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08 Oct 11 - 06:00 PM (#3235939) Subject: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams, 87 From: Cool Beans Best known for "Autumn Leaves." On TV once I saw him play one song with his left hand, another with his right hand an whistle a third, "Beautiful Ohio." Here's an obit.: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/arts/music/roger-williams-pianist-known-for-sentimental-songs-dies-at-87.html?_r=1&hpw |
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08 Oct 11 - 07:52 PM (#3235972) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: Rapparee He was scheduled to do his annual concert here in Pocatello (home of Idaho State University), but cancelled due to ill health. A fine piano player and musician! |
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08 Oct 11 - 08:09 PM (#3235981) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: GUEST,josepp My mother LOVED him and his music is some of the earliest I can recall. I remember playing his theme to "Exodus" over and over as a boy. RIP. |
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08 Oct 11 - 08:18 PM (#3235984) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: pdq Odd that Eisenhower's years gave us Rock'n'Roll and Kennedy's legacy is Roger Williams, Farrante & Teisher and Andy Williams. |
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08 Oct 11 - 08:21 PM (#3235985) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: GUEST,Josepp The Blue Caps even took their name from Eisenhower's golf attire. |
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08 Oct 11 - 08:34 PM (#3235989) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: Greg B The king of the arpeggio is gone. |
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08 Oct 11 - 10:26 PM (#3236010) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: Mark Ross He lived around the corner from me in Queens, NY when I was a kid, Seemed like a nice guy, but I was more interested in his daughter, who I thought was hot (I think we were about 8 or 9 at the time. Mark Ross |
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09 Oct 11 - 02:25 AM (#3236067) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity PDQ, Its Ferrante, (not Farrante). I was a huge fan of theirs, when I was a youngin'. Saw them at the Hollywood Bowl, and even got their autographs! Williams was good, too...but I preferred 'F&T'. A sad passing...Now the are all together. GfS |
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09 Oct 11 - 01:27 PM (#3236282) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams (1924-2011) From: GUEST,FRAN.P THE WORLD HAS LOST A GREAT COMPOSER, I LOVED HIS MUSIC AND HIS STYLE. ESPECIALLY THE SONG "AUTUMN LEAVES", THAT WAS MAGNIFICENT. HE WAS LOVED BY MANY AND NOW HE WILL BE MISSED BY MANY. |
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09 Oct 11 - 03:18 PM (#3236330) Subject: RE: Obit: Pianist Roger Williams (1924-2011) From: Don Firth In 1972 to '73, I worked as board announcer and newscaster in a radio station in Eastern Washington. The station played what might be called "elevator music" twenty-four hours a day, with commercial breaks and news at the top of the hour. Thank God, when I returned to Seattle, I got a job as board announcer at a classical music station—for about four times the pay. I got the job on the basis of my knowledge of music and the ability to pronounce names like "Mstislav Rostropovich" and "Gennady Rozhdestvensky" without blowing my front teeth out. Always been pretty good with languages and dialects. At the Eastern Washington station I was called on to play a lot of Roger Williams. This was fine. Williams introduced a lot of people to the piano, well-played. As did the records of Ferrante & Teicher. But after a few months, the "sameness" of the station's playlist started to get to me a bit. The station hired a new announcer, an eighteen-year-old kid who wanted to learn radio and eventually become a rock-jock. Nice kid, but reading and pronunciation were not his strong suits. On his first day on the board (I was assigned to "ride herd" on him until he got the hang of running the board) the play list included a cut by Ferrante & Teicher, with whom the lad was not at all familiar. In fact, he had never heard of them (or most of the other performers in the station's music library). When he introduced them, he somehow managed to add about seventeen syllables to their names. His unique pronunciation of their names is impossible for a normal human mouth to duplicate without spraining a couple of jaw muscles and chipping a tooth!! Don Firth |