Ken Batts’ piano wows Wellesley diners

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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter

On Wednesday afternoon, Wellesley’s seniors were treated to chicken sandwiches, vegetable soup, a blueberry muffin and Ken Batts’ version of The Great American songbook on the piano.

You wouldn’t know it, but Batts only started playing the piano seven years ago after first playing the guitar. Now, he teaches adults and spends four days a month providing background music for lunch at the Tolles Parsons Center.

But while Batts’ music was meant for the background, it didn’t take long for his memorable songs to work their way into the foreground. On more than one occasion, diners’ eyes lit up when they realized they knew what song Batts was playing. When Batts played “Danny Boy,” for example, more than a few voices could be heard singing along.

Batts plays a wide variety of music, ranging from The Beatles - who he notes that both he and the seniors like because “we were young when they came out” - to Celtic music, classical music from Schubert, and the Great American Songbook of the 30s and 40s. It is that last collection of music which contains what Batts stated was a perennial crowd favorite: Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler’s 1933 classic, “Stormy Weather.”

Batts noted that the luncheon concerts provide a good chance for him to brush up on his skills in front of an audience. “I do it four times a month just for the fun of it, really,” he commented. “I live in Wellesley - in theory, I’m the target audience - and it’s a good chance to polish my skills.”

Batts is not the only entertainer to play for the lunch. The Tolles-Parson Center has hosted a few different pianists, cellists, and even a close-up magician who entertained diners with a variety of coin and card magic.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ken Batts’ music from the seniors’ youth provided all the magic the Tolles-Parsons Center would need.