Bill Mays

Bill Mays ( born February 5, 1944 in Sacramento, California) is an American jazz pianist.

Mays, who has already played piano as a child, was during his training at the Naval School of Music in Washington, a member of a band of U.S. Navy. After four years in the Navy he became a member of the ensemble by Bill Green in San Diego. In 1969 he went to Los Angeles. Here he worked among others with Buddy Collette, Harold Land, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank and Art Pepper, was a member of the Bobby Shew Quintet, collaborated on recordings by Stan Kenton Neophonic Orchestra, played with Alan Broadbent Duoaufnahmen and acted as band member Ernie Watts and Abe Laboriel.

He also worked in the recording studios of Hollywood, where he became familiar with other keyboard instruments such as harpsichord, celesta, organ and synthesizer, and, inter alia, with JJ Johnson and Benny Golson worked. In the 1970s he was a companion of Sarah Vaughan and Al Jarreau.

After a debut album as a leader ( with bassist Red Mitchell ) Mays in 1984 went to New York. His musical partners included here Ron Carter, Al Cohn, Eddie Daniels, Ray Drummond, Benny Golson, Mel Lewis, Charles McPherson, Bob Mintzer, Gerry Mulligan, Rufus Reid, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Marvin tribe, Clark Terry, Toots Thielemans, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Paul Winter and Phil Woods.

He also leads several own formations - including the Inventions Trio with trumpeter Marvin strain and the cellist Alisa Horn and a trio with bassist Martin Wind and drummer Matt Wilson - and also occurs as a soloist. He worked as a composer for musicians such as Percy Faith, Woody Herman, Morgana King, Shelly Manne, Mark Murphy, Bud Shank, Lew Tabackin and Phil Woods and composed piano pieces, suites for piano and flute and piano and double bass, Saxophonquarette, pieces for jazz band and Symphony Orchestra and an adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite for Jazz Ensemble. In 2012, he worked in a trio with Tommy Cecil and Duduka da Fonseca.

Disco Graphical Notes

• A Musical Cocktail, solo album, 1976
• Explorations with Bud Shank, 1979
• Night to Day with Peter Sprague, Jim Plank and Bob Magnusson, 1980
• Two of a Mind with Red Mitchell, 1982
• Tha 's Delight, Bill Mays Quintet ( with Shelly Manne, Andy Simpkins, Tom Harrell and Ralph Moore ), 1983
• Kaleidoscope, Bill Mays Quintet ( with Jeff Hirshfield, Harvie Swartz, Peter Sprague and Dick Oatts ), 1989
• One To One with Ray Drummond, 1989
• One To One 2 with Ray Drummond, 1990
• An Ellington Affair, Bill Mays Trio ( with Lewis Nash and John Goldsby ), 1994
• Stridin ' In Five, solo album, 1995
• Out In Pa. , Bill Mays Trio ( with Martin Wind and Matt Wilson ), 1999
• By Ourselves with Marvin tribe, 1999
• Summer Sketches, Bill Mays Trio, 2000
• Going Home, Bill Mays Trio, 2002
• Bick 's Bag with George Shearing, Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke, 2002
• Fantasy, Bill Mays Trio Invention ( with Marvin trunk and Alisa Horn ), 2001, 2005