Composer
Billy Drewes
Biography
Billy Drewes is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer whose principal instruments include saxophones, clarinets and flutes. Born on Long Island in 1952, he moved to Boston in 1970 and to New York in 1975. His musical practice also encompasses drums, percussion and piano.
His recording career includes more than 150 albums and collaborations with musicians such as Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian and Toninho Horta. His work in Boston included engagements with Tony Bennett, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gary Burton; in New York he worked with Kenny Werner, John Scofield, Lionel Hampton, Eddie Palmieri and Woody Herman. Alongside performing and composing, he has given educational clinics.
On Andrea Marcelli’s The Invisible Child, Drewes plays soprano saxophone in Ola Forsell’s quartet and shares the composition credit for Vertikal, recorded in New Jersey in June 2000.