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| Jeff Gill enjoying vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii |
I was born in California the same year that Disneyland opened
for business - but I imagine to somewhat less fanfare. As a young child I remember enjoying the music played in cartoons on
Saturday mornings. THAT is some amazing music! To this day it still surprises me when I hear that awesome jazz
piano being played on Mr. Rogers' neighborhood!
At the
tender age of 8 years old I begged my Mom to let me take piano lessons. The deal was, she said I could have the lessons
if I was willing to go across the street every day and practice at the neighbors' house. No problem! I started taking
classical piano lessons from a really nice little old lady named Mrs. Parmenter and began preparing for my very first
recital - where I eventually brought the house down (actually an elementary school cafeteria) with a stirring rendition
of a piece titled "Dangerous Journey"!
In 1964
the Beatles hit America and like a million other kids my age I instantly wanted to play in a band and become a
rock star. Fortunately, I lived near an incredible musician named Larry Murphy who taught music lessons at Webb's Music Center in downtown Antioch. Mr. Murphy taught my friends and I how to play Rock-n-Roll and for about the next
ten years I played drums and piano in various bands, for every kind of low-budget event you can think of. We played a pizza
parlor "where they served fun and also pizza", school dances, house parties, etc. - you name it we played it! The
pay was minimal to say the least, but that didn't matter because we got to play together and we learned how to perform
and please an audience.
During these years I also played
percussion in school band. It's funny but when I think back to my school days in junior high, I am still secretly
proud of the fact that as an 8th grader I was chosen "Percussion Section Leader" over all of the arrogant
9th graders. The following year as a freshman myself, I was chosen as the "Best Overall Musician" for the school
- which was the first time (and maybe only time) a drummer had received that top honor in East County. Later on as a senior
in high school I was again honored to receive the "Most Dedicated Musician" award.
After
graduating high school I attended Los Medanos College where I studied under John Maltester and played drums (and
occasionally piano) in the award-winning LMC jazz band. After graduating from LMC I headed south to California State University
Northridge (CSUN), which at the time was considered the top college music program in the state of California. After an intense
series of "jury" auditions I was humbled to be chosen over perhaps 50 other top college musicians as the "Principal
Percussionist " for the University Wind Ensemble. In 1978 I finished all classes necessary for a BA degree in music -
and will get that diploma just as soon as I play my 30 minute senior recital#$%^&!
In
1978 after college and marriage to the petite and still beautiful Anne Maureen Freni, I began playing music professionally.
I must say over the years I have been blessed to play with some truly great musicians including: Curtis Ohlson (Ray Charles,
Buddy Rich), Brett Bloomfield (Doobie Brothers, Starship), Larry Murphy (Mel Tillis, Dolly Parton), Mark Russo (Yellow Jackets,
Doobie Brothers, etc.), Mick Mestek (Tower Of Power), etc. In addition to playing with these many excellent musicians it has
also been my distinct pleasure to play at many exceptional Bay Area venues including: The Dean Lesher Performing Arts Center
in Walnut Creek, The Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, Tilden Park in Berkeley, The Grand Island Mansion on the Delta, The
Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco, The Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, Disneyland in Southern California, etc., etc.
These days I am loving spending my musical time playing
jazz piano. I specialize in providing elegant background music for fine dinning and other special occasions. In addition
to performing by myself as a solo pianist, I also enjoy playing in several different band configurations including
a standard jazz trio with guys like Vinnie Angelo on Drums and Ramiro Amador on bass,. I also very much enjoy playing
in a Keyboard/Sax Duo format where I'm most often paired with either saxophonist Malcolm Hunter or saxophonist Greg Albright. Both
of these guys can really blow and are a pleasure to play with.
To be continued...
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