The Music Of Bill Somerville

In this category I would like to present the music of Bill Somerville.

Bill is my best banjo friend and he has done a lot of fantastic arrangments of jazzy tunes for the tenor banjo. For me he his the "Master Of The Ragtime Banjo".

He has composed a few melodious tunes for the tenor banjo, too. These compositions are called "Smokin' Frets" and "The Banjoker's Rag".

Bill has a very playble and effective way to arrange songs for the tenor banjo. In a way his arrangments are staying in tradition to the style of arranging of Ralph Colicchio and Walter Kaye Bauer.

Bill is also leading a small banjo band, which is called "The Banjokers" .

One of his arrangments I like very much is his notation of "Stumbling". This is a wonderful mixture of single-string runs and chord-melody playing.