Bill Keis

Bill Keis is a master [maestro] pianist, keyboardist, composer, producer, musical director, and educator. He has been playing for 60 years and teaching music for 45 years. He has performed and/or recorded with; Mark Isham, Stanley Clarke, Edgar Winter, Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love, Taylor Dayne, Kate Ceberano, Maxine Nightingale, Billy Sheehan, Chaka Khan, Morris Wade, Mel Brown, Jeff Kashiwa, David Campbell, Chick Corea, The Pointer Sisters, Raven Kane, Tony Newton, James Barbour, Donny Most, Judy Norton, Rickie Lee Jones, Lorelei McBroom, Rainey Haynes, Izzy Chait, and many others.

Born in 1958, Bill was instantly immersed in music by his parents and three of his grandparents, who were all music teachers. At age 5, he started piano lessons with his mother. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that Bill had perfect pitch.

He then began classical piano lessons, and as he got older, he studied cello and trombone. Throughout high school Bill played cello in the orchestra, trombone in the concert and marching bands, sang in the jazz choir and played piano in the jazz band.

Although classically trained, receiving “A” grades at state piano competitions, Bill developed an interest in Jazz and Rock genres. His played first professional gig at age 14.

After graduating high school Bill attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After College, he moved to Los Angeles and began teaching private lessons at The Faunt School of Creative Music.

In addition to teaching, Bill began to work in Musical Theatre. For two years he accompanied such performers as: Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno, Richard Pryor, and Billy Crystal at The Comedy Store in Hollywood. Also, he was the pianist/musical director for several shows and vocal performance workshops. It was during this period that Bill worked for jazz vocalist Rose Weaver, actress/comedienne Kaye Ballard, vocalist Sam Harris, and actress/singer Karen Black.

Bill’s interest in recording led him and friend Mitch Talevi to build a recording studio. They formed a company called TK Productions. During the next 5 years, Bill co-produced innumerable recordings for upcoming artists. TK Productions also recorded eight albums of television music for Capitol Records’ library division, composed and produced several TV jingles, and scored a documentary film. Bill played keyboards on a session for Howie Mandell’s TV show, “Bobby’s World.” Several of Bill’s compositions were used on the TV show “General Hospital.”

One of Bill’s main goals was to form his own contemporary jazz quartet, which he did in 1992. The band was described as fresh and innovative, high energy, but not too esoteric. “Even people that don’t normally like Jazz find they really enjoy it.” Bill featured his compositions and monster chops in his band, which performed in Southern California for thousands of people. In 1998, Bill signed a recording contract with Jammin’ Mug Records. His debut album “Bill Keis, Journey” was released in May 1999 and features twelve of Bill’s compositions.

In 2000, Bill began his own successful private teaching practice and began to formulate his experiences into The Bill Keis Method, which became the basis of his acclaimed book “The Complete Guide to Learning Music”.

Keis opened a new recording studio (First Choice Recording) in 2001, where he recorded solo piano albums “Welcome Home” in 2005, “Smile” in 2015, and jazz band albums “Power Jazz-Live Again” in 2011, and “Reunion” in 2019.

“The Complete Guide To Learning Music” by Bill Keis was first released in 2006 followed by ten smaller books, available in Kindle and paperback.

In 2015, Bill’s composition “Evening of Elegance” was used in the movie “Avengers, Age of Ultron.”

In 2017, Bill released a series of four books titled, “Killer Melodic Patterns” and the 2nd Edition of “The Complete Guide To Learning Music”.

In 2021, Keis moved to Arizona, and has continued a very active schedule of performing, composing, recording, writing and teaching.

“The Complete Guide To Learning Music” 3rd Edition was released in 2024.