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George Winston

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PER ARTISTS REQUEST: No food or drink will be allowed in the Hall during the show.  We suggest you come early to have a drink/bite to eat at the Bistro Bar!  The Bistro Bar will also be open after the show for drinks! The Mezzanine will open at 6pm for dining. If Mezzanine ticket holders can not make it to their seats at 6pm for dinner they need to call the Infinity Bistro (860-560-7757) to make a reservation. All food and beverages must be cleared and service will end promptly at 7:45pm. 

Grammy Award winning pianist & composer George Winston makes his Infinity Hall Hartford debut!! Please join us in support of local food banks by bringing a donation of canned food to the concert. There will be collection baskets at the entrances. Come join us for a soulful night of music and support a great cause!!

At the artist request, no food or beverage will be served during the show.  Mezzanine ticket holders should plan to arrive early enough to finish your dinner service by 7:45p. The doors to the mezzanine will open at 6pm.  The Hall Good Vibes bar will not be open and all beverage service must take place in the Bistro or bar prior to the start of the show.  Please call 860-542-5531 for dinner reservations.

George Winston

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Artist Bio

George Winston grew up mainly in Montana, and also spent his later formative years in Mississippi and Florida. During this time, his favorite music was instrumental rock and instrumental R&B, including Floyd Cramer, the Ventures, Booker T & The MG’s, Jimmy Smith, and many more. Inspired by R&B, jazz, Blues and rock (especially the Doors), George began playing organ in 1967. In 1971 he switched to the acoustic piano after hearing recordings from the 1920s and the 1930s by the legendary stride pianists Thomas “Fats” Waller and the late Teddy Wilson. In addition to working on stride piano, he also at this time came up with this own style of melodic instrumental music on solo piano, called folk piano. In 1972, he recorded his first solo piano album, BALLADS AND BLUES 1972, for the late guitarist John Fahey’s Takoma label.

His latest solo piano release is LOVE WILL COME – THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI, VOL. 2 (released 2/2/10), which features compositions by the late jazz pianist, including pieces from the Peanuts® TV specials. His next album SPRING CAROUSEL-A CANCER RESEARCH BENEFIT will be released in 2015.

Since 1980 George has released ten other solo piano albums: AUTUMN (1980), WINTER INTO SPRING (1982), DECEMBER (1982), SUMMER (1991), FOREST (1994), LINUS & LUCY-THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI (1996), which features compositions by the late jazz pianist, including Cast Your Fate to the Wind and pieces from the Peanuts® TV specials; PLAINS (1999), which was inspired by his Eastern Montana upbringing, NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY - THE MUSIC OF THE DOORS (2002), and MONTANA - A LOVE STORY (2004) and GULF COAST BLUES & IMPRESSIONS – A HURRICANE RELIEF BENEFIT (2006).

Also, in 2001 George released REMEMBRANCE - A MEMORIAL BENEFIT, a six song CD of piano, guitar and harmonica solos, to benefit those affected by 9/11. He has also worked with the late George Levenson of Informed Democracy (www.informeddemocracy.com) on three projects: a solo guitar soundtrack for SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES, and soundtracks of piano, guitar and, harmonica solos for PUMPKIN CIRCLE, and BREAD COMES TO LIFE. In 1984 he also did the solo piano soundtrack for the children’s story THE VELVETEEN RABBIT for Rabbit Ears Productions.

George is presently concentrating mainly on live performances, and most of the time he is touring playing solo piano concerts (the Summer Show or the Winter Show), solo guitar concerts, solo harmonica concerts, and solo piano dances (with R&B and slow dance songs).

He is also studying the playing of the great New Orleans pianists Henry Butler, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and Jon Cleary, and he is also working on interpreting pieces on solo piano by his favorite composers, including Vince Guaraldi, Professor Longhair, the Doors, Frank Zappa, Randy Newman, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Laura Nyro, Al Kooper, Dr. John, Henry Butler, James Booker, Jon Cleary, Ralph Towner, Arthur Lee, Milt Jackson, John Hartford, Oliver Schroer, Taj Mahal, Philip Aaberg, and others, to play at concerts, and at his solo piano dances.

George is also working on solo guitar and is recording the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key guitar for an extensive series of albums for Dancing Cat Records (www.dancingcat.com). Slack Key is the name for the beautiful solo fingerstyle guitar tradition, unique to Hawaii, which began in the early 1800s and predated the steel guitar by over half a century. He is also recording his main inspirations for his harmonica playing, Sam Hinton, Rick Epping, and Curt Bouterse.

George Winston plays Steinway Pianos

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