Pianist, composer and arranger Bill Mays grew up in a musical family. That the young Mays declared his love for an instrument like the piano was not a very big surprise. And when a friend of his introduced him to jazz he was lost. In the beginning of his career Bill Mays profiled himself as an accomplished sideman. He accompanied Sarah Vaughan and Al Jarreau in the seventies. He also played with Bud Shank, Gerry Mulligan, Ron Carter and the Mel Lewis Orchestra. In the eighties and nineties he started doing his own projects, including duos with Ray Drummond and guitarist Ed Bickert. At the festival Mays plays with bassist Martin Wind, with whom he recorded many albums, and drummer Joe La Barbera.
