Bill Barron (musician)

William Barron, Jr. (March 27, 1927 – September 21, 1989)^[1] was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist.^[1]

Barron was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1] He began studying the piano when he was nine years old and later switched to the saxophone. He toured with the Carolina Cotton Pickers when he was 17.^[2] He first appeared on a Cecil Taylor recording in 1959, and he later recorded extensively with Philly Joe Jones and co-led a post-bop quartet with Ted Curson. His younger brother, pianist Kenny Barron, appeared on all of the sessions that the elder Barron led.^[1][3] Other musicians he recorded with included Charles Mingus and Ollie Shearer.

Barron also directed a jazz workshop at the Children's Museum in Brooklyn, taught at City College of New York, and became the chairman of the music department at Wesleyan University.^[1] He recorded for Savoy, recording that label's last jazz record in 1972,^[1] and Muse. The Bill Barron Collection is housed at the Institute of Jazz Studies of the Rutgers University libraries.^[4]

Barron died of cancer on September 21, 1989 in Middletown, Connecticut.^[1]