Hi! I've played piano for 25 years, professionally for 15. I interact with an audience and entertain. Music I am familiar with, I can fake. I learn specific requests with relative ease, sight-reading sheet music and lead sheets, along with strong aural skills. My repertoire includes heavy classical, jazz/blues, swing, Broadway, popular music, spiritual, film score.
Russell Gates
P.S. PAST. Degree in performance/comp. Stowaway Piano, Cruise-ship Theater show band, personal concerts, dance studio, accompanist, churches, choirs (60-piece), jazz combos, big band (18-piece), rock band keys, professional musical theater/auditions, transcriptions, finale, recording, composer, film scoring.
16 reviews
David
January 4, 2026Russell is an amazing pianist and entertainer. He made our Christmas party special, from his musical talent to engaging guests, he was professional through and through. I would highly recommend him for any event.
Hired as: Pianist
Keiara B. G.
September 19, 2024Russell did an amazing job and was very helpful with things that we needed. He even provided accompaniment before and after service took place. It was great!
Hired as: Pianist
Kerry M.
July 27, 2024Russell was fantastic! Very professional but fun and so versatile. Looked nice and presented well. Played some requests from guests annd also from the list I had sent. We could not be happier! On time, and prepared! Great communication. We would have him back for sure, and guests were impressed as well, lots of fellow musicians present and were impressed. Bravo!
Hired as: Pianist
Joanne D.
January 2, 2024Song selection was fun with current tunes and some classics. His set up is very professional and he clearly enjoys playing. Highly recommend Russell!
Hired as: Pianist
Diane P.
November 3, 2023To bring in the new year(2023), I attended a piano concert featuring Chopin by Russell Gates. As a musician, I was impressed. Following the program I booked Russell for the 22nd annual Smith Memorial Benefit Concert at Tibbits, Coldwater, Michigan. When I requested a concert that featured American composers, I had no idea what Russell would produce. I say produce because he put together more than a concert on the Tibbits Opera House stage; it was a production! There was much to enjoy for those lucky enough to attend this performance. He delivered complicated passages with skill and an energy that was equal to an athlete running a marathon. With his honed abilities he used all 88 keys to bring scenes, stories and our senses to a full living technicolor experience. More than an accomplished pianist, he is a one man show. His performance included unconventional ways to engage the listener through lengthy compositions. He connects with the audience on a personal level when he speaks, changes attire midway into a concerto, and engages his fans with his dry wit. Russell is a musician par excellence, an entertainer with pizzaz and a performance package for all music lovers.
Hired as: Pianist
Price range: Contact for rates
Languages: English
Gig length: 30 - 240 minutes
Intimate evening of music; interaction with the piano player through a variety of music and acts, duets, ect.
In 2001, Russell's composition Moment Of Triumph (dedicated to Olympic gymnast Elise Ray) won the Kalamazoo Symphony's Youth Composition Contest, orchestrated by Harrison Orr and performed in multiple venues by the KSO and the MESA SO. While attending Hillsdale College, he accompanied modern dance studio classes, was recorded on the HC Big Band CD Opus One, the jazz combo album New Music, performed with the Jackson SO, at the Music School of Prague, and Loyola University for the 16th New Orleans Classical Piano Institute. Following graduation in 2005 with a B.S. in Music, he performed in show bands on worldwide tours with Holland America Line, Regent Seven Seas, and Royal Caribbean International/Celebrity Cruises, covering such artists as: the Temptations Tribute, violinist Beverly Davison, oboist Salima Wazir, dulcimer player Penxuin Xui, singer Sinead Blachfield, impressionist Sean O'Shea, comedian/actor Marty Allen, visual sensationalist Yacov Noy, Sesame Street musical director Marty Henn, and Hollywood film pianist Pearl Kaufman. Russell has appeared regularly at Tibbits Opera House, Grand Rapids Art Prize, and Play Me I'm Yours, and given benefit concerts for Free Health Clinics and ACS's Relay For Life. Off stage, he scores/edits/directs short films and documentaries, some of which played at events featuring best-selling authors and presidential nominees.
Acoustic or digital piano on-site? If so, what is it? Number of guests? Room size? Dress of event? Specific song requests?
Saturday
Christmas Party
12:30pm - 3:30pm
•
Milan, MI
Sunday
Holiday Party
10:00am - 2:00pm
•
Commerce Township, MI
Sunday
Worship Service
11:00am - 1:00pm
•
Battle Creek, MI
Sunday
Worship Service
11:00am - 1:00pm
•
Battle Creek, MI
Sunday
Worship Service
11:00am - 1:00pm
•
Battle Creek, MI
Sunday
Worship Service
11:00pm - 1:00am (Mon)
•
Battle Creek, MI
Sunday
Worship Service
11:00am - 1:00pm
•
Battle Creek, MI
Friday
Birthday Party
6:00pm - 10:00pm
•
Sandusky, OH
Sunday
New Year's Party
11:00am - 2:00pm
•
Brighton, MI
Sunday
Cultural Event
12:00pm - 3:30pm
•
Fort Wayne, IN
Saturday
Wedding Ceremony
1:00pm - 4:00pm
•
Eaton Rapids, MI
Thursday
Cocktail Party
6:00pm - 7:30pm
•
Ann Arbor, MI
Saturday
Christmas Party
7:00pm - 11:00pm
•
Grand Rapids, MI
Saturday
Wedding Reception
3:00pm - 7:00pm
•
Detroit, MI
Sunday
Funeral/Memorial Service
12:30pm - 2:30pm
•
Kalamazoo, MI
Friday
Cocktail Party
4:30pm - 7:30pm
•
East Lansing, MI
Saturday
Wedding Ceremony
2:00pm - 2:30pm
•
Kalamazoo, MI
Classical, Jazz, Film Score, New Age, Rock, Pop.
Bruce Hornsby, Elton John, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Jim Brickman.
Whether or not location has piano.
K2500 and PA
Pianist
