Jessica Youssefi — Contributor
ACCENT: How long have you been composing and performing?
SKILES: My mother was a concert pianist and my dad was a jazz trumpet player, so truthfully I was around music from infancy on. I started plunking notes at the piano at age two or three.
ACCENT: As founder of Beto and the Fairlanes, how has the band’s success had an impact on your music career?
SKILES: We started playing at a place called Liberty Lunch. The city council would stop their meetings and come down to Liberty Lunch and dance to Beto and the Fairlanes. We are still going strong. I have been very blessed with the gift of these wonderful players that play my music and add something that no other band can achieve.
ACCENT: Who are some of your jazz and Latin music influences?
Photo by Jessica Youssefi
SKILES: I went to college and was influenced by pianists like Art Tatum and Bill Evans and of course the more modern ones — Chickeria, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and a pantheon of jazz icons. The Latin influence largely comes from Tito Puente, Pérez Prado and Ray Barretto.
ACCENT: What kind of recognition have you received as a musician?
SKILES: I have six, maybe seven CD’s of my band Beto and the Fairlanes and they’ve gained national recognition and critical acclaim. One got four stars in a magazine called Downbeat. I’ve performed and written for the Austin Symphony, the Louisville Symphony and the Laredo Symphony. But as far as making a hit record like Lady Gaga, I’m not there yet.
ACCENT: What is your fondest musical memory?
SKILES: I was the music director of singer Tish Hinojosa. She wanted to perform in front of orchestras, so I wrote arrangements, many of which were my compositions, for her orchestra. She collaborated on the lyrics. Standing in front of the [92-piece] orchestra — when I first heard them, I melted. I just had to look at them and say “do that again.” It was like driving a Ferrari.
ACCENT: How did your time in arranging and performing with the Unity Church of the Hills Austin shape you?
SKILES: Well, it influenced me a great deal because I had to be at the top of my game there. Each week we had different songs to learn and rehearse. I wrote the
charts for the band and worked with a vocalist really closely. That was a great education. The music genre was contemporary gospel, which is everything from rock-and-roll to traditional gospel. I was there for twelve years.
ACCENT: How has your wide-ranging musical background helped direct you in teaching music at ACC?
SKILES: I bring to bear all the experience that I’ve had over the past 66 years of being active on this planet. I focus it on points that the students need to learn. For example, how I got cheated by my record company, or my experience in California writing music for a feature film and encounters with the music business in Austin — from playing at the Armadillo to receiving an award at ACC.
ACCENT: What is your advice for ACC students or local musicians trying to make a name for themselves in the Austin music scene?
SKILES: It’s extremely difficult. Hang on to your inspiration and make sure that your passion is guiding your decisions and not some other reason.
ACCENT: During the 2010-2011 academic year, you received the ACC Teaching Excellence Award. What did that recognition mean to you?
SKILES: That recognition was a celebration of the relationship I have with the students. The really important thing is recognizing that I’ve had an impact on a wider scope than just ACC. I had an impact through my students.