, Massachusetts

Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...

. He studied at the Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

 and was a student of Alan Dawson

Alan Dawson

Alan Dawson was a respected jazz drummer and widely influential percussion teacher based in Boston. He was born in Marietta, Pennsylvania and raised in Roxbury, MA. Serving in the Army for Korean War duty, Dawson played with the Army Dance Band while stationed at Fort Dix from 1951-1953...

. In the 1960s he played with Carla Bley

Carla Bley

Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...

, Paul Bley

Paul Bley

Paul Bley, CM is a pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing.-Biography:...

, Marion Brown

Marion Brown

Marion Brown was a jazz alto saxophonist and ethnomusicologist. He is most well known as a member of the 1960s avant-garde jazz scene in New York City, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai...

, Sam Rivers

Sam Rivers

Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....

, Lowell Davidson

Lowell Davidson

Lowell Davidson was a jazz pianist from Boston, Massachusetts. After studying biochemistry at Harvard University, he moved to New York and played with Ornette Coleman who urged the ESP Disk record label to record and release an album featuring Davidson with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Milford...

, Mark Levinson

Mark Levinson

The company Mark Levinson, now owned by Madrigal Audio Laboratories specializes in high-end digital audio processors, integrated amplifiers, power amplifiers, pre amplifiers, and CD players...

, Roswell Rudd

Roswell Rudd

Roswell Rudd is a Grammy Award-nominated American jazz trombonist and composer....

, John Tchicai

John Tchicai

John Martin Tchicai is a Danish jazz saxophonist. He was one of the earliest European free jazz musicians. He is of Danish and Congolese descent....

, Jack Walrath

Jack Walrath

Jack Walrath is an American post-bop jazz trumpeter and musical arranger known for his work with Ray Charles, Gary Peacock, Charles Mingus and Glenn Ferris, among others....

 and Glenn Ferris

Glenn Ferris

Glenn Ferris is a jazz trombonist who has also worked in other fields. Outside of jazz he has played for Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Duran Duran, and others....

. In 1968 he made his recording debut on Mr. Joy, with Paul Bley and Gary Peacock

Gary Peacock

Gary Peacock is an American jazz double-bassist.-Biography:After military service in Germany, in the early sixties he worked on the west coast with Barney Kessel, Bud Shank, Paul Bley and Art Pepper, then moved to New York. He worked there with Bley, the Bill Evans trio , and Albert Ayler's trio...

.

He moved to Europe in 1976, settling first in Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

, Austria and later in Ulm

Ulm

Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...

, Germany. He has played with Karl Berger

Karl Berger

Karl Hanns Berger is a musicologist with a PhD in Music Sociology, jazz composer, jazz vibraphone and piano player.-Biography:...

, Dave Holland

Dave Holland

Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....

, Ed Schuller

Ed Schuller

Edwin G. Schuller is an American jazz bassist and composer.Schuller was born in New York City; his father is Gunther Schuller and his younger brother is drummer George Schuller. Schuller learned clarinet and guitar as a child and switched to bass at age 15; that same year he had his first...

, and Wayne Darling over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. He was a member of the group Zollsound 4 with Carlo Mombelli, Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...

, and Thomas Zoller

Thomas Zöller

Thomas Zöller is a German author and player of the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipes, border pipes, and smallpipes. Zöller is a member of the trio As a' Phìob along with Clemens Bieger and Michael Klevenhaus....

. He played in the Sundial Trio with Peter O'Mara

Peter O'Mara

Peter O'Mara is an Australian jazz guitarist, composer and teacher.-Biography:He studied at the Academy of Guitar under George Golla, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and at jazz clinics under Jamey Aebersold, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, John Scofield and Hal Galper.O'Mara began his...

 from 1982 to 1990. In 1991 he worked with Caoma alongside Ed Schuller, Sigi Finkel, and Tomasz Stanko

Tomasz Stanko

Tomasz Stańko is a Polish trumpeter, composer and improviser. Often recording for ECM, Stańko is strongly associated with free jazz and the avant-garde....

. Stanko and Elgart also played with Vlatko Kucan in the 1990s. Elgart worked on the Annemarie Roelofs

Annemarie Roelofs

Annemarie Roelofs , also spelt Anne-Marie Roelofs and Anne Marie Roelofs, is a Dutch trombone player and violinist, and is a professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. She is a member of several musical groups and has performed in Holland and England.-Biography:Roelofs...

 Projekt, alongside Berger, Frank Möbus, Vitold Rek

Vitold Rek

Vitold Rek is a double bassist, composer and educator. He studied classical double bass at the Academy of Music in Kraków when Krzysztof Penderecki was rector there...

, and Ingrid Sertso.

He has worked as a sideman on recordings by Leszek Zadlo, Manfred Bründl, Kenny Wheeler

Kenny Wheeler

Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....

, Carlo Mombelli, Charlie Mariano

Charlie Mariano

Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....

, Arrigo Cappelletti, Franco D'Andrea

Franco D'Andrea

Franco D'Andrea is an Italian pianist who plays mostly jazz and rock. He developed his style in the 1960s and won several awards in his home country...

, Wolfgang Lackerschmidt, Claudio Fasoli

Claudio Fasoli

Claudio Fasoli is an Italian saxophonist and original member of the jazz fusion group Perigeo.Since then he has released a number of solo albums, some for Soul Note.-References:...

, Sigi Finkel and Paolino Dalla Porta, and worked with Tim Berne

Tim Berne

Tim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...

, Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips

Barre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....

, Eddie Gomez

Eddie Gomez

Edgar "Eddie" Gómez is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, perhaps most notable for his work done with the Bill Evans trio from 1966 to 1977.-Biography:...

, Conny Bauer

Conny Bauer

Konrad "Conny" Bauer is a free jazz trombonist. He is the brother of the trombonist Hannes Bauer....

, Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Jordan has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to a notable solo career....

, David Friedman

David Friedman

David Friedman may refer to:* Dafydd ab Hugh, born David Friedman, science fiction/fantasy writer; political weblogger* David Friedman , American film and TV actor and child star of the 1980s* David Friedman , Broadway and film composer...

and Matthias Schubert.

As leader

• SunDial, 1985
• Illiad, 1986
• O'Mara-Darling-Elgart, 1987
• The Fool School with Eric Watson
  Eric Watson (musician)
  Eric Watson is a US-American jazz pianist and composer living in France.After graduating from Oberlin Conservatory Watson moved to Paris. In 1982 he completed his first trio recording with Paul Motian and Ed Schuller followed by two solo albums...
  
   and John Lindberg
  John Lindberg
  John Lindberg is an American jazz double-bassist.Lindberg studied at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and moved to New York City in 1977. There he played with the Human Arts Ensemble alongside Joseph Bowie and Bobo Shaw, and he was in ensembles with Anthony Braxton from 1978-1985...
  
  , 1992

As sideman

With Paul Bley

Paul Bley

Paul Bley, CM is a pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing.-Biography:...

• Paul Bley with Gary Peacock
  Paul Bley with Gary Peacock
  Paul Bley with Gary Peacock is an album by Canadian jazz pianist Paul Bley with American bassist Gary Peacock recorded in 1964 and 1968 and released on the ECM label in 1970.-Reception:...
  
  (ECM, 1970)