Kyle Martin brings JOEL the Band to Stockton | Recordnet.com

"I've got very huge hands. I'm 6-foot-4. I'm the tallest of the Piano Men. He's very humble, a very nice man. I was absolutely starstruck."

Martin, 32, has been sizing up Joel's music since he was a child in Roseville.

After touring nationally as the Piano Man for a year in "Movin' Out" - Twyla Tharp's Tony Award-winning Broadway tribute to Long Island, N.Y.'s real "Piano Man" - Martin formed his own Joel tribute band.

JOEL the Band performs Friday night at Lozano's Pacific Avenue Grill in Stockton.

"To have a good Billy Joel tribute band you have to have a good Billy," said bass player Larry Hart, 52, a Tracy native. "Otherwise you can't do it. We have a good Billy."

"This is something that lacks on the West Coast," singer/piano man Martin said of his five-piece group that includes drummer Raul Vargas, 52, like Hart a Tracy native and Tracy High School graduate. "You hear bands playing Billy Joel music, but nothing that's really a tribute.

"I love the energy of his music. I love playing his music, but we're also morphing into an original band. We're using this as a bridge."

Martin bridged the career expanse from being an " 'American Idol' reject" in 2004 to being selected from a field of 30,000 as one of the 10 Piano Men in "Movin' Out."

While taking vocal lessons in Los Angeles in 2005, Martin performed a version of Joel's "Summer Highland Falls." His instructor was impressed and suggested he take a shot at the Joel production. Martin dutifully submitted a demo recording and biography.

"I flew out to New York and didn't know what to expect," he said. "I found out it was the real deal after the audition. They said, 'We think you're right for Joel. Do you think you could do it?' I was going, 'Oh, um, uh, duh, huh.' He said, 'Let me re-phrase that: Do you want the job or not?' "

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