Bill Bell 1936-2017

BILL BELL 1936-2017

Bill Bell, a prominent Bay Area pianist, conductor, and educator passed away at age 80 surrounded by family and friends at his East Bay home on Saturday, March 18th. The cause was heart failure. Bell was a stylish jazz pianist and choirmaster who combined performance and teaching careers.

Tall, kindly, and reserved, Bell’s playing, teaching, and warm personality earned him many admirers. Jazz broadcaster, lecturer, and musician Sonny Buxton said, “Bill was the epitome of class and also a very good piano player. He knew the instrument. He could make it swing; make you cry; make you jump for joy.”

William James Bell was born on July 12, 1936 in East Moline, Illinois and raised there in a musical family. He began classical piano lessons at an early age and performed at school and church functions. He began playing jazz as a teenager inspired by Art Tatum, Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson, and George Shearing. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Augustana College in Illinois, he earned a master’s degree at the University of Iowa.

A swinging and soulful jazz pianist, Bell’s playing was infused with the stylings of Nat “King” Cole, Ahmad Jamal and Herbie Hancock. He composed many songs deeply rooted in the jazz tradition but also enjoyed incorporating gospel and rhythm and blues elements into his music, as evidenced by his 1995 CD “The Jazz Professor.” He fronted his own jazz groups and also appeared with prominent Bay Area-based musicians, including John Handy, Joe Henderson, Buddy Montgomery and Eddie Marshall. He also performed with vocalists Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls, and Joe Wiliams, and his credits include work with a long list of internationally-known jazz artists including Milt Jackson, Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Burrell, Louis Bellson and Art Farmer. He toured with Benny Carter and Carmen McRae.

Bell’s teaching career began with a three-year stint as a high school band director in Iowa. In 1963 he came to the Bay Area as a music educator in the Oakland Public Schools and later taught at College of Alameda, serving as head of its music department for some thirty years. He served as Director of the University of California Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program where he also taught jazz and directed the choir. Bell was also very active at Stanford University as a teacher, lecturer and director of the Stanford Jazz Band (1987-91).

“He really transformed the Jazz Band,” said Jim Nadel, founder and artistic director of the Stanford Jazz Program. “It was student run before Bill came, and I remember his first rehearsal well. He spent fifteen minutes just tuning up, and we all knew the bar had been raised.” He also worked with Stanford in the presentation of several Duke Ellington projects, playing Ellington’s piano parts as well as conducting. Duke Ellington was a Bill Bell mainstay, and in 1967 he conducted the choral music that was part of the presentation of Ellington’s “Sacred Concert” performed at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral.

Dr. Rodney Reed and Bell were friends for over 50 years, dating from their days as Oakland public school junior high teachers. Reed, who became a Berkeley professor and later Dean of Education at Penn State, said “He inspired and encouraged not only through his tremendous musical gifts, but also through the strength of his character. He felt very strongly about the well-being of others and saw music as uplifting. He saw potential in students where others did not and inspired his students to be the very best they could be.”

His students included many musicians who have reached national prominence including Benny Green, Joshua Redman, Rodney Franklin, Raphael Saadiq, Daryl Coley, Michael Wolfe, Ledisi, John Faddis, Larry Grenadier, Ambrose Akinmusire and Will Kennedy. Bell and family worshiped at Downs Memorial Church in Oakland, where he conducted the church choir for some forty years. His busy choral career also included twenty years as director of the 48-voice Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus, an ensemble dedicated to preservation of the African-American spiritual tradition. Assistant Director of the choir, Sandra Igelhardt said, “He was a no-nonsense person when it came to the music. It had to be sung with the style and the interpretation of its originator.”

He is survived by his wife, Dr. Gale Bell, a retired psychologist, daughter Debbie (and her children Nola and Jaelen Cole) and son Thomas, an attorney. Another son, David, a Harvard graduate, died of heart failure in 1991.

MEDIA CONTACT: David Berson 510-504-0013

ROUGH NOTES

Others: Jim Nadel, who initiated the Stanford jazz workshop in 1970,

Stanford ? 650-723-2300 Stanford Jazz Workshop 650-736-0324 Ryan [email protected] 718-230-7782

Buxton, also a contributor to the Stanford program, commented, “As with all great teachers, you didn't know you were being chastised and corrected. You were led to believe you understood all along, and the professor was merely offering a guiding hand.”

Quote from choir person (Who?)Sandra Igelhardt assistant director (510) 303-3481 (expecting call from Mr. Berson)

Should we mention Downs Memorial United Methodist Church? Dr. Rodney Reed Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley, Dean and Professor, College of education Pennsylvania State University, telephone 510-339-8496 (expecting call from Mr. Berson) * Olly Wilson suffering w memory problems]]

Sonny Buxton wrote

About Bill: Among the elite musicians, and musician/teachers, Bill Bell was the leader of the class; in fact, he was the epitome of class. However, the gentlemanly demeanor could be deceiving; he didn't suffer fools, or anyone who did not care to look a little closer at the history of Black music - its richness - its contribution to the Great American Songbook. Yet, as with all great teachers, you didn't know you were being chastised and corrected. You were led to believe you understood all along, and the professor merely offered a guiding hand. I will miss the "Jazz Professor."By the way, Bill was a very good piano player. He knew the instrument. he could swing; make you cry; make you jump for joy. He was a man, father and husband. Bill Bell was also committed to making it better, and he did.

Bill Bell -- The Jazz Professor

By Robert Tate and Nina Hodgson

Most musicians brag about who they've played with; pianist Bill Bell prides himself on his students. He's taught thousands in a career spanning twenty-five years as chairman of the music department at the College of Alameda. His method is to inspire students with a love for the music that will keep them going through all the years it takes to learn their trade. "With talented people," he says, "if you can get them inspired enough to love something, they will take it the rest of the way.

"The discipline that one needs to acquire for Jazz is the same discipline that one should try to acquire as a classically oriented musician. I say that because you really need to know the instrument, whatever it is that you play. You need to be able to play the classical repertoire as well as the Jazz...The performance level has been pushed to such a peak that you really have to have technical control of your instrument. That's why I tell my students that as a pianist you've got to play the Bach and the Chopin and the Beethoven and do it well so that you can transfer all the technical aspects of that kind of playing into Jazz. Because who are the players? Herbie Hancock, who played with the Chicago Symphony. Bill Evans, who was a great concert pianist. Oscar Peterson, You name 'em... You have to be able to play the piano at that level. You can't just know a bunch of chords and fake it."

If this sounds like hard advise, consider some of Bill's students who have gone on to success in music. Michael Wolff until recently was the music director of the Arsenio Hall Show. Rodney Franklin is a well-known recording artist who recently completed a tour with Stevie Wonder. William Kennedy handles the drumming for the Yellowjackets. The list goes on.

These and more of Bill's students appear on his new CD, The Jazz Professor, schedules for release on June 18 (1995). A record release party at Kimball's Carnival in Emeryville will mark the occasion. While the list of special guests hasn't been nailed down as of this writing, you can bet that many of Bill's students will be there to pay tribute to their mentor.

Drummer, Louie Bellson, Mrs. Bell and Bill Bell (photo by Jimmie Jones)

It's rare to find an academic who is also an accomplished practicing Jazz musician. Bill has impeccable credentials in both departments, which makes him a unique personage on the Bay Area music scene. He has toured with Benny Carter and Carmen McRae, appeared on recordings with Nancy Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, and many other Jazz greats. He composes and arranges for big bands and choirs as well as smaller groups and was the choir director for one of Duke Ellington's sacred concerts at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 1967. Duke of course heard Bill accompanying the choir on piano during rehearsals, and before the performance he told him, "Go ahead and play, man." So Bill played with Johnny Hodges, Sam Woodyard, Cootie Williams, and the whole immortal Duke Ellington Orchestra.

As a Jazz educator, Bill has been head of the music department at the College of Alameda since it opened in 1970. In fact, he says, "I am the music department here. There used to be three of us, but two of the guys died, and they never did replace them." He also teaches a course in Jazz improvisation at the University of California at Berkeley and from 1987 to 1991 led the Jazz band and small Jazz ensembles at Stanford University.

Many of his students come from the University of California's Young Musicians Program. "We go to several junior high and high schools in the East Bay and ask the music teachers to identify the most talented youngsters who may have some problems getting private lessons or whatever. And we audition those youngsters and come up with at least forty-five to them. We have slots for forty-five youngsters, all of which fall into several categories. There's string players. There's singers. There's instrumentalists, and we form different ensembles out of those groups. Vocal ensembles, brass trios, and brass quartets. String quartets, string ensembles, et cetera. And, of course, there's a Jazz ensemble that I'm responsible for. The biggest part of our program is in the summertime. It's a seven-week program, but it extends throughout the year because the kids get private lessons. It's a very, very fine program, really a model, where everybody in the program, whether they're pianists or not, has to take piano and play in an ensemble or participate in an ensemble."

In addition to his teaching, Bill also directs a choir at the Downs Memorial Methodist Church in north Oakland. Each year the choir performs a Christmas concert at the Calvin Simmons Theater. Bill frets that the choir recently lost all its male voices. "I'm really upset about that. You can't do choral singing without male voices. I don't know quite what to do about that, other than turn it into a women's chorus."

Bill describes his new album as a tribute to a number of people who have inspired him. There are selections dedicated to Duke Ellington, Count Basie, his father, and his son, who died tragically in 1991. The tunes are widely different in style, with influences ranging all the way from African to twelve-tone. "There's a little bit of everything there 'cause I wrote the pieces to reflect impressions of people that I chose to represent in a musical form. And, of course, you can't really put everyone in one format."

Duke Ellington used to say that people he especially admired were "beyond category." Bill Bell understands that respect for people means treating them as individuals beyond category. As a vital part of the musical life of the Bay Area, Bill is himself, in the best Ellington sense, beyond category. by Robert Tate and Nina Hodgson

From FACEBOOK

Bill Bell, aka “The Jazz Professor”, grew up in the small Midwestern town of East Moline, Illinois located west of Chicago on the banks of the Mississippi river. Historic jazz greats Bix Biederbeck and Louie Belson hail from the same Quad City area. He was born to a highly musical family in that his uncle played trumpet with the Cab Calloway band, his first cousin and clarinet/saxophonist was his high school band director, and his mother played the piano.

It was detected early on that “Lil Bill” as he was affectionately called, had the ability to play the piano by ear at the age of five. It was then decided that formal training should begin a six years old. Piano lessons led to accompanying both church and school youth activities. After studying classical piano for a number of years, he began studying jazz and popular piano at the age of eleven.

The discovery of jazz at age thirteen was monumental. It was the beginning of a musical journey that has culminated into his present career. Bill’s early influences were Errol Garner, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. He began playing the trombone during his sophomore year in high school. However, his talent as a pianist caught the attention of his high school band director who suggested that he begin studying at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. This quality musical experience proved to be invaluable in making the transition from high school to college training. Bill graduated from Augustana with a bachelors degree in music education and then went on to receive the masters degree in music from the University of Iowa.

After teaching three years as a high school band director in Traer, Iowa, Bill and family moved to the San Francisco bay area in 1963. He taught junior high band and orchestra for the Oakland public schools from 1963 to 1969. At the same time he maintained a busy performance schedule working with his own trio, the Buddy Montgomery quartet, recording with Louie Bellson, and directing a chorus for Duke Ellington’s “Sacred Concert”.

Taking a leave of absence from teaching, he traveled for a year in 1968-1969 with major jazz singing artist Carmen McCrae as musical director and pianist. After a short stint as rehearsal pianist for the Motown group “The Supremes” winter of 1970, Bill returned home and began teaching at the College of Alameda in 1970. He was chairman of the music department the last 20 years of his tenure. Hundreds of his students occupy prominent positions in both jazz and pop fields. Most notable are trumpeter John Faddis, pianist Benny Green, drummer Will Kennedy, and pianist Michael Wolfe.

In addition to teaching responsibilities at the College of Alameda, Bill concurrently directed the Stanford Univ. jazz band from 1987 to 1991. There he raised the performance level of the Stanford jazz band and organized an outstanding jazz quartet.

Once back in the bay area, he became one of the most sought after jazz pianist performer, vocal accompanist, arranger, and clinician. After recording “The Nifty Cat Strikes West” in 1967 with a Count Basie group which included Roy Eldridge, Louie Bellson and Eric Dixon, Bill recorded his first album “Basically Bill Bell” in 1971. This project featured many of his compositions including “The Jarvis Gann Blues” and “Mr Loco”. 1971 marked the beginning of symphonic commissioned works as well: “Right On” for the San Francisco symphony, “East Meets West” for the Oakland youth symphony.

“The Jazz Professor” by line became the title for his first CD project completed in 1995. This project featured original compositions written for people who were major influences on his life. Many of his most talented former students were featured on this project. “Just Swing Baby” followed in 2001 with rhythm section Jeff Chambers bass, Brad Buethe guitar, and Eddie Marshall drums being augmented by former student and saxophonist David Ellis. The most recent CD “The Feeling of Jazz” was released July, 2009. This project attempts to reestablish the basic connection between jazz and the blues.

In addition to legendary jazz status, Bill Bell is a noted choral arranger and director. He developed a love for choral music while studying with master choral teacher Henry Veld at Augustana College. Bill is the director of the fifty voice Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus. The mission of the chorus is to promote and preserve the African American Spiritual and all related musical forms. The chorus performs two major concerts a year. The chorus was founded in 2000 and has recorded two CD’s of African American Spirituals which are available on this web site.

The “Jazz Connection Trio” remains his main performance medium. Bassist Jeff Chambers and drummer Eddie Marshall are both world renown and are major contributors to the jazz idiom. The “Trio” performs regularly at various Bay Area venues and festivals and is the driving force behind Bill’s most recent recordings “Just Swing Baby” 2005, and “The Feeling of Jazz” 2009.