Call it a Fackwuh:
1. What are you talking about?
In the storied tradition of people who usually play something else playing the piano instead for an entire album (such as Mingus Plays Piano) Kaptain Karl has recorded an entire album playing the piano spontaneously. Accompanied on the drums by myself, the album was improvised and recorded in two days at Turtle Lake School Auditorium.
It's something we've talked about ever since I became aware of this particular subgenre of jazz. Karl's piano playing has always intrigued me and we've been excited about the idea for at least ten years.
We used my Tascam Porta Two cassette four-track, which is almost 24 years old and is no longer able to rewind or fast forward. This was not an issue, as there were no overdubs. We used two Shure SM58 microphones on the drum set and two on the piano. We filled four high bias cassettes with about 30 minutes of music on each.
2. Wow. What was the next step?
I played the tapes through four separate wires into ProTools (completed overnight on Feb. 20/21, 2012) and created a rough mix of the entire two hours. Karl and I and, to some extent you, should you choose to be on our steering committee, will listen to the pieces and choose favorites, create titles, and a running order for a 35-40 minute album.
3. When can I hear it?
You can listen and/or download rough mixes of all the pieces here. If you like something fancier, can listen to the first twenty pieces at the RPM Challenge with which I had such a good experience four years ago. Let us know what you think and perhaps your favorite piece will be on the final album, which will be modeled after the Rudy Van Gelder produced jazz albums of the A.D. 1950s and 1960s.
Further questions can be asked at Memphis' official facebook page and they will be answered here.
Memphis Evans has been best friends with Kaptain Karl for nearly twenty years. He is now a systems analyst for Gateway Soy.