Pianist Bill Mays and trumpet and flugelhorn player Marvin Stamm are longtime friends and musical partners in several projects including this duo which played this month's Art of Jazz concert at The Seattle Art Museum. Describing what they do as "a musical conversation," the duo eschews long solos in favor of frequent exchanges of melody and improvisation.
Their concert at SAM included original compositions, standards and jazz classics. Highlights from the concert will air on Jazz Northwest, on 88.5 KPLU on Sunday, October 18 at 2 p.m. Pacific.
Pianist Bill Mays grew up in California and his early work was in San Diego and Los Angeles playing club dates and recording studios. As an accompanist, he worked with Sarah Vaughan and others. Moving to New York in 1984, he plunged into that city’s jazz milieu from the Village Vanguard to Carnegie Hall. In addition to this duo, Bill and Marvin Stamm are also in the classical crossover group, The Inventions Trio. He’s recorded over a dozen albums.
Trumpet and flugelhorn player Marvin Stamm has been a professional musician since he graduated from North Texas State and joined Stan Kenton as a soloist in the early 60s and then with Woody Herman. Settling in New York, he quickly became an active jazz and studio player with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Patrick Williams, Michel Legrand, Louis Bellson and many others. Marvin Stamm also has several albums as a leader in addition to those with Bill Mays.
The Art of Jazz is a monthly series presented by Earshot Jazz and the Seattle Art Museum. The concerts are free, on the second Thursday of each month from 5:30 to 7:30. Promotional support is provided by KPLU. Next in the series will be The Billy Strayhorn Project on November 12, with vocalist Tyron Brown and a trio led by Nate Omdal with Michael Owcharuk and Jacque Willis. The program will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Duke Ellington's collaborator, Billy Strayhorn and feature his songs and compositions.
Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for 88.5 KPLU. The program airs Sundays at 2 p.m. Pacific and streams at kplu.org. The programs are archived for later listening at jazznw.org. Jazz Northwest is also currently recording some Earshot Festival concerts for later broadcast.
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