Live Music – Bear Creek Jazztet

Ben Gault, Pianist

Ben is a lifetime Rogue Valley resident. He worked as a court reporter in Medford from 1964 to 1998 (perfect day gig for a piano player). He began playing piano at about age 10 and developed a love of classic jazz and swing from an early age. He started playing casual gigs during his college years and has done so off and on since.

He has performed in numerous local venues, usually in small combos. His repertoire consists primarily of compositions published during the first half of the 20th century. He tells us that he is really nuts about the music of composers like W. C. Handy, James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Thomas “Fats” Waller, Walter Donaldson, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, and many others of that era. His playing style, he says, could be described as “pre-bop piano jazz improvisation with a subtle touch of Harlem stride now and then.” Asked who his favorite piano man/band leader would be, he says: “Bill Basie, without any doubt, is the coolest of all.”