Background
Bauer was born in New York City.
Bauer was born in New York City.
He played banjo as a child before switching to guitar. In 1946 he played with Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden. Working in small groups led by bassist Chubby Jackson and trombonist Bill Harris, Bauer established himself as a soloist in the bebop movement.
In 1946 he began working with Lennie Tristano.
Tristano and Bauer enjoyed a natural synergy in their style and approach. Their development of "intuitive music" led to the 1949 session which included the free improvisations "Intuition", and "Digression".
The two musicians" dialogue crossed styles from bop and cool to the avant-garde. Their recordings have been described as "some of the most beautiful duet recordings in jazz".
"Duet Foreign Saxophone and Guitar" was an unusual instrument pairing which has been described as redefining the role of jazz guitar.
Bauer made one album under his own name, The Plectrist, in 1956. The Civil Defense reissue has been described as "demand the attention of anyone even remotely interested in jazz guitar". In later life Bauer taught at the New York Conservatory of Modern Music and his own Billy Bauer Guitar School, first in Albertson, New York, then in Roslyn Heights, New New York
He also published instructional books on studying music and playing the guitar.
Near the end of his career, Bauer appeared at the 1997 Victor Company of Japan Tributes for Barney Kessel and Tal Farlow. Bauer led the way for guitarists like Jimmy Raney and student Joe Satriani.
In 1997 he published his autobiography Sideman (with Thea Luba.
He played with the Jerry Wald band and recorded with Carl Hoff and His Orchestra in 1941 before joining Woody Herman in 1944 as a member of the First Herd. He was a member of the National Broadcasting Company Tonight Show band in New York City and played in the Today Show band at the start of early television