Dick Hyman at Arts Garage at Arts Garage

“It’s all one American music”, Dick Hyman has stated, “ largely African-American in origin, but by now as multi-cultural as America is. Published piano music and recordings from the beginning of the last century document the playing of the pioneer pianists and those who came later. I’ve always had an interest in the creative abilities of all of these people and their influence on one another. When I’m demonstrating the history of jazz piano, I start with ragtime, of course, but there are some clues in even earlier piano playing. I go through the great stride pianists (James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and the rest); the blues/boogie woogie experts Meade Lux Lewis, Pinetop Smith, Albert Ammons, etc.); I get into Earl Hines, whose piano playing was influenced by the trumpeter, Louis Armstrong; Teddy Wilson and the other swing players; through stylists such as Erroll Garner and George Shearing and the bebop-influenced Bud Powell; and I offer a deep bow to Bill Evans, who set the manner of most subsequent people and led the way into post-bop.”...

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“It’s all one American music”, Dick Hyman has stated, “ largely African-American in origin, but by now as multi-cultural as America is. Published piano music and recordings from the beginning of the last century document the playing of the pioneer pianists and those who came later. I’ve always had an interest in the creative abilities of all of these people and their influence on one another. When I’m demonstrating the history of jazz piano, I start with ragtime, of course, but there are some clues in even earlier piano playing. I go through the great stride pianists (James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and the rest); the blues/boogie woogie experts Meade Lux Lewis, Pinetop Smith, Albert Ammons, etc.); I get into Earl Hines, whose piano playing was influenced by the trumpeter, Louis Armstrong; Teddy Wilson and the other swing players; through stylists such as Erroll Garner and George Shearing and the bebop-influenced Bud Powell; and I offer a deep bow to Bill Evans, who set the manner of most subsequent people and led the way into post-bop.”

“An article in the winter issue of the magazine of my alma mater, Columbia, mentioned that at my age I am ‘heading into Eubie Blake territory’ , by which the author, Paul Hond, acknowledged Eubie’s old recording, ‘The 86 Years of Eubie Blake’ , issued when he was a year younger than I will shortly be. I find that I have things to say about aging, too, and that it’s beginning to tie into the music.”

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