Bill has
been active in popular music, traditional jazz and ragtime since
1950, performing vintage folk, classic and popular rags from the
original ragtime era, as well as many jazz and popular music standards
from the teens, ’20s and ’30s. With various bands
he has played for numerous dances and concerts over the years,
and since retiring from teaching junior high school in 1981 he
has been the pianist in such groups as the Dixie Rhythm Ramblers,
the Misbehavin’ Jazz Band, the New Orleans Wanderers, and
the New Orleanians. As a noted ragtimer, he was one of the founders
in 1967 of the Maple Leaf Club, devoted to the preservation of
ragtime music.
Bill has appeared in several “pianoramas” at both
the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and the San Diego Jazz Festival, as
well as in solo concerts at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo.
He is equally devoted to the early ragtime of Scott Joplin and
the wonderful popular songs of such writers as George Gershwin,
Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Walter Donaldson, and Jerome Kern.
He has three piano LPs to his credit, and has also recorded with
various bands. He and Carl Sonny Leyland have released a CD of
piano duets called “Dr. Jazz at Old Town Music Hall.”
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