The following is a sneak peek from our December issue, where we honor exceptional members of Richmond's arts community.
20th Annual Pollak Prizes for Excellence in the Arts
Bill McGee
Musician and Teacher
Bill McGee (Photo by Chris Smith)
When Bill McGee, then a high school music teacher, realized that some of his students didn’t know where Virginia Union University was and had never even visited a college before, it hit him hard.
“You’re dealing with a group of kids, who are in a town where there is a historically black college, and they don’t even know where the college is located?” he says, recalling the realization that came to him back in the ’80s. “There is a lot of work to be done here.”
And so McGee, a former session musician (Lou Rawls, the O’Jays, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five), band leader (a disco-funk outfit called Trussel) and tour manager (Klymaxx, an all-girl R&B band) got to work. With help from teachers, administrators and students, he created what became a regional talent show featuring teens from local schools. The show was highly regarded and anticipated every year, even though McGee considered it a means to an end.
The funds raised supported annual tours that took students to historically African-American colleges in Alabama, Maryland and Florida. Many former students have told him that they weren’t thinking about college until they started traveling with their band teacher. “It’s a beautiful thing,” McGee says. “I hear from so many of them every week or so. As to how something that happened during that time changed their life.”
In the documentary “Finding the Funk,” Virginia native D’Angelo says that having a chance to appear in the talent show inspired him and his group (Precise) to step up their game. McGee, 65, would serve as a mentor to the young pianist as well as to local legends Mad Skillz, Lonnie B. and Danja Mowf. These talent shows have become legendary, even though they stopped years ago, with D’Angelo returning for the last one in 1994.
After retiring from Richmond Public Schools in 2015, McGee didn’t sit still for long. He started a record label, 804jazz, that has served as a platform for local jazz artists (James “Saxsmo” Gates, Cora Harvey Armstrong) as well as his solo work. A single (“Cantaloupe and Watermelon”) from his fourth album, “Still Bill,” made the Billboard Top Smooth Jazz Top 20 in 2016. He still performs occasionally, including a recent gig at the Funny Bone, where he discussed his struggle with cancer (he’s fine now), and he’s working on a book about hip-hop. His experience as part of the house band for Sugar Hill Records, one of the first rap labels, is a unique qualifier for that project. He’s also working on a fifth album, scheduled for release in early 2017. His current gig finds him with students again as an adjunct instructor, teaching recording engineering and music technology at Virginia State University. McGee, who previously taught at Elizabeth City State University and Morehouse College, says he was excited to be working with students again at VSU.
“They called and said they needed someone to teach the class,” he says. “When people call, you answer.”
