Do you want to play John Lennon’s piano?”
What musician would say no to that question? Hell, what human being capable only of plunking out “Chopsticks” would say no?
Fortunately, Paul Warthen is capable of much more than Chopsticks, as he has been playing professionally for 40 years. And, of course, he said yes.
He and his wife, Ashley, recently sold their home in Frederick, Maryland and moved permanently to Key West, where Paul now plays regularly at the Little Room Jazz Club and The Gardens Hotel.
But the momentous question was asked when the Warthens hired a professional piano mover to relocate their prized instruments.
The Warthens happened to be telling the mover a story about Paul having recently been playing at the Little Room Jazz Club, where someone had requested “Imagine.”
“That was Paul’s dad’s favorite song, so it’s always special to him when someone requests it,” Ashley Warthen told the Keys Weekly. “So we were telling our piano mover how that one request led to the whole bar singing along to ‘Imagine.’ It gave us goosebumps and was just a magical moment that told us we had made the right decision in moving full-time to Key West.”
While they were relaying that story about a song request in Key West, the piano mover replied, “Guess whose piano I’m moving in two weeks? John Lennon’s.”
The Baldwin Concert Grand piano was being moved to Alex Cooper’s Auction House in Towson, Maryland, where it will be sold to the highest bidder on Saturday, Sept. 30. Proceeds from auction of the piano, which could fetch $3 million to $5 million, will benefit a scholarship fund for Mercersburg Academy in Maryland.
“The mover invited us to the auction house to see the piano when they were installing it in the showroom, and while we were there, they asked Paul if he’d like to play it,” Ashley Warthen said. “He, of course, couldn’t say yes quickly enough. And then when we got there and he sat down on the bench, he was overwhelmed and said, ‘Oh God, I think I just forgot how to play.’”
But the skills came rushing back as Warthen played “Imagine” and “Let It Be” on Lennon’s piano — one that had been in the home he shared with Yoko Ono at the Dakota Apartments in New York City, where Lennon was shot and killed out front in December 1980.
But wait, the story gets better.
While playing the piano at the auction house, managers asked Warthen if he’d be willing to play the piano for a few hours during a Sept. 27 preview party for potential bidders. Again, the answer was yes.
The piano belonged not only to Lennon, but also, for a time, to Andy Warhol:
Lennon bought the instrument, which was built in 1929, from the Baldwin Factory Store in New York City in 1978.
“In 1979, John Lennon and Yoko Ono gifted the piano to Sam Green. … Then, in 1983, Green loaned the piano to Andy Warhol, who placed it prominently at the ‘Interview’ magazine office in New York City. In 1987, Green loaned the piano to the New York Academy of Art.
“…The piano’s journey from Lennon to Green and its temporary residence with Andy Warhol add layers of cultural and artistic context to its story,” the auction site states. “This piece represents an iconic era where music, art and cultural movements converged.”
