Myself and whoever I happen to be gigging with...see the "about me" section.
Influences
My dad, first and foremost...a nightclub musician for 20 years in the 50's and 60's, he gave me all his fake books. He made me take lessons when I would have much rather been playing softball. Didn't matter, I kinda sucked at softball anyway. And he wrote me a song when I was first starting to play piano which I am convinced gave me the ability to sing any pitch on cue. Country music was a constant when my mother was manning the stereo (or should I say record player? 8-track? Am I dating myself? Oh yeah, I already did...). And I mean the good old country music: Jennings, Haggard, Jones, Parton, and the like. Which in turn set the stage for my love of Southern Rock: Allman Brothers, Skynyrd, etc. Of course, being a piano player growing up in the 70's and 80's, how could I not be influenced by Billy Joel, Elton John, Chuck Leavell, and Bruce Hornsby? Although now my rock piano player of choice is Ben Folds, for two reasons: his chord progressions and his fearlessness. He's sloppy as hell and I love it. For about 2 years or so in college, I was addicted to James Taylor. His face was plastered all over my dorm room; his music wafted from my stereo incessantly. I think my roommate wanted to kill me. So to give her a break, I'd play some Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I strive to play violin like Martie Maguire or Alison Krauss, though I admittedly have a long way to go. Nowadays, I'm influenced by real music played by real musicians, ones who work hard to keep it real, ones who play from their guts, ones who know what "the zone" is and can call it up at any given moment. Those are my heroes.
Sounds Like
Well...come see me play and figure it out for yourself.
Or watch this video:
"Slow And Easy" by John Ginty featuring Kim Williams and Mike Buckman, with vocals by Kathy Phillips, percussion by Dave Hedden, and video by Jared Hannah, released 10/08.
I climbed up on a piano bench 35 years ago and mimicked my father’s performance of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”, at least the first phrase or two. My dad showed me how to turn on the B-3 when I was 8; we had one in the basement and one at his studio. And I was bored a lot. Violin came next; I gave it up after a couple of years because I couldn’t play it in school, so I played the flute instead. But there were so many flutes in marching band that I thought tenor sax might be a good idea, but shit, there was that piccolo solo in that one song, so I kept the piccolo on the sideline until I needed it, because obviously I couldn’t carry it while I was playing the sax. And it got a little crazy when I had to go to the press box to sing the National Anthem at the football games, what with the instrument and all. On to college, more music, doing operas (!), concerts, more singing, Los Angeles, more concerts, the Rodney King riots, home to NJ, teaching, picking up the violin again, a band, Danko, Hudson, Helm, gigs, Perkins, Vivino, Purdie, Worrell, Jemmott, another band, Styx, Hootie, more gigs, Grace Potter, Shawn Mullins…
I am proud to share the stage currently with Kathy Phillips and Walt Bibinger (Kathy Phillips Trio); John Ginty and the boys (John Ginty Band); and Kathy Phillips, Scott McDonald, Randy Artiglere and Tom Nelson (Meetwood Flack – yes it is what it sounds like).
“Players only love you when they’re playing…”
Thanks for the add Kim Williams, I love your music btw!
If you get a chance, please take a listen to our first New Age release "Instrumental Piano Music" by Solo Piano Relaxing Music. We'd love to know what you think of it! WE have free downloads at our labels site for you to download.
Ms.Williams...your violin playing on our song sounds beautiful and ominous at the same time. An excellent combination! Many thanks to you & Happy Holidays. RIDE FREE FOREVER Ghost & the Big Sky
Rumor has it that James Taylor is coming to Berklee tomorrow to visit! His brother, Livingston teaches here....a bunch of us are going to sneak into the clinic. Wish me luck and I'll see what pics I can get.
