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Bill King Music is a comprehensive guide through the professional music ventures and world of musician Bill King.

It's a career that began in 1961 just as the big band era was winding down and rock & roll was moving to the forefront. This was a great period undergoing change and many of the players of the era embraced new sounds - advancing recording techniques and the potential of musical hybrids.

King believes music should stay contemporary and adapt to the world around. "Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock were never rigid - always surveyed the landscape with a keen eye and listened to the heart beat of the planet. I listen to everything with an ear for adaptation."

Today it's singers Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lizz Wright and others who have found a way to either revive the past and make it relevent or inject  themselves into the rhythm and soul of distant places and the fertile ground around them creating something new from something old.

The pages that follow document  a portion of Bill King's work as an arranger, producer, composer and photographer. Art is always a work in progress and so are these pages.

This has been an amazing spring. King has been immersed in six current productions - arranging and producing Josephine Biundo's debut - 'Let There Be Love '- Sophie Berkal-Sarbit's - 'The Peacocks '- his own soul jazz unit - The Rhythm Express Band - 'Beat Street' - singer June Garber's - 'Here's To Life' , Jessica Lalonde's 'Spinning Daydreams' and Real Divas -' Cafe Society'.

The music you're listening too is from a current project with 18 year old Winnipeg native Sophie Berkal-Sarbit. The song - "Letter From Home" penned by pianist Junior Mance and vocalist Eddie Jefferson.

Sophie Milman .....

“Someone had told me that a man named Bill King was hosting a program called Real Divas at a local club, and that I should go in and sing a song. I went, sang a couple of songs, and got a great response from the crowd. Bill was very nice and asked me to come back the following week. A few days later, he called me and told me he wanted to book me for a gig. The week following my first gig, Bill took me to perform on City TV’s Breakfast Television and got me to sing at the release of the real Diva CD that same night, which was fabulous. It snowballed from there. TVO did a piece on me. Two gigs later Geoff Kulawick from Linus Entertainment came down to hear me sing, liked what he heard and offered me a recording contract.” Plans for recording were started, with Bill King producing eight songs, and Danny Greenspoon four.

“We had just picked out the songs and I had a rehearsal with Bill King at his house a few days before the first recording session. When I walked into Inception Sound Studio, Bill was already there. So were Pat Labarbera, Reg Schwagger, Davide DiRenzo. All these fabulous players and I wasn’t sure if I was going to measure up. But everyone really put me at ease. Bill’s arrangements were beautiful, the guys played their hearts out. It was wonderful working with Bill. Not only is he a monster player and producer, but he’s also extremely supportive and encouraging of young artists. Over the past few years, he has become my musical parent: he was the one who discovered me and gave me my first “break”…..musically, he probably knows me better than anyone else, and it was an honour to have him produce this album.”