Born in 1938 in upstate New York, John began listening intently to music at age three and started playing piano at five. His perfect pitch and retentive memory for music had him playing by ear so quickly that he never really learned to read music. Although he had several years of lessons, most of his technique and harmonic sense were developed by his own ear and practice methods.
He began playing in clubs at the age of fifteen. “They used to sneak me in the back way because of drinking laws. I was tall and skinny but I always wore a coat and tie to help disguise my age. I think of those old clubs, the drinking and smoking and marvel that I survived.” In college at the University of Rochester in the early sixties he played extensively in the local jazz and casual scene. “Because of the Eastman Music School influence, you would run into some great players. In Rochester I played on dates that included Joe Romano, Roy McCurdy, Ron Carter and Steve Gadd. Jazz was certainly happening in that town.”
His early influences were Oscar Peterson and Nat King Cole, although later on he was consumed by Bill Evans. “When I heard the subtleties of his chord changes I realized there was a whole new approach that was complex, but so beautiful.” He listened to everything he played, but was careful not to imitate him. Eventually his own personal style seemed to be a function of the tunes he would play. “I still love the great standards with interesting melody lines and good chord changes.”
In 1965 he moved to San Francisco and remembers playing in the many clubs where there was jazz, like the old Ricksha in Chinatown, and Roland’s, where Chet Baker was a fixture in his later years. The St. Francis and the Drake hotels had piano trios too where John frequently played.
But the jazz scene worsened with the counter culture movement and the disco era. By 1990 he had quit playing publicly and it was not until the untimely deaths of three close piano player friends two years ago that brought back his renaissance of playing. “I realized that these three great players all had their lives cut short unexpectedly. If I had something musical to say, I’d better get on it.” With the encouragement of his producer Fritz Kasten, John began an ambitious practice routine to prepare for this CD. As he says, “the musical end product may not be perfect, but it does have feeling, and it expresses a lot of what I want to say about solo jazz piano”.
With the release of his solo CD there has been a renewed public interest in his music. Not only has there been a response to airplay on KCSM-FM, but friends and fans have frequented the venerable Washington Street Bar & Grill where John now holds forth most Wednesday nights. Next? Well, a trio album has been talked about and is in the planning stages. As John says, “Without music there is no life!”
