| FOUND PIANOS
In the course of my career as what has been called an
"itinerant pianist," I have had the occasion to play many
different pianos in many different rooms, from grand to humble.
The selections on this CD represent a sampling of recordings I
have made around southeastern Connecticut. Armed with a Sony
minidisc recorder and a stereo microphone, I proceeded to document
my stream-of-consciousness responses to various pianos and their
environments, occasionally under the cover of stealth. The
locations of the recordings are as follows: Lyman Allyn Museum,
New London; Pine Point School, Stonington; Calvary Episcopal
Church, Stonington; Harkness Chapel, Connecticut College, New
London; the home of Jeanne and Peter Humphrey, Stonington; the
home of Carol and Hank Mann, Stonington. With the exception of
the Harkness Chapel sessions, these are "field" recordings, with
some of the vagaries often associated with that approach. The
Harkness recordings were made as an afterthought, following a
scheduled session I had done for a friend of mine on the chapel's
pipe organ. The recorder was still running, so I opened the
seven-foot Steinway and had some fun. My thanks to Connecticut
College recording engineer Jim McNeish for his work in making
these pieces available for this CD. I stopped by the Lyman Allyn
Museum to check out the piano in preparation for an upcoming gig
there...a reception of some kind. I was expecting to find the
Steinway grand which I had played before, but, to my
disappointment, in its place was a Kreutzmann grand. It did,
however, perform rather nicely. Please pardon the noisy
fingernail action on this piece. I recorded several selections on
the small Steinway at Calvary Church in Stonington Borough, and
have included one here. The music room at Pine Point School, also
in Stonington, has an old Chickering grand which has been around
many blocks many times, but I had time to kill, waiting for piano
students, and I just happened to have the recorder with me. Jeanne
and Peter Humphrey kindly opened their home to me for some
recordings on Jeanne's beautiful Steinway A from the 20s. The
final selection, motor 4: in 3 movements, was recorded there. My
friend, student, and fellow improviser Hank Mann invited me to do
some recording on his seven-foot Baldwin. These are the most
recent recordings on the CD, and I had upgraded my portable
recording system by then, resulting in a much improved sound. All
of the recordings on this album were a real pleasure to make. No
planning, no goals, not trying to play in a certain style, not
thinking about who my potential audience might be, and not
worrying (too much) about mistakes or bench squeaks. (OK, the
squeaks are kind of annoying, I know.) I enjoy the freedom of
this approach to recording. This is my fourth album of solo piano
art, and I'm sticking by my story. Enjoy. |