life is also
the string
between
moments
of magic
I was always interested in combining music with spoken word and poetry. Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets and old recordings of Kerouac always tweaked my soul. I had read poetry over looped samples, instrumental tracks of hiphop songs and with various instruments but I never got around to contemplate making a cd with musicians until I met Robert Skiles.
Robert Skiles is one of the most gifted talents I have ever met. He doesn't play piano--the piano becomes a part of him. If you look deep into his eyes you can see black and white keys dancing on his soul.
I first jammed with Robert in his Creative Song Writing class. My intention was to write some folk songs but instead I asked Robert to play piano while I read a poem. It was a moment of spontaneity.
Robert liked my poetry and arranged us to record some tunes. The recordings were all spontaneous. Before we recorded I told him what the poem was about. Then he press record on his DAT and he'd translate whatever I was reading into his musical interpretation. One take, no rehearsing, pure spontaneity.
Mike Brouillet's cello interpretation worked the same way. I found out that he played cello when I was drunk at a low-key party. We were at an apartment drinking whiskey when Mike noticed a cello tucked away in the corner. The next minute he was playing some Mozart or something on the sucker. He let me have a try and I plucked the strings, performing a twisted version of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. That's when I asked Mike to record some songs with me.
The entire process took about two weeks--from recording to mixing to burning the cd's. The cd is a product of spontaneous creation and I am happy that these moments were captured.