Freelance Keyboardist
As a keyboardist, Pete Ford freelances in a variety of bands and for recording sessions.
Pete Ford plays everything from solo jazz cocktail piano to jazz trio to big band with Swingmania, and all varieties of rock and jump-swing bands like Hepcat Revival. Ford plays in casinos and venues around the midwest (Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, Minnesota, New York State, and Indiana), and can be seen in a variety of bar bands.
Pictured here checking the Minimoog at our soundcheck, as keyboardist for Elvis tribute artist Walt Sanders in January 2019. (Photo credit: Scott Kretzer)
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: “I am NOT an accompanist. Although I read (and compose) written music, I am not a sight reader. That said, I’m fine reading chord changes and fakebook charts on a jazz or pop gig. I play creatively and appropriate to the style of the keyboard part of the gig.
As the dialogue goes,
“Do you read?”
“Not well enough to hurt my jazz!”
There are so many collaborative artists and accompanists out there who sightread better than I ever will, and that’s their gig. They deserve to be hired as appropriate to the musical need.”
Photo Credit: Megan Parsell
Here’s an improvisation on the Miles Davis tune “Solar” at the Verve Jazz Jam in Terre Haute Indiana, April 2019. Although it’s not as well-developed a solo as I would have liked, it is a demonstration of my skills in the idiom. https://youtu.be/HzZUogS60_s
Here’s another brief snippet of one of my solos in a performance of a minor blues on the “Castle Steinway” in the Glassalon at the Toledo Museum of Art, where I was honored to be pianist with a family of world-class trumpeters Ben Wolkins, Ric Wolkins and David Tippett. Norm Damschroder on bass and Mark Sentle on drums.
Another brief example; a solo demonstration of “trio style” with the tune “Beautiful Love,” as recorded by a student during a lesson at Adrian College:
Sitting in with the Scott Gwinnell Big Band in Detroit, circa 2010
My rock keyboard setup getting a tan prior to performance.
If you are wondering what that MiniMoog Model D sounds like, here’s a portion of a recording made of me playing during an improvised keyboard planetarium program at Robinson Planetarium at Adrian College in February 2018. It sounds best with headphones, and the low frequencies are not adequately represented by the recording. (The strings and piano are the Roland FP-4).
Click Here: https://youtu.be/lvH7gNvUI0M
With Toledo Guitarist Eric Brazier at Mahattan’s, early 2000’s
Solo “cocktail” piano on the Yamaha Grand at the (very ritzy) Chop House Restaurant in Toledo; a gig I play on occasion.
Here’s a video of my working the Hammond with LH bass with the Eric Brazier Trio over a decade ago in a very informal gig at Manhattan’s Pub in Toledo, a former jazz venue. The first song is “Four on Six” (very fast!) and the second is a slow blues.
Some of the gigs I play are a little unusual:
In performance with DJ, circa 2010 or 2011
In a rehearsal with Elvis’ drummer DJ Fontana, circa 2011.
Bands and projects Pete Ford works with regularly (i.e. regularly before the pandemic):
Somehow, for the last third of a century, a reputation has been gained playing keyboards for Elvis Tribute Artists in the Midwest. It is not the type of gig one sets out to do, but like a moth to the flame, I keep going back. I enjoy the travel as well as the musical craftsmanship/professionalism and camaraderie of the fellow backup musicians on most of these gigs.
Through playing “Elvis” gigs (especially those associated with event organizer Michelle Lynne and tribute artist Bob Rosencrantz), I got to work multiple times with the late DJ Fontana (above, left), who was Elvis’ legendary drummer from 1954 until 1968. Back in the day (before I was even born), Elvis insisted that DJ be out onstage with the rest of the band instead of behind a curtain, as was standard for drums; this gesture alone set a precedent for rock staging to follow. In addition to his appearances with Elvis on TV and in the movies, DJ Fontana worked and did session recordings with a veritable who’s who of “classic” rock and country: Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, and Ringo Starr, who even reported Fontana as an influence on his drumming. Of course DJ was elderly but still sounding great each of the times I got to work with him at different showcase performances for Elvis tribute artists.
DJ was a true gentleman, and very easygoing. I had asked him once if he would speak to my Rock History class at Mercy College later that evening (we had just played all morning and afternoon to busloads of senior citizens at the Masonic Auditorium in Toledo) and he quickly agreed. At the lecture, my students got to ask questions and hear answers firsthand from living rock history. (That particular college dean was very displeased with what I had done—following the lecture I had asked her if the college might be able to provide an honorarium after the fact (which I now realize never happens), but my transgression of bringing someone to speak to my class without first obtaining their social security number was an unacceptable breach of protocol. The dean shook her head in disgust and indicated that a PROFESSIONAL does things by the books. She refused to fathom the opportunity and cultural significance of bringing DJ to my Rock History class. Seriously, I cannot even imagine being so invasive to ask the social security number of someone who’s recorded with two of the Beatles! I paid him $100 myself. It was worth all 10,000 pennies and more). The last time I worked with DJ, after the performance stepping offstage, he said “Pete, we fooled ‘em again.” I cherish that memory.
The Day DJ Fontana Guest-Lectured in my Mercy College Rock History Class
Playing keys for Elvis’ music once presented the opportunity to play a short Princess Cruise ship tour that included Caribbean islands St. Martin and St. Thomas—and get paid for the trouble of doing so. So while the music might not be the apex of my personal tastes, I know that audiences take it seriously, so I do the best I can to play with energy, spontaneity, and an overall sense of excitement. I want people to leave the gig knowing not only that “Elvis” was good, but so was his piano player along with the rest of the band.
The Elvis Tribute Artist I’ve worked with most in the past decade or so is Walt Sanders. With Walt’s band I’ve worked gigs large and small in New York, Pennsylvania (a lot), Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Kentucky, Michigan, and West Virginia. We play often in casinos, although the only gambling I’ve done in them to date is hoping I am starting the tune in the right key. With Walt Sanders, we were supposed to play some gigs in Arkansas in spring 2020, but Covid closed things down. Walt’s website is https://www.onenightwithyou.net . Hopefully if enough people get inoculated, the pandemic will subside and we can play gigs again soon. Walt has at least a few videos from our performances on his website.
“Legends of Rock” is a second band/showcase that uses Walt, with the addition of Dan Moyer as a fabulous John Lennon tribute artist. With this show we play Beatles music and Elvis music back-to-back, sort of like radio in the early-to-mid 1960’s. There’s a promo for “Legends of Rock” on Walt’s page above, and it accurately reflects the vibe of the gigs.
In stark contrast to the “Elvis” keyboard gigs, I work a lot of JAZZ gigs both on piano and on bass with Jeff McDonald’s Toledo-based big band “Swingmania.” This band is flexible, and its performances range (tailored to budget of the event) from full big band jazz to piano trio (piano/bass/drums). http://www.swingmania.org/ is Swingmania’s website.
I also play solo jazz cocktail gigs and sometimes add a bassist and drummer for The Pete Ford Trio, where we play jazz standards. Sometimes I’ll perform with a jazz organ trio where I play LH bass and have a guitarist and drummer fill out the other members. (“Hammond” coming from a Nord keyboard with drawbars).
“Hepcat Revival” is another band with which I work regularly in Toledo and Cleveland, and in Michigan. We’ve even played in Chicago IL. This is a fun band that plays both “jump swing” styles and classic rock. Hepcat Revival’s website is https://hepcatrevival.com/.
Singer/Songwriter Don Morris, who has always had quite a popular following in the greater Wabash Valley area (around Terre Haute IN) recently released his CD “Highland.” All keyboard parts of this CD were recorded by Pete Ford in summer 2019. This CD can be found on YouTube by searching “Don Morris” and “Highland” This is simply happy music, the kind for which Don Morris was known.
It is a sad epilogue that producer Don Arney of the Highland CD project passed away quickly of an illness near the end of April 2021; near the end of May 2021 Don Morris and his wife Cheryl were both killed in a freak accident while vacationing in South Carolina; two cars collided and one ran into them as pedestrians. Gone much too soon. Rest in Peace.
Here playing solo “cocktail” piano at the Chop House, Toledo, June 2022
