Grand plans benefit show George Winston to perform

Later this month, at the height of the summer tourist season, people looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the hot, busy time of year may get to experience autumn and December early.

Not the season or the month, but the music. Solo pianist George Winston, whose albums “Autumn” and “December” are being rereleased in special 20th-anniversary editions later this year, will play an 8 p.m. concert Monday, Aug. 13, at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth.

The two albums, along with Winston’s “Winter Into Spring,” were big sellers for Windham Hill records in the early 1980s. Winston said he does not have any special feelings for the anniversaries of his breakthrough albums. As the titles of his albums indicate, he feels more compelled by the seasons than he does by anniversaries.

“I don’t remember my own birthday,” Winston said. “Every song I like is always a season to me.” He added that he can’t imagine what life would be like if Earth’s axis didn’t allow for the seasonal changes.

“I love it,” Winston said. “I’m glad I live on this planet that has this kind of tilt.”

Despite the planned reissues from his former label, Winston is likely to include songs from some of his other albums and some by other composers when he performs at The Grand.

Winston is best known for what he calls the “rural folk” style of piano playing he developed in recording his Windham Hill albums of the 1980s and on later albums such as “Summer,” “Forest” and “Plains.” But he has recorded and studied other music, much of it written by other composers, that does not fit in this particular style. Winston cites Professor Longhair, Thomas “Fats” Waller, Henry Butler and Teddy Wilson among the R&B piano composers that have inspired him the most.

In his repertoire, Winston includes 45 songs written by the late composer Vince Guaraldi, who wrote much of the accompanying music in “Peanuts” television specials. Guaraldi also penned the 1963 hit “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” which Winston cites as one of his early inspirations when he was learning to play piano as a child. Winston’s appreciation for the composer led to his 1996 album “Linus & Lucy/The Music of Vince Guaraldi.”

Winston’s pursuit of music is not limited to the piano. He is a fan of the “slack-key” style of guitar playing, which originated in Hawaii in the 1800s after Spanish and Mexican cowboys brought the instrument to the Pacific Islands. He also plays harmonica, which he does in Celtic style. He said he usually plays one song on harmonica and a few slack-key songs on guitar for every concert appearance he makes.

Winston’s appreciation for music runs more to the mainstream as well. In fact, his next album will be solo piano recordings of music written and performed by one of his favorite groups of all time, The Doors.

“‘Break On Through’ just obliterated everything I ever heard,” he said. He has followed their music ever since, and even intended to record some of the group’s songs to add as the extra tracks on the special anniversary CDs Windham Hill is releasing later this year.

Then he realized that what he should do was an album of The Doors music, tentatively titled “The Night Divides the Day,” which he hopes to release in late 2003.

“I have a long, deep relationship here, so it makes sense to me,” Winston said. “Jim Morrison is the hardest composer to interpret I can imagine. I’ll smash him into a thousand pieces and put him back together again,” Winston said.

Winston, who claims to be more of an interpreter than a composer, said he has never played in Maine in the summer before.

“Every place inspires what I do, and I like that,” Winston said. “It could be an alley in Cleveland or it could be a beach in Hawaii. One of my favorite things is when you hear music as if it comes up out of the ground. That, to me, is still the truest essence of music.”

The show at The Grand will double as a benefit for Loaves and Fishes food pantry in Ellsworth. Attendees are asked to bring a donation of one canned food item to the concert. Tickets are $25 apiece, and are available at The Grand box office, or by calling 667-9500.