Picture Credit score: George WinstonPianist George Winston has handed away after a prolonged 10-year battle with most cancers.
Pianist George Winston, a musician whose recordings topped him one of many first stars of New Age music, has handed away after a 10-year battle with most cancers. His household introduced that he “quietly and painlessly left this world whereas asleep” on Sunday, June 4, 2023. He was 73.
“George courageously managed severe cancers, together with having a profitable bone marrow transplant for Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) in 2013 at Metropolis of Hope, in Duarte, California, that gratefully prolonged his life by ten years,” writes his household on his web site.
“All through his most cancers therapies, George continued to write down and document new music, and he stayed true to his biggest ardour: performing for reside audiences whereas elevating funds for Feeding America to assist combat the nationwide starvation disaster, together with donating proceeds from every of his live shows to native meals banks.”
Throughout a profession spanning greater than 50 years, George first grew to become recognized for his two iconic albums, Autumn (1980) and December (1982). His distinctive, highly-imitated taste of heat, pastoral solo piano primarily constructed his status as a New Age artist, although Winston by no means used the time period to explain his music.
“I’ve at all times referred to as it ‘Folks Piano’ (or extra precisely ‘Rural Folks Piano’),” George wrote on his web site. “Since it’s melodic and never sophisticated in its method, like people guitar selecting and people songs, and has a rural sensibility.”
Nonetheless, Winston at all times claimed his true ardour was for R&B, impressed by New Orleans’ piano sound and the Harlem stride custom. Regardless of the foundations of classical music obvious in his enjoying, Winston had no coaching nor curiosity in classical music.
Drawn to the sounds of the organ after listening to The Doorways in 1967, Winston’s investigation of Doorways organist Ray Manzarek led him to jazz musician Jimmy Smith, who impressed Winston to modify to piano in 1971 within the vogue of stride pianist Fat Waller.
With 16 solo piano albums beneath his belt, George Winston recorded tributes for Vince Guaraldi, The Doorways, a Hurricane Katrina reduction profit, Gulf Coast and Louisiana Wetlands advantages, a September 11 profit, a most cancers analysis profit for Metropolis of Hope, and plenty of others.
The legacy of George Winston contains his well-loved catalog and an archive of his acoustic guitar and harmonica recordings, along with albums by an array of Hawaiian slack key artists on his document label, Dancing Cat Information.