![]() “I said, ‘George, this is fabulous, we ’re gonna do an album. ![]() I was sleeping at his house in L.A., and he played me this slide-guitar stuff, ” Ackerman told Rolling Stone ’s Kurt Loder. “I originally intended to sign George as a guitarist. Ackerman and Winston met after a year of corresponding. When he approached William Ackerman, guitarist and founder of Windham Hill, an independent record label, about re-releasing an out-of-print album by a Brazilian guitarist, he had no inkling of what was to happen. Winston ’s musical career had already sputtered and taken odd turns. Then he began experimenting with the songs on the piano and developing his own highly melodic pieces. After hearing a Christmas album for solo guitar by John Fahey entitled The New Possibility, Winston started trying to work out some of Fahey ’s tunes on his guitar. It was Winston ’s interest in guitar that led to the piano music for which he is best known. ![]() Slack key refers to the Hawaiian style of solo guitar finger picking using open tunings on a classical or steel-stringed guitar. Winston also learned to play the guitar and became interested in the works of several Hawaiian slack key guitarists. He again immersed himself in piano, this time playing Professor Longhair songs. ” A few years later Winston ’s interest was piqued by a tune called “Hey Now Baby, ” by Roy Byrd, known as Professor Longhair. Worked as a deliveryman and at various odd jobs played organ and electric piano with rock band in Miami, FL, 1967 released first solo piano album, Ballads and Blues, Windham Hill, 1972 founder of Dancing Cat Productions, 1983.Īddresses: Office -Dancing Cat Productions, P.O. “I knew I could never play like Fats, with that For the Record … “For a while it just broke my heart, ” he told Milkowski. Career Suffered Ups and Downsĭiscouraged by the music business and frustrated at not being able to reach his goal of playing stride piano like Fats Waller, Winston quit playing piano altogether in 1977. In 1972 he recorded Ballads and Blues, his first solo piano album. ” Winston immersed himself in playing stride piano and began to compose and arrange his own works, which included rhythm and blues, blues, rock, standards, and highly melodic solo piano pieces. I literally left the electric stuff behind. but I wasn ’t really interested in stride until I heard Fats. I remember saying, This is how I wanted to play all my life. when I heard Fats do ‘Got a Brand New Suit ’ off one of the old RCA Vintage albums. In an interview with Down Beat writer Bill Milkowski, Winston described his discovery of stride: “I was playing electric piano at the time. Waller ’s stride, or acoustic, piano playing was a style of jazz developed in the 1920s as an offshoot of ragtime. ” Winston was also influenced by Vince Guaraldi ’s music for the Peanuts animated television specials in 1965, Artie Butler ’s piano on Joe Cocker ’s hit song “Feelin ’ Alright, ” and Nicky Hoplins ’s melodic piano work on guitarist Jeff Beck ’s album Beck-Ola.Īs a teenager Winston played rock and roll organ and electric piano with a Miami band until 1971, when he discovered the music of Fats Waller. After a hiatus of several years Winston came back to the piano, inspired by Jimmy Wisner ’s playing on “ Asia Minor, ” a song recorded with the group Kokomo, and Floyd Cramer ’s tunes “On the Rebound ” and “The Last Date. At the age of eight he took piano lessons but quit playing when he decided that he preferred partaking in baseball with the other boys in his neighborhood. George enjoyed many kinds of music, including 1960s-brand Top 40 and rock and roll. With each move his family made, the young boy was exposed to different musical styles. ![]() ![]() On the concert stage, however, Winston likes to get the audience tapping their toes to the boogie-woogie and stride piano pieces of such celebrated jazz pianists as Fats Waller and Doctor Longhair.Īlthough born in Michigan in 1949, Winston grew up elsewhere: Florida, Mississippi, Montana. His best-selling albums Autumn, December, Winter Into Spring, and Summer feature pleasant, uncluttered melodies that invite the listener to relax. George Winston is known as one of the great popularizers of minimalist, acoustic solo piano music. ![]()
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