Just as many kids did, George Winston took a few piano lessons and quit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was about 6 and not interested,\u201d Winston, now 60, said in a phone interview April 6 on the road to his concert in Des Moines, Iowa. \u201cI found middle C and that was about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not until Winston was 18 and listened to The Doors, an American rock band popular in the 1960s, did he return to playing the piano, or in his case, the organ.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat inspired me to play organ in a band,\u201d Winston said.<\/p>\n
Winston, who has recorded 11 solo piano albums since 1980 that have gone gold, platinum or multi-platinum, plays 7:30 p.m. April 22 at the Kentwood High School Performing Arts Center, 25800 164th Ave. S.E., in Covington. The concert is part of the annual Kent Spotlight Series.<\/p>\n
The artist now lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., and performs anywhere from 110 to 120 concerts per year.<\/p>\n
After taking up the organ, Winston switched five years later to solo piano. He then became inspired by New Orleans piano players such as Dr. John, Henry Butler, James Booker, Professor Longhair and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was just how I wanted to play the piano,\u201d said Winston, who grew up in Montana and Mississippi. \u201cI love their playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winston\u2019s compositions are inspired by North American folk traditions, rhythm and blues and nature. His concerts feature a variety of styles, including melodic folk piano, stride piano and Vince Guaraldi\u2019s pieces written for the Peanuts television shows.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople watching Peanuts do not know who wrote the music,\u201d Winston said. \u201cBut I look at the music.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1996, Winston released the album \u201cLinus and Lucy, the Music of Vince Guaraldi.\u201d Most of the songs on the album are from the theme music Guaraldi wrote for the Peanuts television specials.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love his songs,\u201d said Winston. \u201cI play them differently. He was a jazz player and I\u2019m rhythm and blues. But I\u2019ve always loved his Peanuts and non-Peanuts songs. He was a great composer and pianist.\u201d<\/p>\n
In September, Winston plans to release \u201cLove Will Come, the Music of Vince Guaraldi, Volume 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought there would be a volume 2,\u201d Winston said.<\/p>\n
Fans of Winston can expect to hear at least a couple of Guaraldi\u2019s songs at the concert.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always do something of Vince\u2019s at every show,\u201d said Winston. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I would do without him. He\u2019s part of the culture. And his music is better known than his name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winston also plays the guitar and harmonica. He said his concert might include a couple of guitar pieces and maybe one song with the harmonica.<\/p>\n
Even though Winston turned 60 this year, he has no plans to cut back on his tour dates. He will play for three weeks this summer in Korea and later this year plays all over the United States from Texas to Minnesota to New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play better than I used to,\u201d Winston said. \u201cWhen I was in my 30s, I always wanted to be in my 60s and to play better than I used to. I still can\u2019t play everything I want, but I knew it would take at least that long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winston quit playing the piano as a kid. But there hasn\u2019t been any quit in him since he returned to the keyboards at age 18 and he strives to continue improving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard climb,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like climbing Mount Everest. I\u2019m halfway up. All deep endeavors, whether you\u2019re a scientist or a piano player or whatever, takes a lot of hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If you go<\/p>\n
\u2022 What: George Winston concert<\/p>\n
\u2022 When: 7:30 p.m. April 22<\/p>\n
\u2022 Where: Kentwood Performing Arts Center, 25800 164th Ave. S.E., Covington<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cost: $26 for adults, $24 for senior citizens, $20 for students<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tickets: www.kentarts.com or 253-856-5051<\/p>\n
\u2022 Note: Concertgoers are asked to bring a donation of non-perishable canned food to the show, part of a food drive Winston organizes at all of his concerts. Donations will be given to Seattle-based Food Lifeline for distribution in Western Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just as many kids did, George Winston took a few piano lessons and quit. \u201cI was about 6 and not interested,\u201d Winston, now 60, said in a phone interview April 6 on the road to his concert in Des Moines, Iowa. \u201cI found middle C and that was about it.\u201d Not until Winston was 18 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":14833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-14832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14832"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=14832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}