Kendall Ross Bean | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation(s) | Composer, Concert Pianist, Historian, Piano Rebuilder |
| Spouse | Karen Earle Lile (m. div.) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | kendallrossbean |
Kendall Ross Bean is an American composer, concert pianist, piano rebuilder, historian and entrepreneur[1] from theSan Francisco Bay Area.
Bean began to play piano at the age of 4 under the guidance of his grandmother Knell Bean who played live piano music for the Silent Movies. By the age of 8, he was composing his first music and at the age of 17, he recorded his first album as a youth soloist with the Utah Symphony. He obtained a Masters Degree in Piano Performance from theUniversity of Texas at Austin[2]
As a master piano rebuilder and concert pianist, Bean first performed on a piano he rebuilt in one of the first classical music videos to be broadcast across the United States on theA&E Network which in 1985 had 18 million cable viewers. This broadcast coincided with MTV emerging as a medium for record production companies to use music videos to promote the albums of Rock and Pop stars. The novelty of a classical music video featuring a solo pianist and the inside view of piano hammers hitting strings, contrasted to the high production rock music videos it caught media attention from coast to coast. This was at a time when independent artists were rarely featured in the media, and bookstores and music stores only carried major labels.[3] The video was titled:Kendall Ross Bean: Chopin Polonaise in A Flat.
Simultaneous to performing and composing, Bean began rebuilding pianos for Piano Finders in 1982.
Kendall Ross Bean, member of the Preservations Artisans Guild,[4] was chosen, with Karen Earle Lile,[5] byMercersburg Academy to research and authenticate theprovenance of theLennon-Ono-Green-Warhol piano before it was put up for sale to fund a Deed of Trust by the Shaool Family toMercersburg Academy for future student scholarships. This was entered into the Piano Finders Historical Archive as Bean/Lile’s 3,521st piano appraisal, inspection andprovenance commission.[6] Because this piano was part of a famous lawsuit in 2000 and had extensive coverage as the “Lost Lennon Piano”,[7] when provenance research done by Lile and piano authentication by Bean was revealed by the Alex Cooper Auctioneers to the public, the provenance became the subject of dozens of newspapers and magazines that picked up the story.[8][9][10]
A relationship withFantasy Studios as both recording artist and piano rebuilder began in 1985 and continued until this large independent recording studio closed in 2018. Bean rebuilt theBill Evans[11] piano, theMcCoy Tyner, theGeorge Winston piano and a 1952 Steinway D Concert Grand that were used for recording atFantasy Studios. In 2018, Bean was part of a collaborative benefit album forKCSM (FM) titledTwo Weeks Inside Studio D[12] on which he performedFats Waller's Handfull of Keys on three of the four Fantasy Studios pianos he had rebuilt and the sound engineer did a mystery mix of the three pianos in the same song. Over 60 artists recorded on the album, including contributions byGeorge Winston,Allison Miller (drummer),Taylor Eigsti,Mimi Fox,Rob Dehlinger, Tammy Hall, and other Grammy award winning artists and San Francisco Bay Area recording artists who had recorded many albums in the studio over the years.KCSM (FM) featured the album extensively and raised over $300,000 USD for the station during their Feb 2019 fundraiser.[13][14]
Bean is also the co-concept designer for theUSPS Building Bridges Special Postal Cancellation Series logo with Karen Earle Lile. This 1992 design has been featured in numerous USPS pictorial postal cancellations since 1996 and features a black hand and white hand forming a bridge over water with a rainbow above. The logo was first designed and used on KTOP TV in Oakland in 1992 for a series of local music videos and then was adopted by USPS in 1996 for the first Special Postal Cancellation of the ongoing series.[15][16]
During the pandemic, theOakland Symphony commissioned Kendall Ross Bean to write an orchestral and choral tone poem to a libretto by Karen Earle Lile titled “Break Free on Wings of Music”. The work was finished 4 days beforeMichael Morgan (conductor) died. The musical work was then dedicated to Maestro Michael Morgan, who had conducted the Oakland Symphony for 30 years, been a guest conductor at major orchestras and been a leader in keeping music programs in elementary and secondary schools.
During theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States, on April 16, 2022, two arrangements of Kendall Ross Bean’s “Break Free on Wings of Music” composition were featured in the Treasure Island World’s Fair Anniversary Celebrations 1939-2022 celebrating theGolden Gate International Exposition onTreasure Island, San Francisco at the Treasure Island Museum. The first was a cello and piano arrangement of “Break Free on Wings of Music” performed live byGrammy Award winning artistJonah Kim and Kendall Ross Bean. The second was a 1939 big band style arrangement of the same piece arranged by James Anthony McMillen and performed by MoodSwing Orchestra. A ballet film choreographed and performed by Tiit Helimets and Julia Rowe at the Metropolitan Club in San Francisco was premiered at this event. This ballet film was choreographed to the cello recording of Bean’s “Break Free on Wings of Music” that was recorded byJonah Kim and Bean on June 5, 2022 atSkywalker Sound the first day the recording studio opened after the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown was lifted in San Francisco. The ballet was staged inside the Metropolitan Club of San Francisco at a time when many venues were still shuttered because of the pandemic.[17]
May 10, 14 15 and 16, 2022, a trumpet fanfare and a clarinet/guitar and vocal arrangement of the 4th movement of “Break Free on Wings of Music” were featured as part of the ceremonies for the 110th Anniversary ofGlenn L. Martin’s first Air Mail Delivery in Newport Beach, California, Avalon, California and Los Angeles International Airport. The fanfare was performed by trumpet player Chris Tedesco in Newport Beach and then Avalon after a helicopter flight to mark 110th AnniversaryGlenn L. Martin’s first flight of a sea plane from Newport Beach to Avalon in 1912. The last fanfare was at the Flight Path Museum LAX located in theLos Angeles International Airport.[18][19]