William Allen Mays (born February 5, 1944) is a jazz pianist from Sacramento California who is normally referred to as "Bill Mays." He came from a musical family and at sixteen he became interested in jazz at an Earl Hines concert.
From 1969 to the early 1980s he worked in Los Angeles accompanying Sarah Vaughan, Al Jarreau, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Anita O'Day and other singers, and also worked with artists such as Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank, Red Mitchell, Bobby Shew, Ernie Watts, Abe Laboriel, Tom Scott, Dr. L. Subramanian, and Frank Zappa. Later, in 1984, he moved to New York City. He had been best known as a sideman or accompanist, but starting in the 1990s he began to do more work as a bandleader, composer, and arranger. From the 1970s on, he recorded over a dozen albums under his own name, and has been heard on many more by others.