Notes
"Here we are in our 2nd millennium, breaking down the space-time continuum." Thus spake the electric oracle on track 9 N.Y.E.P. from Volume 1 of Keys To The City. New York Electric Piano has grown from an instrumental trio for it's first 3 CDs to a sextet for their last disc KING MYSTERY to an octet for these 2 volumes of original music, one CD with vocals and one CD instrumental. Original members Pat Daugherty, keys/compositions, Aaron Comess, drums, and Tim Givens, upright bass, continue to lay the groundwork. Deanna Kirk, vocals. And Leon Gruenbaum, samchillian (an instrument he invented), return from King Mystery, and new players Teddy Kumpel, guitar, Erik Lawrence, horns, and Ava Farber, vocals, augment and complete the sound. Why a double CD? especially in this age of shrinking attention spans? While playing out last fall at NYC venues like the Cutting Room. Crash Mansion, and the Rockwood Music Hall the new material began to grow, then a string of winter-summer gigs at the mighty Zinc Bar, where the band plays 3 sets a night, gave NYEP a chance to explore a bevy of new compositions by Daugherty. When the band finally went into the studio they recorded the basics for all the new material in 1 day (!). When Aaron said, "Let's make a double CD" it was on, as expressed in track 11, This Time It's On. Only a few vocals were redone on the record and a few guest artists added for track 14, In This Land. One of the guest artists; Stephen Perkins from Jane's Addiction, adds some exotic percussion to this dark tune. Pat D. worked in Perkins' band Banyon for a string of East Coast gigs. Also playing on In This Land is Till Behler with some mesmerizing flute, and dance legend Jennifer Conley, who sings back-up. Keys To THe City was produced and mixed by Grammy nominated engineer Roman Klun. A singer-songwriter as well, who provided great ideas and ears through the whole process. He is currently producing music by painter Mark Kostabi that Aaron and Pat are playing on, which also features an up and comer named Ornette Coleman. The artwork for the cover was done by master artist Norton Wisdom, originator of the live-action painting school, and a fixture at the long running Lollapalooza festival. To sample more of our music browse around on CDBaby and check out our earlier work, visit our website for extended bios of the players and to get on our mailing list to be invited to our shows, look up our artsy YouTube videos. We keep expanding and the beauty seems to grow with us. Next CD: full orchestra and children's choir. Thanks for checking us out and thanks to everyone who has supported us.
