arts & life
mus i c
Easy To Love
Suzanne Chessler | Contributing Writer
Pianist Dick Hyman
has played with
Charlie Parker and
Dizzy Gillespie
(together), recorded
close to 1,000 albums
— and is headed to
Kalamazoo.
A
funny thing happened
on the way to reporting
about pianist-arranger-
composer Dick Hyman.
Simply by chance, the scope of
his musical achievements came to
light just before the article assign-
ment was even an idea.
It all started with some TV
channel surfing that landed on
a Woody Allen film, Stardust
Memories. The main attraction
for this viewer became the back-
ground piano playing, including
renditions of Cole Porter’s “Just
One of Those Things” and “Easy
to Love.”
Ending credits identified
Hyman as arranging and perform-
ing those songs and also listed
the jazz legend as writer, arranger
and performer of “Hebrew School
Rag,” which set the mood for a
comic scene.
Web surfing to hear more
Hyman music and learn about
the pianist resulted in finding
that he would be the opening
night entertainment at the 2016
Gilmore International Keyboard
Festival in Kalamazoo, where top
musicians bring their talents every
other year.
Hyman, who has been spot-
lighted at the festival in previous
seasons, soon agreed to a request-
ed phone conversation about his
role at the Gilmore and his varied
musical experiences, which have
included more than 100 albums
under his own name (close to
1,000 altogether), a range of TV
shows and a group of Woody
Allen movies, including Zelig and
Radio Days (he also wrote the
score for the film Moonstruck).
“There will be a lot of distin-
guished performances at the
Gilmore,” says Hyman, 89, regard-
ed as one of jazz’s most spellbind-
ing virtuosos. He is still very
active professionally with a host
of other Michigan bookings to his
credit and happy remembrances
of work with the late Detroit-bred
classical pianist Ruth Meckler
Laredo.
“I haven’t put together the exact
repertoire that I will be playing,
but among other things I do these
days are standard Broadway, film
and pop songs. I’ve gotten more
and more into variations on clas-
sical themes, such as works by
Chopin, and I do a certain amount
of ragtime.
“I usually explain the pieces —
where they come from and some-
thing about the composers.”
From April 26-May 14, Gilmore
audiences will hear more than 50
pianists and 200 artists in nearly
100 concerts and events, which
include classical, jazz and theater
performances as well as master
classes. Among other Jewish
instrumentalists will be Kirill
Gerstein (a Gilmore Artist Award
recipient), Yefim Bronfman,
Richard Goode and Jeffrey
Kahane.
Hyman, speaking from a
Florida home studio serving as
his base for the past 20 years,
describes himself as a Yamaha art-
ist who surrounds himself with a
grand piano, electronic keyboards,
shelves of recordings available
for reference and walls filled with
entertainment posters.
Nearby is the studio of his wife,
sculptor Julia Hyman, who works
in wood and stone and is getting
ready for a December exhibit.
“I travel a fair amount and do
quite a number of engagements in
Florida,” Hyman explains. “I have
been writing a clarinet concerto
for a friend, Ken Peplowski.
“Ken’s a colleague I’ve played
with a great deal over the past few
years. There’s an optional piano
part so I can join him, and we’re
going to premiere this at the Siletz
Bay Music Festival in Oregon at
the end of June.
“I take all the time I can to fin-
ish whatever project I’m on and
practice for the next appearance.
I keep up my efforts to maintain
technique, and the Peplowski
piece is taking a couple of hours
every day.”
While immersed in artistry, the
pianist makes time for participa-
tion in the Jewish Congregation
The Hyman influence: In addition
to recording the first Moog-
based Billboard Top 40 hit single
(“The Minotaur”), Hyman’s work
and reputation made their way
into the music of two more
contemporary innovators: In
1994, the cultural-reference-
laden Beastie Boys (comprised
of Jewish musicians Adam
Horovitz, Michael Diamond
and Adam Yauch), released Ill
Communication, their second
No. 1 album on the U.S. Billboard
chart. The fourth single from the
album was “Root Down,” on which
the Boys sang the lyrics “electric
like Dick Hyman.” Two years
later, Beck released his Grammy-
winning album Odelay. On it,
Hyman’s song “The Moog and Me”
(from his album Moog: The Electric
Eclectics of Dick Hyman) is heavily
sampled and provides the song’s
funky whistling lead.
details
40 April 21 • 2016
The Gilmore International Piano Festival runs April 26-May 14 in Kalamazoo. Most individual events are $13-$38. Opening
night begins at 6 p.m. with dinner at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and moves to a performance by Dick Hyman at the
Parish Theatre ($155). For information on tickets and lodging, call (269) 359-7311 or visit thegilmore.org.