I came back from Eastman School of Music in New York with my head full of contemporary jazz.  I was playing all kinds of gigs. One Saturday afternoon I got a phone call at 2:30 and this agent asked me, “Hey, can you play for Count Basie tonight? He’s got the flu, and I need to find a sub for him!” I said, are you sure you want me? And he said, “I’ve already tried a lot of people.” I said, “OK that sounds good.”

The concert/dance was at the University of Texas Union Ballroom. And it was advertised as a “sock hop.” (I guess you know what that is. Everybody takes their shoes off and dance on the wooden dance floor in their socks.)

So when I arrived (oh by the way, this is probably 1976 and I looked like I was 14 years old, so blonde and blue eyed) I realized I was the only white guy in an all black Count Basie Orchestra Big Band. They looked at me like “oh no!” But we had to do this, so I sat down at the piano, and I realized there’s no music! There’s no piano book! After all it’s Count Basie’s band and it’s his music. He doesn’t need a book. I wasn’t versed in jazz history, and what I didn’t know at the time, was that I was sitting with super legendary jazz artists.
Freddie Green was Basie’s guitarist for 40 years. He said, “That’s all right kid. I know this music. Here’s my book. You can use my book.” After we played a tune, the band realized I could actually play jazz and warmed up to me. They were enthusiastic, friendly, and helpful.

Here’s one thing I didn’t know at all! Count Basie has this very famous cliché way of ending a song. It’s a very simple little “plink plink” piano solo. When it came time for me to play that, I launched into this really fast show-off ending, which made the band just about fall out of their chairs laughing. I didn’t know why or what I did. But a guy said, “Hey, just keep it really simple.” And I only found out later that I was really blowing the ends of these tunes.

I mentioned these legends. This very handsome black man came out to sing, and he had the most beautiful, baritone voice. I find out later that his name was Joe Williams, and was quite a voice superstar.
All in all, it was a great experience. I learned a lot. I learned what I should’ve known, and it was a great evening. 300 people were dancing to Count Basie’s great music and a this is a story I’ll never forget.

After La La Land won all the Academy Awards, the William Morris Talent Agency contacted me. They were embarking on a world tour for “La La Land – In Concert” and Austin was the 1st concert after the debut in Los Angeles. I’m not sure how they found me, but I got a phone call in my office at Texas State University. They needed a pianist familiar with film, classically trained, and a jazz musician.

This became one of the most satisfying, complicated, and challenging career undertakings I have had in the last 20 years.
179 pages of solo piano, Latin salsa,  jazz quintet, and a Rachmaninoff style concerto with orchestra, I was pleased to have performed multiple performances with orchestras in major cities. My best review here:
Reviewed by: David Hendricks, Arts/Entertainment critic – San Antonio Express.
Review: “Keeping the orchestra in sync with the film was “La La Land in Concert” tour conductor Erik Ochsner of New York City. With so much of the music flowing from Sebastian’s piano, Ochsner clearly took the approach of presenting the two-hour movie like it was a piano concerto.

Making that possible was the sparkling keyboard work of pianist Hank Hehmsoth, who performed the same role last year with the Austin Symphony when it performed “La La Land in Concert.”

Besides being a professional pianist, there are multiple additional skills involved. Here is an excerpt scene from the movie. Note the time code and click track.

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I’m on keys with the @AustinSymphony Dec 29 – Dec 30 · Palmer Events Center https://t.co/DVgc6fhEdS pic.twitter.com/MxnhA1P8GH

— Hank Hehmsoth (@HankHehmsoth) December 9, 2017