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Bill Fulton

Bill Fulton was born on July 4, 1962 (Yes! I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy!!) in Oakland, California and spent his childhood in nearby Alameda. Bill began his music exploration at the age of 7 on the trumpet in the school concert band as his family did not yet own a piano. At the age of 15, Bill’s family moved out of their 2 bedroom apartment in Alameda to a 5 bedroom house in Dublin, CA. It was there that the Fulton family purchased their first piano.

At 15 and acquiring his first piano at home, Bill quickly discovered he had an affinity for the piano and rapidly learned on his own except for 1 or 2 lessons from his mother who was a prodigy on the instrument in her youth. Bill also learned the fundamentals of music theory through self-study as well as from his uncle and maternal grandfather who were both pianists. Music generally runs in Bill’s extended family though no one pursued music as a career.

Very soon Bill became very interested in composing and arranging more than actually being an accomplished pianist. Bill wrote arrangements for the high school concert and marching band as well as local community bands as well as many instrumental songs with and without lyrics.

In September 1980 Bill enrolled in Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) as a music composition major. After Cal State Hayward, Bill worked extensively in California and Oregon as a keyboardist, pianist, teacher, composer, arranger, and engineer. As a keyboardist in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bill performed often at private venues, concerts (Sheila E, D’wayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Toné!, formerly KSAN radio personality Steve Jordan, keyboardist-arranger- producer Tom Tomasello, Touch ‘n Go Band, Grant Geissman 1981 guest appearance at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill CA) and major hotel chains up to 6 nights a week

In 1987 Bill moved to Los Angeles to attend the Dick Grove School of Music to study with the master himself, Dick Grove. While attending Dick Grove, Bill also played many local live gigs in the Los Angeles area at clubs,concerts, shows, and private events. Through contacts that Bill made at the Dick Grove School, Bill was recommended to a staff position as a composer at Sunset Las Palmas Studios (fka Hollywood Center Studios and former home of Desilu studios, owned by Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz) for MCA TV and The Arthur Company Television and Motion Pictures in August 1988. In 1989 The Arthur Company moved to Universal Studios lot. While at The Arthur Company, Bill created themes and underscore for “The Munsters Today”, “The New Dragnet”, “The New Adam 12”, “FBI: The Untold Stories”, and many other industrial/instructional films and commercials.

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Album Review

Bill Fulton: Time

Read "Time" reviewed by Todd S. Jenkins


Keyboardist, composer and arranger Bill Fulton has achieved an amazing coup for contemporary jazz with Time. He has successfully broken the curse that has hung over jazz keyboards since the early 1980s, using excellent arrangements and a tight group of performers to give these combo tracks the sense of a larger ensemble. Bright production and a joyously expansive sound, enhanced by his judicious application of keyboard tones, make Time one of the best contemporary jazz albums in recent memory.

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

About 12:00am

Self Produced
2009

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Time

Rhombus Records
2003

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