When it comes to certain musicians, the challenge for any interviewer is determining where to focus discussion when it comes an extensive and multifaceted career.
Bill Mays is one of those artists whose vocational path has seen him working with a mind-blowing array of artists, including Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Leonard Cohen, Frank Zappa, Freddy Hubbard, Mark Murphy, Dionne Warwick, Gerry Mulligan, Peggy Lee, Barry Manilow, and many others, not to mention the many albums he’s recorded and released under his own name. His work as a Hollywood studio session player is beyond impressive and his composing and arranging is considered some of the best around.
Alongside all of this, Mays documented his musical life in the aptly titled Stories of the Road, the Studios, Sidemen, and Singers: 55 Years in the Music Biz. He’s played on some of the world’s finest stages, showcasing his exceptional talent alongside industry greats, and on Saturday, June 6, he takes the stage at Hugh’s Room live with guitarist Lorne Lofsky. He joined me last week to tell us a little more about it.
It’s been a minute since you’ve performed here in Toronto. It’ll be good to have you back. How did this show come about?
Bill Mays: Well, Ed Bickert and I were playing together for a few years. One night, we were booked at a club in Toronto, the Montreal Bistro it was called. Ed fell on the ice and broke his wrist. I hired Lorne Lofsky to play with me for the week and it was the beginning of a wonderful relationship. I live in the States and he lives in Toronto so our time together has been spotty over the years, but each time we play together it’s been marvelous. Lorne plays not only as a guitarist, but as a complete musician and he approaches music as a composer as well when we’re improvising.
When the two of us play together, it’s not me accompanying the guitar or a guitar player accompanying the piano, it’s a dialogue where we are playing off each other constantly. With Lorne, it’s a special hook-up that we have and I can’t wait to make music with him again. Toronto is a wonderful jazz town, it always has been!
Your tv and film work is beyond impressive … I lost count of how many projects you worked on. How did you get into that work? What did you enjoy about it?
I made a conscious effort and moved to Los Angeles in 1969. I networked with the people who were doing studio work, I learned how to play all the instruments that a keyboard player at that time would have to play such as the harpiscord, the organ, the electric keyboards and the early synthesizers. I also studied with somebody who helped honed my site reading abilities which is necessary for doing studio work and I was in the Hollywood studios for 15 years.
Playing with an orchestra, learning how to phrase with other instruments, learning how to be a member of a studio orchestra helped me to be a better jazz musician. I didn’t do one or the other exclusively, I really was an eclectic musician and it all kind of worked together for me.
Hughs Room Live presents Bill Mays and Lorne Lofsky in the Green Sanderson Hall on Saturday, June 6 at 8:00 pm. Tickets and information are available at hughsroomlive.com.
The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.