ETTORE SALATI
This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more
KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)
KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more
New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard
New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more
Interview with KEVIN BARTLETT by Hande BURDG
This month's interview guest is KEVIN BARTLETT, musician, composer, bassist and guitarist extraordinaire, founder of the record label "Aural Gratification". Most of you know him as the co-producer of 9 Happy Rhodes albums. He lives in Woodstock, NY where he owns a newly built studio. He recently released his second CD "Glow In The Dark" as a follow up to his first album "Near Life Experience" which was released in 2003. The music from the Glow In The Dark album will be used in Tribe of Heart's upcoming release "Peaceable Kingdom". You can check the trailer HERE. For more information about Kevin you can check the AURAL GRATIFICATION WEBSITE or his MYSPACE PAGE. You can also find a review of his most recent release on our website HERE.
TPF: Your new album "Glow In The Dark" came out a few months ago. At first, the album title made me think that this was maybe an optimistic album but, when I looked at the song titles I thought maybe not, finally when I listened to it a few times I thought this is not really optimistic although it has elements of "hopefulness" in it. I know how colors are important to you and the cover of this CD is all black with a dark green graphic image, unlike your first CD cover which was gray and which also suited the title "Near Life Experience"… What are the correlations between the song themes, color coordination and title of this new CD, "Glow In The Dark"?
KB: Overall I do think this is an optimistic record. Perhaps more of a reminder that there is always light in the darkness, than an out and out, "hey let's look at the light". There's a verse in the album notes that reads, "How dim that distant ray of rescue. How blackened the heart, how bleak the night. How cruel the wind at our most resigned. Blood of spirit and dreams drained. Veins of vision and will collapse. Yet still the soul's candle, in the knowing silence will glow. Glow in the dark"
It basically means that the light is always present. We can choose to lose sight of it, or simply forget it amidst the myriad distractions and fears, but it still remains. Our hopes and desires, our "getting through the day", our forward motion is all a result of that light. I'm talking about our spirit's resilience and fortitude in the face of all our perceived obstacles and doubt. I'm a pretty firm believer in diving headlong into the dark and trying to face and embrace the fears. I think it's the only way to de-cloak the mysteries and their power over us. Once the unknown is familiar, it's not so frightening. Our inherent light allows us to take the brave steps and is that same light that illuminates the truth and roots of our fears. Once they're out in the open, they're rarely all that scary.
Every piece on the album, even the darkest ones, at one point or another, goes into the light. I'm musically always pointing to it, sometimes quite obviously. The only piece that was fairly mired in black was "Stethoscope", but that piece turns into "Resuscitation". It's actually one piece and a complete thought, but ID'd on the CD as tracks 6 and 7 for airplay and programming reasons. On every track you can hear the light. Sometimes flickering, sometimes dimming and sometimes taking center stage, the same way it does in our lives, individually and collectively. The dark green image of me (The 3 headed monster) is actually a static three dimensional data cloud of my head. The original scan on the computer screen it was captured on, could be rotated 360 degrees. You could actually look through my eyes outward from inside my head. This of course wouldn't fly once we went to print, so we showed 3 perspectives. The "we", is this case, is mostly really Tom Ditto, a brilliant scientist, inventor and artist who I've known since the 1970's and have performed with. His laser work was pioneering and has done 3D video for the Rolling Stones and even constructed a video for my old cohort, Happy Rhodes' "Feed The Fire". Sadly it never saw the light of day. So the image is mostly Tom's doing. I just showed up and had my head blasted with lasers. It's made up of random pixels and is designed to show the faintest form of existence and outline, that's meant to reflect the omnipresent spirit against the darkest background. Hence, "Glow in the Dark" This is probably an extremely verbose answer and I appreciate the opportunity to explain the deeper levels of this record. Thank you.
TPF: In an interview of yours that I read recently, you mentioned this second CD being a follow up to your first album "Near Life Experience", and possibly making a trilogy. Are you still planning on that?
KB: I'll try to put this in perspective as these albums to me, are movements in consciousness. Near Life Experience was just that. It was very personal, as one writes what one knows. I was learning a lot about fear and it's mortal enemy, love, during that time. I was getting clued in to the nature of how we construct personas and personalities from a very early age as our defense and survival mechanisms. Our "masks" to the world, if you will. While necessary and unavoidable, as we're socialized and domesticated, those constructs stand in the way of our true beings. The ones sans fear. This was troubling me and I was trying to learn how to move beyond such a fear based existence. It was also disappointing to look back on so much experience and see how much of it was created with so much distortion (thus the artwork in that case). An old friend of mine who is a staunch investigator of out of the body experiences was making analogies to people's near death experiences. I jokingly told him I was busy having a "near-life one". Kinda close to the real thing but somehow not quite. So that album was about that movement and phase of life where it's all being questioned. Highly personal. Glow in the Dark is less personal in a way because it's about our common experience of how do we get through this? What is this all about? How do we move further down the line? What are our gifts and abilities to deal with the questions?
I think this album begins to point to some of the concrete tools of evolution, for me personally and hopefully they're the tools we all possess. There will be a third work in this saga of consciousness honing and soul-sifting. At this point it seems to feel much more universal than personal. I'm not going to claim to have any more answers than I do now but I do know that my music is heading towards a place that's less about me and more about us. Somehow that just feels right and I think that the less ego is present, the more the ground is fertile for truth. Which is probably the only thing of interest to me. Music is just a place where I can kick all this stuff around and give it a voice I can relate to. A trilogy seems right, but it could take a lot more than that. I have a need to "get on with it" and there are other things I'd like to musically explore than the questions of consciousness.
TPF: "Chauncey Saucer Survives 2012"… I am intrigued by this title to be honest with you. What's happening in 2012? What about Chauncey?
KB: Well, apparently the Mayan calendar ends on Dec 21st, the Solstice, 2012. The milky way galaxy is supposed to be at the absolute center of our known universe and there is all this hub bub about THE END! Who knows? I know people who are absolutely convinced of that. Personally I'm not taking it so literally. Perhaps it's marking the end of something but that would also mark the beginning of something else. Maybe a new form of consciousness or behavior towards each other and our planet. Maybe the end of this civilization? They all do end at some point don't they? I don't know, but I think that physical or not we will continue. Chauncey Saucer is no one special. He is "Everyman". He is you. He is that light that can't be erased even in the face of global disaster. He gets up in the morning of Dec. 22nd, 2012 or January 1st 2013 and he's intact, physical or not. There is so much shit on the internet about doomsday and 2012 and the end and all of the signs, you could read for days. See what I mean about how attached to our fears we are? Chauncey Saucer is laughing in the face of that. If we're all gonna go, we'll all go together. So what?
TPF: If this CD is the soundtrack to the movie in my head here is the concept I created: The earth is in the dark ages, it doesn't take rocket scientist to realize that. People are getting more and more shallow in the struggles of every day life and we are always angry at something most of the time and where would this bad energy take us other than destroying us eventually? We are all hoping that something will change but only a handful of people really seem to care about it, so maybe there is something right around the corner only for those who care. That's why I thought maybe the number 2012 was a turning point on the CD since that song has some kind of a climactic sound as well, and the titles that follow are "Moon v. Moon" "Stethoscope" "Resuscitation" and "Glow In The Dark". It would be an expected finale though if you ended up the CD with "Glow In The Dark" however you suddenly shift the direction with the last two songs, and that's why I think it may not be as hopeful as we hope it would be. So in this sense I find a connection between "Moon v. Moon" and "Next Life… Let's Wave To Each Other" and that is: It may be as simple as the end of a relationship and being worlds apart, or end of an age, and in a more sci-fi concept being worlds apart. I realize my question got a bit detailed, but is my observation far off?
KB: Your observation is pretty close to dead on. Alot of people have questioned why Glow in the Dark isn't the final piece. I guess I've never been a fan of happy endings when there is still so much more work to be done. Glow in the Dark is perhaps the vision of joy and peace that's possible to attain, but we're not really at that point yet to receive our rewards are we ? It's that very notion of how it could truly be if we get our shit together. Like Alanis Morissette's "Utopia" in a way. The direction shift towards the album's end is a "get your head out of the clouds and get back to work" tap on the shoulder. It's done though in a loving way. While "Next Life...." started as something fairly personal, it wound up being much more about Next Life, let's be kinder to each other. Waving is a much more civil interaction than combativeness. I also believe that the "reward" comes from the process. We're too result orientated. So if we start practicing NOW perhaps our "next life" starts in 2013. It's only 5 years away. All in all this album merely points to the light and the dark and asks, where are you? What consumes you? What do you attract? And what are your choices? They're all valid and at the same time always in need of examination. I would love it if this record could actually remind people that their psyches are beautiful wonderful things but need constant tending and awareness of their choices. But who am I kidding? Most people see it as another CD. Most reviewers want to look at the samples I'm using or the guitar sounds or the "who does it sound like" aspect. My dreams are like pushing sand uphill, but every once in a while I find out that someone was moved to thought or realization by my music. To me that's the home run! Even if I sell 9 copies.
TPF: You play a lot of instruments and if there are things you don't play you got them all at your finger tips with the touch of a button on your computer. How does it feel to be able to do everything on your own without needing anyone?
KB: I guess what I am is a composer. There is no need for outside input or help when I'm writing and this goes to your next question in some ways. Actualizing what I hear and try to write is a somewhat different mindset. Today's technology does afford me instant feedback and easier audio experimentation. I spent most of my life in bands. Democracy doesn't really work for too long, especially if there are a few writers. Just ask George Harrison. It's a competition sometimes and most certainly a power struggle. There's usually one or two dominant forces that dictate what the musical direction is to be. I found if I had a creative idea, I didn't want to have to lobby for it or sell it to anyone. I wanted to actualize it period. If it sucked, it sucked, but I still wanted the space and consideration to flush it out. That's easily achieved by one's self. It feels great to just go for it. I'll know at some point if it's to live or die, that's what I do. I make musical choices for a living and being responsible for them keeps me on my toes. Doesn't mean I still don't make a few lame decisions, but hopefully that's when I learn and grow. Can you imagine a painter standing in front of his easel and canvas with 4 or 5 people behind him with wet brushes?
Computers and sample libraries are great but the "button at my fingertips" is a bit of a misconception. Usually there's an auditioning process of libraries and timbres. They're not always easily found or have to be truncated or retuned and EQ'd and placed and ultimately, performed and engineered. Days can go by. For instance, I do not play the cello. I have many cello samples from various libraries and some I've painstakingly recorded myself. If I have a phrase or melody that's begging for a cello, I have to find one that fits the musical style. Some are wonderful, others not so, but still usable, depending on the context. Then there is the range of the instrument that needs to be adhered to and all the bowing and fingering articulations that must be addressed, again depending on how it's to be used in a piece. Does it need to sound authentic? Does it have to cut through the mix? Is it rhythmic or melodic or both? Is there one or eight? Mouse clicking is just the beginning. Alot of producers and directors, when I do commercial or film work, make that assumption that there's a computer and some samples, how hard could it be? Here's actually an occasion when I could use a cellist, but I record as I write and I would have to have a cellist chained to the wall and always ready.
TPF: What is the typical process of writing a song for you? Does it usually happen on the computer?
KB: The computer is merely my tape recorder. The cool thing is that there is an unlimited amount of tracks and you can edit as you can on a word processor. So it's always on when I write at the ready. Usually I sit with a guitar or am at the piano and I just begin to play. If something catches my fancy I put it down and begin the journey of choices. I read once in a book called Art and Fear (required reading) that once the painter makes his first brushstroke, the initial creative impulse, the juice we live for as artists, is pretty much over. From that point it's about using your skill and craft to bring it home. It then becomes work. You've committed yourself. Same in composing, no different. My typical process however is always undergoing examination on my end. I used to always sit and start playing and am now trying as hard as I can to acquire the discipline of sitting in the silence and listening for something to come my way. I've found that that's where the gold is. It's in the silence. All of a sudden you just start hearing the most amazing stuff in your head. Can't say where it's coming from, but it's usually a scramble to start learning it and getting it down on something. It seems to be far more interesting and developed than what I come up with if I just start playing. I've often said I feel like a stenographer. My goal is to become a really good one.
TPF: I pretty much read every single review written about your CD's. There are two things that everyone definitely agrees: You are a genius and you are a guitar wizard. Now AKA "mutant guitarist" what can you tell us about your guitar sound? We all dig it obviously…
KB: I'm sorry but this flattery makes me laugh. I am truly neither. I also think in our pop culture that the word "genius" is tossed about rather freely. I do think that John Diliberto may have hit it on the head though, calling me a "mutant guitarist". I am a sound freak. I love the infinite ways sound is created, so you can imagine how I flipped at the introduction of portable synthesizers in the 70's. Suddenly any sound was available to pursue and record. I was never a technically good guitarist and am still working on that, but after filling my ears with Hendrix and Beck and Page and Harrison, Fripp and the like, I felt comfortable viewing the electric guitar as a sound generator. Just another controller device. I remember an interview with Steve Hackett who had the same take about his Les Paul. He said something to the effect that it was just a means to generate sound through all his electronics. Mind you he's also a very accomplished classical guitarist with great technique. But once you're plugged in it becomes more about what you're plugged in to. My style is a mish mash of trying to emulate sounds I've loved of other players and experimenting with electronics and triggers. But all the players I love are running their guitars through arsenals of electronic effects. At some point you're really combining a controlling of lots of chained devices with your note selection. Are you playing the guitar or are you wrangling sound? A little of both I suspect My approach to the instrument is a little skewed. I can play the chords and scales and have been known to sit with acoustic guitars for days but given my druthers I'd be more inclined to run the signal through a synthesizer and throw it off a building into a vat of jello. Of course I'd record it and use the sample somewhere. On a similar note. have you ever seen Adrian Belew playing his guitar on the floor with barbeque utensils?
TPF: Bass is your first instrument, and you always say you started playing guitar out of necessity. But isn't it even more difficult to find a good bass player than to find a good guitarist? And you are certainly not the "I am just a rhythm section guy" type of bassist, you literally breathe new life into the songs with your bass. How do you feel when someone else plays it instead of you?
KB: Playing bass is like having sex for me. It's a very earthy, primal place in an ensemble. It is the glue that holds the rhythm and melody together. At least in modern amplified music. It came very naturally to me (as did sex). I love drumming, but didn't really pursue it as an instrument. Playing bass allowed me to be a part of the percussion kit, bringing all that to the melodic instruments and in turn carrying all that tonality back to the drummer. That's a very cool place to be when the groove is on. A little hard to describe, but it's a very physical instrument in that it's not as much about effects as it is your hands and arms and body. I rarely ever use another bassist except in live performance because my priority in that arena is more of a conductor. That's easier to do with the guitar for some reason. It's that sound thing. With the music from these newest albums, I haven't really rehearsed a full ensemble yet. I've done a few sessions with a great bassist named Ray Jung, who I first played with in one of Happy's bands, and Paul Borello on drums. We went through some stuff from Near Life and I kind of naturally played keyboards and guitar to get us through the material. I'm pretty insistant on Ray playing the bass parts I wrote, but he's such a good player, his embellishments are welcomed....................sometimes. The most fun with the players I use is that we're all fairly proficient on a number of instruments. So we can mix and match and switch around from song to song. Truth be told there are times when I wish I was just the bass player. Bass feels like home.
TPF: I like it how when you use the sound samples you also like to modify them and not always use them in their raw forms. How did you start using the sample libraries, and how do you decide on what to pick? Do you first find a sample to use as a theme or do you search for something after you write the song?
KB: Samples. Where to begin? Samples are simply pre-recorded sounds. They can be as varied as a drum loop phrase, an orchestral instrument, a short wave radio signal, a vocal performance or just noise. It's endless. I first started using samples after hanging around David Torn and watching him work. He gave me a copy of one the libraries he created. Inside the CD it states that he wants the user to not use the samples verbatim. Mess'em up, play around with them. Which really makes sense because if we don't personalize these libraries, everything is going to wind up sounding the same. This is true of the more sonic and esoteric libraries. An orchestral library is an example of where you don't want to change the sound because you're trying to compose something that sounds more authentic. Of course you can always mess with it if you want, but if I need an oboe it's usually because I need an oboe. David is such a sonic master and is known world wide for his looping innovations as well as his records and film scores. He turned me on to Logic (my sequencer of choice) and also opened my eyes to guitar looping in a new way. I have a library of guitar loops that I made myself, that I will load and edit in the computer and play from the keyboard to make my own atmospheres. There are a few libraries where other artists have done pretty much the same thing (Ian Boddy comes to mind) that are just gorgeous. I'll use these too but try to put my personal stamp on them. There are a few that are just too cool the way they are, so I'll just out and out steal those and write within and around them. I'd say that almost all my compositions start rhythmically or melodically. Samples come later as colors or embellishments or atmospheres.
TPF: Song writing, mixing, engineering, producing, marketing, film scoring, commercial jingles, record company, studio, music store, lighting…. Did I count everything? Is there anything in music business that you have yet to get involved with?
KB: I suppose I've seen it from all sides. I've been at this art/business for 40 something years in one form or another and most of that time it's been about survival. So any gig is a good gig if it keeps you around what you love. I've worked in box offices and done concert promotion and even artist management. The skill set is always informing the skill set. I'm not a live sound engineer, but have played enough live shows and recorded enough albums where I get how it's really done. I was asked to mix the Strawbs a couple of years ago, because the engineer who would normally have done it, was ill and knew I knew what the deal was. I was onstage for three straight days at the "Day In The Garden" Festival commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival at the original site. I was checking mics and signal for the audio recording truck. That's not a regular gig for me but the years of stages and studios made it a no-brainer. I got to work with Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, Pete Townshend, Donovan, Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, The Goo Goo Dolls and god knows who else, in an indirect but crucial manner. It's alot about contacts in this business and there are millions of ways to make them. By doing that show I got to meet monitor engineers, front of house guys, roadies, promoters, managers, players, some of which I've since worked with and will hire for my own touring. I've yet to get involved with Madonna, but the day is still young.
TPF: In your interview with Susan Barnett your answer to her question "What are you doing?" was "Trying hard not to get a day time job". Did you ever have a regular day time job outside the music business?
KB: You bet!! Here's the list. Janitor, stock clerk, dock worker, bartender, gas station attendant, photo-hut driver. Of course these are the gigs that most musicians do for the rent and food. They're not so taxing and allow the other half of the day for music. I also worked a few "music related" jobs such as accompanying jazz and modern and ballet classes, teaching sound improv to dancers, teaching bass, a disco band, record stores, etc. to make ends meet. As with any passionate artist, you do what you have to do to keep an environment afloat where you can create, even if it's for just part of your day. It's like temp work. You never think you're going to be stuck because your life is about aiming at something else.
TPF: You have been playing in bars since when you were 12 or 13... What were your parents thinking when you were doing that? Did they know about it? If so how did they react to it?
KB: Oh yeah, they knew about it. Most of the gigs at that age were school dances and pool parties, but as we got better, so did the paying gigs. Bars! You had to be 18 to be in a bar let alone play at one. Someone would get me a driver's license of some 40 year old guy and I'd flash it to the owner and we'd be good. My Mom was always very encouraging of my pursuit of the arts. Probably a European thing. And God only knows what my Dad was thinking (about anything). They were pretty good though about driving me to rehearsals and gigs, if I needed and probably thought if I could get my ass up and get to school and have decent grades, what was the harm? Little did they know. At that time I was still playing ball, so my dad was cool with it to a point. I was also making money, every parents dream. When I was 15, I started working at a pretty sizable venue doing psychedelic light shows. this was in 1968 and the bands that came through there were people like Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, Janis Joplin, Chicago, Vanilla Fudge, The Velvet Underground, Wilson Pickett, and Buddy Miles with Jim McCarty. It was like Upstate New York's Fillmore. Within a year I became an assistant manager and was doing the sound, lights and stage managing, making sure these shows all went off technically. No one ever asked to see proof of age. I said I was 18 and that was good enough. I even had to escort the State Liquor Authority around and helped set up a program to detect underage drinking and fraudulent identification. How clueless were those guys? My Dad came up to see the place and here was his kid in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lights and gear, making money and still going to high school. I think on some level he was cool with it all. It was, after all, a job and I kept coming home unscathed. It's affect on me was more profound. I was living half of my days at ground zero of the counter culture. I worked there for 2 1/2 years and found High School pretty trite after awhile. There was no John Bonham reducing a Pepsi machine to rubble or Hell's Angels cheering amplifier destruction in History Class. There were no drugs, screaming guitars, 20 something women or B.B.King sitting down with me and explaining the "Lucille" story in Math. It was a pretty crazy time for me. There was also the intellectual stimulation there is hanging with artists and people who were questioning everything at that time. School was only questioning if blue jeans could be allowed or what time the freakin' pep rally was to begin.
TPF: If you were not a musician what would you be?
KB: EMPLOYED!!! (rim shot goes here) I don't know really. I was a gifted athlete and for a long time was expected to play baseball professionally. I still love and study the game. I have a huge interest in Geology and would've enjoyed a life of field work. So many things interest me. I've had more than one therapist tell me I should be a therapist. I'm on a waiting list to go to sauce school at a culinary institute and I wish I was a better golfer. I imagine though that I'd be looking for some outlet of expression and some form of examination. I love the mysteries almost as much as I love going after them.
TPF: Besides Peter Hammill who else do you enjoy listening to? Are there any contemporary musicians you enjoy?
KB: I listen to a lot of people. I'm constantly checking out new production techniques so I hear a lot of stuff. Presently I'm listening to Imogen Heap and the new Alanis Morissette record. There are some production things that are knocking me over. Great stuff!!! I was up for a symphony commission, which I don't think is going to happen now, but I was listening to a ton of Beethoven and Mahler, trying to get my ears up to speed. I've been getting a fair amount of airplay with the new album on Echoes lately, so I tune in to check out the context and company. I hear amazing players there. I still listen to all the stuff I grew up with and completely love re-hearing it with "professional" ears. Some of the magic is lost but I think the appreciation has grown. I also watch a fair amount of films and study the score as it plays. August Rush, from a sonic perspective put a huge smile on my face. Great work !! My Peter Hammill thing, aside from the brilliant lyrical content and sonic wizardry, is the raw honesty. I love that! Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel, Chris Whitley for the same reason. Chances are if the work is honest and really from the heart, I'm going to respond to it and enjoy it's confirming nature. Art should make us feel alive and connected or at least make us think about the ways we may not be.
TPF: Are you planning any concerts any time soon to promote your new CD?
KB: I've always got that in the back of my mind. I haven't done a live show in almost 10 years and sorely miss it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say YES! It's mostly a matter of time and getting all the right players on the same page. People have to eat and have a place to stay and enough gigs and paychecks to be involved. While I'm always trying to facilitate that, it's a pretty huge deal to imagine fitting in to the schedule of films, commercials and other albums. Send in the Clones. I just built a new studio and a lot of my time is going into all the finishing touches and design elements. It's my new "fortress of solitude" and was fortunate enough to do it from the ground up, so completing it is a very high priority. It is large enough to work as a rehearsal space as well, so in that regard it will go a long way towards live performance. I try to rehearse solo versions of the material as well as think in terms of 2 or 3 players and a fuller ensemble. But the itch is definitely there and will be scratched. I miss the smell of the crowds and the roar of the greasepaint too much. We'll keep you posted.
TPF: Kevin, thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions!
KB: Thanks for this opportunity to ramble on and thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening. Cheers !
You can purchase Kevin's albums on CD BABY and AMAZON.COM
