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Bill Douglass, Bassist & former Artistic Director of the Sierra Jazz Society

Bill Douglass was the artistic director of the Sierra Jazz Society from its inception, around 2005, until sometime in early 2020. Bill is renowned in the Bay Area and the Sierras as a fine bass player and bamboo flute player.

The Jazz Society is working on plans for summer of 2021 but, in the meantime, we wanted to get Bill’s bio info back up on this website. Bill and Nora Nausbaum are the folks that launched the SJS and, after doing some research online, Nora helped us out by forwarding this bio that was on the previous SJS website. We’re maintaining a digital copy here with some links to content available on the internet so you can check out some of Bill’s work. If you have any additional content, links, stories, photos, etc. we’d love to see it!

Bill Douglas Highlighted Discography & Performances

w/Marian McPartlandSingle Petal of a Rose (CD)
w/Marian McPartland – Live at Yoshi’s Nitespot (CD)
w/Marian McPartland – Plays the Music of Mary Lou Williams (CD)
w/Marian McPartland – Live at Concord Jazz Festival w/Chris Potter (CD)
w/Mose Allison Trio – 1970 – 1973 and 2005 – 2018
w/Mose Allison Trio – American Legend – Live in California (CD)
w/Ian Dogole – Night Harvest (CD)
w/Ian Dogole – Ionospheres (CD)
w/IanDogole – Hemispheres (DVD)
w/Paula WestTemptation (CD)
w/Paula West – Restless (CD)
w/Shweta JhaveriAnahita (CD)
w/Gabriela Marrone – 
Detrás Del Sol (EP) featuring Bill Frisell & Alex Acuña
w/Tom WaitsThe Black Rider (CD)

Filmwork, Bamboo Flute:

The Five Chinese Brothers, Rabbit Ears Productions with John Lone narrator The Emperor and the Nightingale, Rabbit Ears Productions, music by Mark Isham, narration by Glenn Close
The Boy Who Drew Cats, Rabbit Ears Productions, music by Mark Isham,  narration by William Hurt
1,000 Pieces of Gold, directed by Nancy Kelly, music by Gary Malkin
The Black Stallion, directed by Carroll Ballard, music by Mark Isham
Never Cry Wolf, directed by Carroll Ballard, music by Mark Isham
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, directed by Wayne Wang, music: Todd Boekelheide
Eat a Bowl of Tea, directed by Wayne Wang,
Life is Cheap, directed by Wayne Wang, music: Mark Adler
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Phillip Kaufman
Dear America, directed by Bill Couturie, music by Todd Boekleheide
Tibet, music by Mark Isham
National Geographic Specials:
Reflections on Elephants, Zebras: Patterns in the Grass,
Filmed by Beverly and Dereck Joubert, music by Mark Adler

The news is good!

The big news for now is that the Sierra Jazz Society will live on. Bill Douglass, Nora Nausbaum and many others, have been doing an incredible job of promoting jazz in the sierras for over fifteen years now. The Sierra Jazz Society produced jazz camps for years, sessions with Bill and Nora and many other Jazz related activities. Nora found a crew to keep the SJS going and we’re working on some ideas for 2021. We’ll be in touch and we’d love it if you signed up for the email list! Jazz Lives!

Photo by Jorge Zapata on Unsplash