A Conversation with Pianist Neville Dickie

This column’s title includes the word “travels.” This installment is no different, but this time the travels weren’t mine. Neville Dickie, the renowned British stride and boogie-woogie pianist, stopped by my house one afternoon in late May for a wide-ranging conversation while he was on his annual US concert tour. Said tour always includes a concert at the Tri-State Jazz Society as well as other appearances, this year including the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival and the Bickford Theater in Morristown, New Jersey. As customary, I sent Neville a list of questions in advance. He had written out some notes before he arrived, and those were the jumping-off points for the conversation. His comments went well beyond the original questions, but that’s what I was hoping for, as he has so much to talk about. Bill Hoffman: What led you to become a pianist, and at what age? Neville Dickie: When I was seven, my mother bought a piano for myself, my older brother, and sister. She paid 10 pounds for it, the equivalent then (1944) of a week’s wages. Neither of my siblings showed much interest, and at first I was bored with the classical pieces I was learning. But I found I could play tunes I heard on the radio. At a friend’s house I heard a record of James P. Johnson’s “Roumania.” I fell in love with it. A recording of “Black and White Rag” by a ragtime pianist from Tri