Will Rast draft This article is about the American musician, Will Rast. It was created by Bob Rast. For clothing line associated with Justin Timberlake, see https://www.williamrast.com/

Will Rast

Will Rast (Robert William Rast), born May 23, 1981, in Fairfax County, VA, is a Puebla, Mexico-based pianist and keyboards artist. He enjoys playing many musical styles and has toured the world with a wide range of artists from Pop R&B singer Mýa, to second wave Afrobeat pioneers, Antibalas and Argentine singer song writers Federico Aubele and Natalia Clavier. He appears on recordings with Ocote Soul Sounds, Antibalas, international Electronica superstars, Thievery Corporation and GRiZ, as well as recordings with Italian rap sensation, Jovanotti, Mexican hip-hop group, Banda Bastone, as well as many others and has released four records of his own original material with his group, The Funk Ark.

He has shared the stage as an accompanist with the likes of Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Judy Collins, Josh Ritter, Allen Toussaint, Sam Moore, Bettye LaVette, Richard Marx, Mike Gordon, Angelique Kidjo, Ledisi, Taj Mahal, Ruthie Foster, Todd Rundgren, Don Bryant, Kenny Loggins, Steve Earle, Billy Gibbons, CeeLo Green and Melissa Etheridge. As a result, has played in some of the most prestigious venues in the world, such as Carnegie Hall; the Apollo Theater; The Filmore in San Francisco; The Vienna Opera House; The Blue Note, Tokyo; The Hippodrome in Rome; London’s O2 Arena; Le Zenith in Paris, and at England's Glastonbury Festival.

After a seven-year run as keyboards player for Brooklyn-based afrobeat band Antibalas, including recording for their 2019 Grammy-nominated album Fu Chronicles (Best Global Music), Rast moved to New Orleans. He was on his way to becoming popular staple of the NOLA jazz scene when the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic struck. With clubs and venues being shut down because of the virus, work for musicians dried up and Will and his companion decided to move to her native Mexico to ride out the storm.

Childhood and Education

Will Rast began playing piano when he was five years old. His parents gave him a child-size keyboard and a set of Great Composer tapes for Christmas. After listening to a biography of Mozart, he came downstairs the next morning and began playing Mozart tunes on his new piano. He soon began studying classical piano and by the age of ten, he won first place in a young pianists competition at the Peabody School of Music (now The Peabody Institute) in Baltimore. That year, he also wrote a short piano piece called “Fantasia in A Minor,” which took a first in a National Association of Music Educators competition. He was invited to play his peace at the NAMM annual meeting in New Orleans, where he fell in love with jazz.

He attended a small Episcopal high school in Bethesda, Maryland, and anchored the school’s award winning jazz band.

Will studied at the Manhattan School of Music. As a student of world-renowned pianist, Fred Hirsch, he focused on jazz improvisation and theory. In 2000, while a sophomore at the Manhattan School, Will first saw Antibalas at the now-legendary club No. Moore in New York. After hearing Antibalas that night, Will says he was inspired to form his own large and small funk/groove related ensembles after returning home to Washington, D.C.

Career

After becoming well known as an accompanist and side man in multiple genres, including several tours with Grammy-winning pop singer, Mya and Argentine songwriter and guitarist Federico Aubele, Will caught the ear of Eric Hilton, producer and co-founder of Thievery Corporation, and began working with him on several recording projects related to their label, ESL Music, including Thievery Corporation’s seventh studio album "Culture of Fear." Another of these projects was the fourth record by Ocote Soul Sounds, the exciting collaboration between Grammy-winning Grupo Fantasma’s Adrian Quesada and Antibalas founder, Martin Perna. ESL also released two records by Will’s own project, The Funk Ark, the second of which (High Noon) produced critical acknowledgment that the group had become forerunners in the resurgence of the Afrobeat genre.