[Dixielandjazz] Stride Piano at Bill Mear's Memorial Service

[Stephen Barbone]

Bill Mears passed away on Thursday at age 72 after a 21 year battle with
cancer. Today, Neville Dickie and Bob Seeley played at his memorial
service. at the First Unitarian Church in Wilmington, DE, USA.

Mears was a great fan of stride and boogie woogie piano. Involved with
the Tri State Jazz Society, he got gigs for many musicians in the
Philadelphia area., and for Bob Seeley from Detroit and Neville Dickey
from the UK who play in our corner of the world every year now.

He was the eternal optimist. I met him at a concert 15 years ago when I
was just starting to play clarinet again after a 30 year lay off. He
encouraged me to continue with my passion when I almost gave it up
entirely, saying come on, you can do it. There's a lot of music left in
you that wants to come out.

And why not, he was the kind of guy that once he set his mind to
something, he just did it. Almost 21 years ago, he was given 6 months to
live by some cancer specialists in NYC. Many might have thrown the towel
in then and there, but not Bill. He refused to roll over, and during the
intervening years had 3 operations to remove tumors and sought
alternative therapy from the pancreas of pigs in New Zealand. Guess
what? He added 20 years to his premature death sentence.

A great fan, he never said a bad word about anyone, much less jazz
players. He showed up at most of our gigs to shout encouragement, or
smile and have a good time. His zest for the music was insatiable as was
his quest for knowing about it first hand. Besides sharing a passion for
the music, he and I shared a passion for fast, beautiful sports cars,
notably the 1962 Short Wheelbase Ferrari Berlinetta. Unbeknownst to us
at the time, we had competed at several races back in the 1950s. He in
the SWB and me in my 300SL Gullwing.

His memorial service was a beautiful celebration of his life. The great
music was there. While we gathered, Chick Bach played 30 minutes of
Gershwin, Kern, as well as some stalwart OKOM numbers like Sweet Georgia
Brown, Ain't Misbehavin', etc.

Then, at various moments during the service Bob Seeley played "Closer
Walk, St. Louis Blues, My Buddy segueing into Always and back, and at
the end, Amazing Grace."

Neville Dickey arrived mid service (he had 3 gigs in the area this
weekend) and they got together and did some 4 handed improvisation of
Boogie Woogie Blues. Seeley on the bass notes, Dickey on the top.. Then,
they played some cross handed reverse, then they got up in mid song and
switched places entirely. Thrilling.

A little later, Neville played an incredible stride version of "The
Bells Of Saint Mary".

The service ran a little long but nobody seemed to care after such a
stunning display of rocking piano virtuosity. The pianists got standing
ovations.

Bill Mears would have loved it.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone