Jimmy Rowles - the 1900's

from The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music, page 152:

What was you early background on the piano?

I used to listen to my mother, who could play be ear, and I imitated her and started playing by ear myself [...] What changed me was listening to Guy Lombardo's pianist. In fact, I liked his whole orchestra [...]

The next step was while I was studying at Gonzaga, where I met Don Brown, a Blackfoot Indian and a real genius. He forced me to listen to Teddy Wilson, and I resisted at first because I thought I knew what I wanted. But after about four bars I said to myself, "That's it! That's the way I want to play piano!"

cite as

Len Lyons, The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music (New York, ), p. 152. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1431094102371 accessed: 28 March, 2024

Listeners

Jimmy Rowles
Pianist
1918-

Listening to

hide composers
piano music performed by Jimmy Rowles' mother, unknown piano player, Teddy Wilson

Experience Information

Date/Time the 1900's
Medium live, playback
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors

Originally submitted by Gill on Fri, 08 May 2015 15:08:22 +0100
Approved on Sat, 26 Sep 2015 13:39:11 +0100