Jazz Pianist Dick Durham and his Quartet

Dick Durham, Jazz Pianist

On Saturday, October 19, The Mainstay is excited to welcome back the extraordinary jazz pianist Dick Durham. Durham, one of The Mainstay’s most requested performers, is an annual visitor to the 27-year old non-profit music venue. Dick will be joined onstage by Max Murray on upright bass, Greg Burrows on drums, and E. Shawn Qaissaunee on guitar.

Dick recalls his early choices to pursue his passion for the piano that led to impressive acclamations from audiences, fellow musicians, and music critics. Dick was encouraged to follow his passion for the piano during his college years, and boldly veered from the paths his cardiologist father and playwright mother had pursued.

He was drafted in 1967 and sent to Fort Dix to do clerical work (jazz pianist=120 wpm typist -- makes sense!), Durham went AWOL one night to sit in with a band at a club where an officer heard him play. On the very day he was to begin serving guard duty for the infraction, he was transferred to the Army band, where he played out his time in the service.

After his discharge, Durham put a trio together and started playing clubs again, most memorably as an opening act for the Count Basie Orchestra. Dick credits jazz pianists Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson, and Teddy Wilson as his major influences. He has had the privilege of sharing a bill with Stanley Turrentine, Grover Washington Jr., Billy Cobham, Stef Scaggiari and many others.

His compositions have earned him two separate Maryland Governor’s Citations for excellence in the performing arts, and his jazz variations on the scores of musicals like “West Side Story” have earned standing ovations.