Bill Mays: cd, dvd, live performance reviews
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“LIVE AT MAYBECK” (CD)Jazzscene (Jazz Society of Oregon), September, 1993Bill Mays Shines On Solo Piano Recordingby George Fendel (4 1/2/ stars) Chalk up another top echelon performance in this never-ending series of solo piano recitals. Mays broke the hearts of his West Coast following (including many musicians) by moving to New York several years ago. He returned west for this concert and wove a spell for the always attentive Maybeck audience. Some of my favorites: A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square (remember please that it’s Berkeley as in Sir Charles not as in the bay area city); a Mays original called Boardwalk Blues with a theme-like quality to it; the ultimate test (Mays gets an “A”) for pianists, Strayhorn’s Lush Life; the rarely heard Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry with haunting verse intact; a romp through Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz and a medley of two tender beauties, Why Did I Choose You and Never Let Me Go. Mays strides his way out of Maybeck with Jelly Roll Morton’s Grandpa’s Spells, a little piece of perfection. Mays is one of a new breed of pianists: deep in the tradition and dedicated to it. This recording provides the evidence. Concord Jazz, Playing Time 57:58 (4 1/2 stars) LIVE PERFORMANCE REVIEWS: RIFFTIDES, October 8, 2007, By Doug Ramsey http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2007/10/moody_and_mays.html 
RIFFTIDES, October 21, 2005, By Doug Ramsey http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2005/10/the_seasons_and_bill_mays.html 
The New York Sun, Dec 2, 2005; Section:Arts & Letters; Page:17 By WILL FRIEDWALD - A Special Double-Bill The fourhanded piano duet is a long-standing jazz tradition in formal concert settings. It/s not uncommon for two heavyweight pianists to get together and trade notes and ideas for an evening, as the legendary Hank Jones and Barry Harris did in October under the aegis of Jazz Forum. But I can’t think of an occasion when a club has presented a piano duo team as a recurring attraction, as Birdland is doing this week with two outstanding pianists named Bill, namely Charlap and Mays. Although Mr. Mays (whose latest album, “Live at Jazz Standard,” has just been released by Palmetto) is more than 20 years older than Mr. Charlap, both men were initially known for their associations with Gerry Mulligan – in fact, it was Mr. Mays who helped Mr. Charlap get the job with the late saxophone giant. Messrs. Charlap and Mays played as a duo last year at Merkin Hall, but their eight-show run this week will allow the twosome to coalesce in the way other ensembles would from steadily working together. If the opening set on Wednesday night is any indication, the double-Bill is off to a flying start. Mr. Charlap said afterward that he and Mr. Mays had made a point of not deciding beforehand what they were going to play, yet one clear-cut theme was evident: Throughout the performance, they found new and interesting things to do with standards and their variations. The duo began with “Pennies From Heaven,” or rather, the minor-key variant on it composed by Lennie Tristano, titled “Lennie’s Pennies.” Yet where Tristano’s version barely disguised Arthur Johnston’s melody, Messrs. Mays and Charlap’s treatment obscured the work of both previous composers. Where “Pennies” was a completely theme-less improvisation, the second tune, “It’s Easy To Remember,” was all melody. Both men decorated the tune with flourishes, and whenever one man’s flourish would evolve into a distinct melody, the other pianist would steer it back to the tune. “Easy To Remember” set a precedent for relevant quotes: Mr. Charlap briefly supplemented the Richard Rodgers melody “Rhythm-a-ning,” Thelonious Monk’s most famous line on the same changes. Later still, the team injected Charlie Parker’s most famous blues, “Now’s the Time,” into his lesser-known “Bloomdido.” The standout ballad of the set was an elaborate construction of three songs reflecting on the nature of youth: “Last Night When We Were Young,” “Blame It on My Youth,” and “Young and Foolish.” The playing of both Bills was so sensitive here that it brought to mind yet a third piano-playing Bill (Evans). The two pianists were so together on this piece that what Mr. Mays referred to as “18 feet of piano” (meaning the two 9-foot grands) seemed like a single giant instrument played by one colossal musician. The twosome essayed a pair of Latinate numbers to very different effect. “Pensativa” – by yet another pianist, Clare Fischer – was treated as it is traditionally, meaning as the most famous of all North American-born bossa nowith another, “It Might as Well Be Spring.” Then, in “Dance of the Infidels,” he supported Bud Powell’s variations on “I Got Rhythm” with vas. By contrast, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Zingaro” began with the angular approach of an Argentinian tango, and then briefly became a Bach four-part invention before Mr. Mays brought it home with lightly dissonant secondary intervals that suggested Chinese music. The two Bills concluded with “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” enhancing the Gershwin standard with the same sort of chromaticisms the composer himself favored in his piano performances. It seemed clear that the more familiar the terrain the two Bills were on, the more their collaboration started to turn into a competition, and the more cut-throat their jousts became. Halfway through, they were trying to out-melody and out-improvise each other; by the end, they were even trying to out-coda each other. Zing! Take that! Nice work, indeed. The GLOBE AND MAIL by MARK MILLERThursday, November 24, 2005 Page R7 Mays gets swept up in the moment At the Montreal Bistro In Toronto on Tuesday November 22, 2005 Bill Mays was on something of a tear at the Montreal Bistro on Tuesday night. Just in from Salt Lake City, Utah, on "a flight from hell," as he put it before the evening's first set, the veteran, New York-based pianist took a couple or three tunes to settle down, and then . . . and then he was off. In any other context, this could be a dangerous strategy. Mays is an impulsive improviser at the most relaxed of times. Here, energized, he was thinking in tangents -- all toots and left turns of the sort that would normally leave the heads of any visiting soloist's local accompanists spinning. Mays, however, has a long-standing association with his Toronto bandmates at the Bistro this week, bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Terry Clarke. Wherever he went, they were right at his heels from the outset and usually running with him head-to-head by the time he had shifted into high gear. This is one of the finer jazz piano trios around in that respect, operating as it does on comparably high levels of soft-handed skill, knowing style and keen anticipation. All three qualities were immediately apparent in its opening pieces of the evening, Frank Rosolino's waltz Blue Daniel, Coleman Hawkins's boppish Bean and the Boys and Mays's own Ballad for Barbara. The Hawkins tune was in fact the highlight of the set for Mays's long, unflagging solo, one scintillating chorus after another, with neither hindrance nor hesitation. But if Mays already seemed to be on a tear, he was really just warming up for all that followed with the standards A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Willow Weep for Me. His Nightingale was encyclopedic, from A to, well, A -- Ahmad Jamal to Abdullah Ibrahim -- with Swainson and Clarke catching the historical references and adding a few footnotes of their own. Mays played the piece every which way, inside the piano and outside the box; if, in all of its digressions, it wasn't quite as exhilarating as the headlong Bean and the Boys, it was no less wild a ride. Mays's Willow was similarly inspired, though heavier of hand, as perhaps befitting the tune's bluesy overtones. But the pianist's enthusiasm briefly got the better of him as he forced, rather than carried, the performance to its peak. A rare lapse, yes, yet one that served as a reminder of the degree to which Mays will allow himself to be swept up in the moment, which is precisely when and where the greatest jazz is likely to be played -- in the moment. The Bill Mays Trio perform nightly through Saturday at the Montreal Bistro Bob Agnew October 26, 2005 Pianist Bill Mays Plays Closed Concert In Santa Barbara Famed jazz pianist Bill Mays performs around the country and around the world. He was born and raised in California, but in the 80's moved to New York. He now resides in Milford in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, just an hour from Manhattan. In New York, he has played at such noted venues as the Blue Note, Birdland, Bradley's, Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, Steinway Pianos, the Village Gate and the Village Vanguard . In contrast, during his recent road tour, he did a single on one Monday evening late in October at the mountainside, Santa Barbara home of John and Diana Slais. There, he played solo for nearly three hours much to the unmistakable pleasure of some thirty fans crowded into the Slais living room. Slais, a jazz pianist himself, provided his guest with a seven foot Yamaha concert grand piano, in tune and receptive to the creative, well-honed talents of Mays whose artistry knows no bounds: He not only is an exceptional pianist, but composes and arranges, as well. A first call musician in Los Angeles during the lush studio days of the 20th century, his long and varied background qualifies him for all of the distinction he presently enjoys.Casually dressed and informal with his audience, Mays opened his program with one of his favorites, the Hoagy Carmichael-Johnny Mercer song, "Skylark." No stoic at the keyboard, he spices his performance with expressive facial reactions to the music he is producing, as well as other rhythmic body motions. The man loves what he' doing and he shows it, with the audience being the beneficiary. Referring to the late Benny Carter as being an "inspiration to all of us" because of his active, creative musicianship through a long life into his nineties, he dedicated his next selection to him. It was Carter's tune, "Summer Serenade." He also paid tribute to Thelonius Monk with "Panonica," one of Monk's beautiful ballads. Mays then fulfilled a request from the audience for stride piano by playing the "Jitterbug Waltz in that style after discussing his favorite pianist, the progressive, inimitable and still working, Hank Jones. Jones, at one time or another, tackled all the styles from stride to bebop. Mays concluded his first set with Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," followed by Johnny Mandel's "Shadow of Your Smile" and Miles Davis' "Four." Mays considers Mandel to be one of the greatest of modern composers and believes his score for the movie, "The Sandpiper," to be a classic example of that craft. Referring to the Concord Records Maybeck Concert series featuring great jazz pianists, including Bill Mays, host Slais requested Mays to play his composition, "Thanksgiving Prayer," from his Maybeck concert. That began the second set, followed by the Jimmy Van Heusen tune, 'Darn That Dream." Then, complying with request to do Billy Strayhorn, Mays selected "Lush Life," one of the most outstanding of that composer's famous songs. He noted the incredibility of Strayhorn writing such sophisticated, mature lyrics when he still was in his teens. Mays then effectively sang them to illustrate his point before brilliantly concluding it as an instrumental on the piano. Asked to do "Christopher Columbus," it was a memory-scratcher, but he came up with it, based on a bit of its melody and took it from there, improvising in a matchless way. He honored Oscar Levant with "Blame It On My Youth," coupling it with the Sam Lewis-Victor Young hauntingly beautiful, "Street of Dreams." He recollected Johnny Green with "Body and Soul," superimposing its melody on Chopin's Etude in E-flat minor, did "Willow Weep For Me" (composer Ann Ronell), saluted the greatness of David Raksin with renditions of "The Bad And The Beautiful" and "Laura" and concluded with Jelly Roll Morton's "Grandpa's Spells." Kudos to John and Diana Slais for having given a fortunate few of the Bill Mays fans a rare opportunity to hear him in a concert of this nature. For those of us who prefer the intimacy of club settings to listen to jazz, as opposed to a theater stage, this was the epitome of up front and close. Glen’s Falls Post Star, August 21, 2002 Bill Mays Trio fits beautifully with Luzerne chamber festival by Geraldine Freedman When cellist Bert Phillips asked jazz pianist Bill Mays to bring his trio to play with the classical musicians for Monday night's concert at the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival, he probably didn't realize what an inspiration that idea was. The evening was not only a fabulous success; it was also illuminating to hear how well the two styles work together. Of course, most of that credit goes to Mays' skillful and graceful ability as an arranger. Every piece that mingled jazz reference with the classical molds sang because of the fluidity during the style breaks. Initially, Phillips, violinists LaMar Alsop and Ron Erickson and pianist Toby Blumenthal played Vivaldi's Concerto in D Minor. They played the three contrasting movements with good energy, feeling and strong pulses. Then Mays' Trio, which included the estimable bassist Martin Wind and imaginative drummer Matt Wilson, got to work. They took fragments of melodies that the violinists and cellist had played as the basis for their improvisations and created a very recognizable but totally new three-movement piece. Everyone jammed in the first movement. The second movement was a ballad with Mays playing an eloquent lingering solo. The final movement centered around Wilson and his inventive alterations of tone and rhythm. After intermission, everyone but Phillips played Dick Hyman's catchy "Your Own Iron." The Mays Trio then played a set of its own with many tunes coming from their latest CD, "Summer Sketches" (Palmetto). In "The Things You Did Last Summer," they were assisted by Alsop on a 1918 strobe violin - a sort-of violin with an attached amplifying horn that was used prior to electronic amplification. Alsop improvised some nice lines. In the funky "Early Morning Blues" - Wind's tune dedicated to his young son Christopher - the trio dug in with great finger-snapping zeal. Wilson's "Free-range Chicken" was cute and clever. In these and the other tunes, the trio showed a light touch with improvisations very centered in melody. Their work was very accessible, tasteful, swinging and full of joy. Everyone but Blumenthal joined in a romp through Mendelssohn's Trio in C Minor, which constantly shifted back and forth from classical to jazz. It was an amazing display of musical imagination. Mays was equally impressive with his classical technique, his gentle touch and his sensitivity to chamber music ethics. Also performed was Piazzolla's "The Four Seasons" with Alsop, Phillips and Blumenthal. Naples, Florida News, 2003 Jazz trio's improvisation on classical compositions brings staid crowd it its feet by Joe Longsteth and Peg Goldberg Given a choice between: A. Endless numbers of TV commentators dueling for ratings as they rehashed the president's speech which left no doubt as to the imminence of war; or B. Sitting back and enjoying a duel between classical and jazz musicians Monday night at the Sugden Theatre in downtown Naples, a capacity crowd chose the latter. Again this year Classic Chamber Concerts brought back the Bill Mays Trio, whose prodigious musical talents range from classical to gospel and from pop to jazz. Together with the trio's hosts, the Philadelphia Piano Quartet, the audience was saturated with music beginning with new age Bach and ending with revisionist Mendelssohn during their 2 1/2-hour program. In between dissection and reinvention of those classical composers, however, the trio and members of the quartet threw in a raft of other offerings to saturate even the most voracious of jazz improvisation appetites. Mays, who has performed on more than 100 recordings, has a list of concert credits and film soundtracks that is awe-inspiring even to his peers. Singers such as Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, Sarah Vaughan and films such as "Being John Malkovich," "Fargo," "Lethal Weapon" ... you name them, he's had his nimble hands somewhere in their music. Bassist Martin Wind, a native of Germany, is a past winner of the Thelonius Monk Competition, on faculty at New York University, and is a bass wunderkind. He caressed a whole new set of sounds out of his bass, to the delight of the normally staid crowd. Rounding out the trio was drummer extraordinaire Matt Wilson, awarded 1997's Best New Artist by the New York Jazz Critics Circle. And, lest we forget, the Philadelphia Piano Quartet provided some toe-tapping moments of its own throughout the program. The evening began innocently enough with J.S. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, Cello and Piano in C Minor. Once the traditional arrangement was complete, however, Mays et al. took over, and 250 years fell away as Mays and his cohorts twisted and massaged Bach's composition like silly putty. In their hands it was transformed into a 21st century beauty queen complete with sculpted nails and 5-inch heels. Not satisfied to let the Bill Mays Trio undertake their arrangement without a little help from quartet members, violist/violinist LaMar Alsop added a superb bit of clarinet work to the number. The audience loved it. Next up were two selections from Astor Piazzolla's "The Four Seasons." The contemporary Argentinian composer, who died in 1992, did for sensual tango music what the Strauss family did for waltzes: made everyone who heard them beg for more. This time Alsop, performing on a superb violin made for him by his now 90-year-old brother enchanted the audience yet again. Not that there was any hint the tones he rendered on the violin during that number were a fluke, Alsop then joined the Bill Mays Trio for an adaptation of an arrangement by Frank Vignola entitled "One Beautiful Evening." And beautiful it was. There is something about the purity of sound produced by that violin, in the hands of a magician such as Alsop, which literally can bring tears to one's eyes. Lots of toe tapping and rhythmic nodding followed, as "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" burst forth from the Steinway. Soon the drums and bass were in a mad scramble to leave no stone unturned, no note not stripped naked and reconstructed. The audience burst into cheers at its conclusion. The intermission afforded a bit of a breather for those of us whose neurons were on overdrive. Then, just in case any person in the audience has never experienced the rush that comes from literally absorbing liquid silver glissandi into their senses, the trio afforded the audience just that opportunity during "Home," an arrangement by Van Steeden/Clarkson. A couple more offerings and the audience was reduced to Jell-O by Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To"; a few lines from the Desert Song's "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise"; Dvorak's "Going Home" (New World Symphony); with a bit of "Oh Danny Boy" thrown in for good measure. As a final auditory treat of the evening, Mendelssohn was awakened from his eternal sleep to hear the upstarts take on the fourth and final movement from his Trio in D Minor, Opus 49. And take on they did, adding Norman Carol, violin, and Bert Phillips, cello to their trio. At the program's conclusion, what followed was the most raucous cheering these reviewers have heard in any Classic Chamber program. |