Pianist George Winston performing solo concert at Berea College April 22 Free concert will benefit Berea Community Food Bank.
4-13-10
Pianist George Winston returns to Berea College for a solo piano concert Thursday evening, April 22, at 8 p.m. in Phelps Stokes Auditorium.
The performance is the concluding Stephenson Memorial Concert for the 2009-2010 season and is free and open to the public. At Winston’s request, concertgoers are asked to bring a can of food, which will go to the Berea Community Food Bank.
George Winston grew up mainly in Montana, and also spent his later formative years in Mississippi and Florida. He began playing organ in 1967. In 1971 he switched to the acoustic piano after hearing recordings from the 1920s and the 1930s by the legendary stride pianists Thomas “Fats” Waller and the late Teddy Wilson. In addition to working on stride piano, he also at this time came up with this own style of melodic instrumental music on solo piano, called folk piano. In 1972, he recorded his first solo piano album, “Ballads and Blues, 1972,” for the late guitarist John Fahey’s Takoma label.
His latest solo piano release is “Love Will Come – The Music of Vince Guaraldi” (released 2/2/10), which features compositions by the late jazz pianist, including pieces from the Peanuts® TV specials.
Since 1980 Winston has released ten other solo piano albums: “Autumn” (1980), “Winter Into Spring” (1982), “December” (1982), “Summer” (1991), “Forest” (1994), “Linus & Lucy – The Music of Vince Guaraldi (1996; “Plains” (1999), which was inspired by his Eastern Montana upbringing, “Night Divides the Day – The Music of The Doors” (2002), and “Montana – A Love Story” (2004).
Winston is presently concentrating mainly on live performances, and most of the time he is touring playing solo piano concerts, solo guitar concerts, solo harmonica concerts, and solo piano dances. He also is studying the playing of the great New Orleans pianists Henry Butler, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and Jon Cleary, and he is also working on interpreting pieces on solo piano by his favorite composers, including Vince Guaraldi, Professor Longhair, the Doors, Frank Zappa, Randy Newman, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Laura Nyro, Al Kooper, Dr. John, Henry Butler, James Booker, Jon Cleary, Ralph Towner, Arthur Lee, Milt Jackson, John Hartford, Oliver Schroer, Taj Mahal, Philip Aaberg, and others, to play at concerts, and at his solo piano dances. He continues working on solo guitar and is recording the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key guitar for an extensive series of albums for Dancing Cat Records (www.dancingcat.com) and is recording his main inspirations for his harmonica playing, Sam Hinton, Rick Epping, and Curt Bouterse.
In addition to making beautiful music, Winston frequently has for years used his recordings and concerts in the service of good causes. He has released two benefit albums in recent years: In 2001, he released “Remembrance – A Memorial Benefit,” a six song CD of piano, guitar and harmonica solos, to benefit those affected by 9/11. Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions – A Hurricane Relief Benefit was released in 2006. He has also worked with the late George Levenson of Informed Democracy (www.informeddemocracy.com) on three projects: a solo guitar soundtrack for “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes,” and soundtracks of piano, guitar and, harmonica solos for “Pumpkin Circle,” and “Bread Comes to Life.”
Winston also supports local food charities through all of his concert performances – about 100 each year. Volunteers with the Berea Community Food Bank will be collecting canned goods and personal items before and after the concert and during the intermission. CDs, cassette tapes, videos and posters donated by Winston also will be for sale at the concert, with all proceeds going to the Food Bank.
In 2004, Winston performed a solo concert at Berea College on the Hawaiian slack key guitar.
CONTACT:
Julie Sowell
News and Information Manager
(859)985-3028
