But the structure of the melodies was always classical, even though the world never heard it that way. Obviously, when Billy came up with these melodies he ended up turning them into fantastic pop songs. Then recently he asked me to try another piece with a simpler approach, and that’s when I came up with the “Uptown Girl Sonatina.” It works great in the format of a piano sonata. About twenty years ago, he asked me to create a classical piano version of “For the Longest Time.” So I sat down and started messing with it, and sure enough, it really lent itself perfectly to that genre. On those two songs the melodies and chordal structures are very classical. I spoke to Joel about his love for Beethoven and classical music and he talked about the classical nature of his own songs, namely “Uptown Girl” and “The Longest Time.” You’ve done classical arrangements of both for Spirio, Steinway’s player piano. The strength of the material is in the core of the songs: great lyrics, great melodies, well structured songs. His songs survive the generations and they survive genre changes and they lend themselves nicely to different types of arrangements, even when other artists cover them. And he’s got lots of them the catalog is just amazing. At the core of any arrangement, first there has to be a great song. They’re well crafted and well thought through and just brilliant songs. Well, the songs are just really well written. What is it about the material that makes it able to sustain these transitions in venue? If we look at Billy Joel as an artist who has his roots in the lounge piano bar scene, it’s remarkable to see how these songs - for piano and voice - can be adapted for arena shows and for Broadway. But the structure of the melodies was always classical.” “ Billy turned these melodies into fantastic pop songs. Then, if needed, during the show I’ll cue the sections of the song as we play it. I’ll run the rehearsal and listen carefully as we’re playing it to make sure that everybody’s got their parts correct. We have great singers in the band and we have a lot of multi-instrumentalists, so I work that out and figure out who’s going to do what. I need to make sure that all the parts are distributed properly, that everything’s being covered by somebody. What is it that needs to get done to then arrange that song for the band? So let’s say Joel brings a tune back to the set that you guys haven’t played in a while. A lot of times they come about at the last minute, so my job is to help coordinate that and make sure everything goes smoothly with the arrangements. And sometimes we have guest artists last night we had Bryan Adams join us. Sometimes we do songs we haven’t done in a long time, and sometimes we put songs in that we’ve never done. With the Madison Square Garden residency that we’re doing, last night was our fifty-fifth consecutive sell-out show there in fifty-five months - it’s really extraordinary! Since we’re doing so many shows in a row at the same venue, we like to mix up the set list a little bit.
We don’t rehearse very often because we’ve been doing this for quite a while. I make sure everybody’s playing the right chords, the right parts, those types of things. I’ll write horn charts if need be, coordinate background vocals, run rehearsals at sound check, things like that.
I’m the liaison between him and the band, so if he wants to do a song or make a change to an arrangement he contacts me, I alert the band, then I follow through to make sure everything gets carried out. What does being Billy Joel’s music director entail? I joined the band in 1993 just before rehearsals for the River of Dreams tour. I’m with Billy Joel now for twenty-five years. How long have you been working with Billy Joel? Rosenthal has worked with Billy Joel for over a quarter century, serving first as his keyboardist and then adding the role of his musical director. Rosenthal spoke with our Editor in Chief, Ben Finane, on his work with and arrangements for Billy Joel, namely for the Steinway & Sons Spirio, the world’s finest high resolution player piano. Musical director, keyboardist, producer, orchestrator and touring professional, David Rosenthal’s multi-faceted career has taken him to studios and stages across the globe with many of the most prominent artists in the world.
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