Bill Swayze came to ASU in 1991 after a 25-year career as a professional pianist, bassist, percussionist, recording session and touring musician, and composer/arranger for film, advertising and industrial recording sessions in Detroit, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. An Improvisateur, Bill honed the skill of “composing while performing” during engagements in musical theatre, Motown, jazz and as a pianist for vocal and instrumental soloists. He served as Music Director for over 10 years for the improvisational comedy troupe, “Open Forum/Contemporary Insanity”. He studied improvisation and classical organ/bell carillon with Dr. Frederick L. Marriott, himself a student of Marcel Dupre. Professionally, Bill played with Steve Allen, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Brenda Russell and many other musical artists. Bill enjoys a professional career as a church musician (pianist/organist) and plays frequent dates as a pianist with his own and other Phoenix-area bands, while also accompanying for the Ballet Arizona professional dance company. Bill owns SweetBytes Recording Studio in Mesa, AZ. In 2006, Bill was appointed one of two University Carillonneurs who performs on ASU's Symphonic Carillon located in Old Main at the Tempe Campus.
At the School of Film, Dance and Theatre, Bill plays for dance classes in Postmodern Contemporary and Contemporary Ballet Technique and trains, supervises and assigns dance studio musicians for classes. Also Sound Designer for Dance performances, Bill operates the Concert Sound Studio 26 in the Nelson Fine Arts Center, and teaches sound production classes for Dance Performance Theatre.