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This is the official BILL KEIS Website
Bill Keis Music Los Angeles, CA moved to Arizona 12/28/2020
BILL KEIS – pianist, keyboardist, composer, producer, musical director, teacher and author.
Bill has performed and/or recorded with; The Bill Keis Group, the CHICO Band, The Village Callers, Stanley Clarke, Darlene Love, Chaka Khan, The Pointer Sisters, Mark Isham, Ronnie Spector, Tony Lindsay, Michael Duff, Stacy Francis, Lilly Hayden, Billy Sheehan, MC Lyte, Alexander Markov, Chick Corea, Steve Oliver, Edgar Winter, David Campbell, Raven Kane, Tony Newton, Taylor Dayne, Donny Most, Judy Norton, Izzy Chait and many others.
One of Bill’s compositions was in the 2015 movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron
As a private teacher, Bill has taught over 40,000 lessons to approx. 2000 students.
Notable Students
Beck, an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
David Campbell, Canadian-American arranger, composer, and conductor
Placido Domingo Jr., Singer, songwriter. composer, lyricist at BMG Chrysalis
Dean Pitchford, American songwriter, screenwriter, director, actor, novelist
D.Gareth Wootton, MD, television consultant
Frank Marsico, pro vibraphonist
Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
Kate Ceberano, Australian singer, songwriter, pianist, actress
Liana Corea, Chick’s daughter
Mark Koval, composer
Paul Antonelli, American composer, musician, music supervisor
Paul Miller, American television director
Raven Kane aka Pauline Frechette, musician, composer, performer
The REUNION Album – submitted to the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards 31 Jan 2021
REUNION – new eclectic jazz album released Oct. 15, 2019
Bill Keis – piano, keyboards & Ron Ruvio – trumpet, flugelhorn, coronet
Tom Garling – trombone, Adam Cohen – el & ac bass, Steve Billman – el bass, Tom Walsh – drums, Jay Setar – drums, Mitch Talevi – guitars
available on iTunes, Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, etc.
A jazz masterpiece…full of surprises–*****
by MattLsMusic — Oct 20, 2019
The Reunion album surprises the listener with spectacular horn and keyboard solos as well as a sophisticated mix of structure and improv. The sonic palette draws from traditional jazz, with selections featuring progressive and Zawinalesque fusion sounds.
The first listen stole my attention for the entire album, while subsequent passes continued to delight with additional nuance being discovered. The “Adirondacks” dual improvisation piece shows Bill Keis and Ron Ruvio stretching way beyond the limits normally imposed by music notation and structure, delivering an amazingly soulful, thought provoking rendition, and the genius of “Spring Leaves” gives a lovely and playful twist to the “Autumn” side of the standard.
Too many wonderful moments in this masterpiece to list in an iTunes review, but be assured that this album is the best of the best from two world class recording and session musicians.
While clean and precise, it manages to impart the grit, edge and spontaneity required in a timeless work comparable to Light as a Feather. Hope you enjoy this stunning creation as much as I did.
Note: Zawinalesque is a reference to Josef Erich “Joe” Zawinul (7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007). He was an Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, a musical genre that combined jazz with rock. He co-founded the groups Weather Report and The Zawinul Syndicate. He pioneered the use of electric piano and synthesizer, and was named “Best Electric Keyboardist” twenty-eight times by the readers of Down Beat magazine.
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Bill Keis/Ron Ruvio Reunion
review by Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian – Nov 17, 2019
Keyboardist Bill Keis and trumpeter Ron Ruvio have known each other a long time. They actually first met in kindergarten, played music together in high school and then, after having their own successful music careers, got back together at their 40th high school reunion. That event made them decide to make music together again.
Reunion is the result. The versatile Keis and the virtuosic Ruvio co-wrote three pieces and also performed five by Keis, one from Ruvio, a pair by guitarist Mitch Talevi, and performed two standards.
They cover a variety of styles and utilize different instrumentations. Keis (on piano, keyboards and keyboard bass) and Ruvio (switching between trumpet, flugelhorn and cornet) perform duets on three numbers, play trios with either drums or guitar on one song apiece, have four quartet numbers with bass and drums, two with trombone and drums, and a quartet piece with trombone, bass and drums.
The changing personnel (which includes trombonist Tom Garling, either Adam Cohen or Steve Billman on bass, and Tom Walsh (a founding member of Spyro Gyra) or Jay Setar on drums with one guest appearance by guitarist Talevi) plus the wide range of music gives Reunion plenty of variety and keeps one guessing.
The opening “Whadd?” with Keis’ electric piano sounding a little like Chick Corea, differs greatly from the Latinish “Cantamar,” the melodic and dramatic duet on “The Adirondacks An Improvisation,” and the catchy and funky “Jury Duty.”
“Spring Leaves,” taken as an acoustic swinger by the quartet, is a new theme over the chords of “Autumn Leaves.” “Within The Legal Limit” is a jazz waltz with a strong melody that has Ruvio displaying a nice fat tone on his trumpet.
After the quietly expressive ballad “Grey Skies,” the co-leaders and drummer Setar romp through an uptempo “Oleo.”
Keis’ “Sunbird” introduces an attractive light melody before the piece becomes a straight ahead cooker with a particularly fluent piano solo from its composer.
Talevi’s minor-toned “The Blues” inspires some excellent solos.
“Rolling An Improvisation” has strong interplay between the two leaders while taking the music to some unexpected places.
Freddie Hubbard’s “Byrdlike” is taken for a brief but heated ride before the set concludes with the uplifting melody of “Reminiscence.”
There are plenty of subtle surprises heard throughout Reunion with Bill Keis and Ron Ruvio consistently inspiring each other to make every note count.
It makes for an enjoyable set of modern jazz, one that is easily recommended.
BILL KEIS MUSIC INSTRUCTION BOOKS
BILL KEIS CD’s and iBooks on iTunes
BILL KEIS PERFORMANCE CALENDAR
BILL KEIS ON YOUTUBE
