{"id":4965,"date":"2013-08-03T16:20:39","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T23:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4965"},"modified":"2013-08-28T11:31:40","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T18:31:40","slug":"bill-mays-historian-surprise-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/08\/bill-mays-historian-surprise-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Mays, Historian: Surprise Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of my Rifftides<\/em> posts on last October’s Oregon Coast Jazz Party, I told you a little about the remarkable program in which Bill Mays traced the development of modern jazz piano. Here’s that section from October 12, 2012<\/p>\n

Bill Mays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 History of Jazz Piano concert for a morning audience covered pianists from James P. Johnson to Herbie Hancock. Teddy Wilson, Bill Evans and Bud Powell were among the 13 whose styles Mays summoned without surrendering his individuality. Tommy Flanagan and Sonny Clark had to be set aside when time ran short. I had the privilege of providing narration leading into each of Bill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s segments. That put me in the second best seat in the house in the curve of the nine-foot Steinway as Mays poured himself into interpreting some of the pianists who influenced his development. It was a great experience, with a responsive audience, and so much fun that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking of doing it again sometime, somewhere.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the program ended, Bill and I were satisfied enough with it that we sought out the house audio crew to see if they had recorded it. They hadn’t. Well, that was the end of that, we said, although as noted at the conclusion of the report, we hoped that we could do it again. We still do. It turns out that the concert hadn’t quite disappeared. Yesterday we discovered that the festival management had a snippet of it videotaped.<\/p>\n

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