He is a pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer
born William Allen Mays in Sacramento, Calfornia, into a musical family
where his father was a minister, but also an amateur multi-instrumentalist
who would play while his mother sang.When he was very young he learned keyboards by playing on the spinet
piano at home and then in junior high school he took up playing the trumpet
and horn.He started to take
notice of jazz music when he was sixteen years old after going to see Earl
Hines in concert and became a professional musician in the U.S. Navy the
following year when he studied at the Naval School of Music in Washington
and worked as a bandsman.He
left service after four years and became a member of the Bill Green
Ensemble in San Diego, California.Around the same time he was a co-leader of the quartet Road Work
Ahead and it was with this ensemble that he began composing music for them
to perform at their various gigs.In 1969 he decided to settle in Los Angeles and carry on his piano
studies as well as performing with many jazz artists at various gigs.He became a long serving member of
the Bobby Shew Quintet and was the leader of a trio and a band that
included acclaimed musicians such as Abraham Laboriel and Ernie Watts.He became proficient in all types
of keyboards besides the piano, such as the celeste, harpsichord, organ and
synthesiser, and began working in television as a rehearsal pianist and
became acquainted with several music contractors.This led to him performing in the Hollywood studios and
working with several film composers and outside of his work for the big and
small screen, he was still being regularly called upon to work with many
singers.In 1984 he relocated
to New York City and carried on his work as a session musician, sideman, composer,
arranger and leader of his own bands and small ensembles.Working with many artists through
the course of his career as a musician or composer/arranger his work has featured
with Leonard Cohen, the Woody Herman Orchestra, Freddie Hubbard, Al Jarreau,
The Manhattan Transfer, Marlena Shaw, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, Turtle
Creek Chorale, Sarah Vaughan, Dionne Warwick, Andy Williams and Frank Zappa
amongst others.His album output is fairly
extensive with releases that include his own Going Home, Live at Jazz
Standard, Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Mays in Manhattan and Summer
Sketches as well as Corazon by Percy Faith, Fantasy with The
Inventions Trio, Even Now by Barry Manilow and Beyond the Red
Door with Bud Shank, Live at the 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival by
Sarah Vaughan and the soundtracks/scores of Eds Next Move, The Enforcer,Fur, The Hoax, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
and The Spanish Prisoner.As
a composer his works include suites for piano and flute, suites for piano
and contrabass, solo piano pieces, saxophone quartets, arrangements and pieces
for symphony orchestras and big bands, a jazz woodwind arrangement of The
Nutcracker suite by Tchaikovsky and incidental music for the movie Hamlet.
Recognised for his contribution
to music he has received several grants and been given many honours and
awards.
