Billy Newman is a composer of works for jazz and Brazilian instrumental ensembles. His music celebrates the lives and mourns the passing of so many who were close to him working through many musical genres of Jazz and Brazilian music – choro, samba, baiao, polyrhythmic expressions and contrafacts based on the great classical repertoire. He is a musical Portraitist.
An active guitarist, Newman recently has toured four cities in Brazil playing his original music, which is available on five recordings with him as leader. He is also an author on Alfred music (Guitar Atlas: Brazil) and has given numerous workshops in Choro and Jazz music in NYC and various locations in Brazil. Recently, Newman has extended into writing for chamber orchestra and variously sized chamber groups.
At MacDowell in 2007, Newman completed a set of choros, sambas, and baiaos that were performed on a tour in the south of Brazil in 2008. He also completed a number of original jazz compositions for use with his quintet. In 2008, he composed eight choros (a Brazilian genre of instrumental music), completed two jazz waltzes, and two polyrhythmic compositions for jazz ensemble.
