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.