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Louis Landon’s name might not be familiar to you yet, but you may have heard his music. His recently-released second solo piano CD, “Peace Revolution!” has been in the Top 10 on the New Age Reporter charts for the past two months and is receiving great reviews. Landon has toured all over the world as a sideman and has composed music for film, video, and commercials. He is a career musician who has experienced the ups and downs that come with that lifestyle and is a colorful personality who is on a mission of peace. I think you’ll enjoy our chat.
Louis Landon was born in Yonkers, NY, the oldest of three brothers. He spent his first eight years in New York, and then his family moved to Studio City, CA. Louis’ mother was a housewife who worked as a bookkeeper and office manager when the opportunities arose. His father was a pianist, arranger, bandleader, conductor, actor, and cartoon character voice artist. Both of Louis’ brothers are musical, and one is a professional guitarist and vocalist.
Louis took piano lessons from the ages of 5-13, and returned to the piano in college. He played bass clarinet in his junior high band and began learning the guitar at fourteen. He has been concentrating on his own solo piano music since the release of his first solo piano CD, “unwind,” in 2005. Louis has been married for twenty years and has two daughters, Skye (18) and Brooke (16). (A full bio is on his website, listed below.)
KP: How old were you when you started improvising?
Landon: I tried to pick out melodies on the piano at the age of four, and would sometimes just sit and pretend I knew how to play. Real improvising began when I started guitar at fourteen. That filtered over to the piano where I started playing blues and rock tunes.
KP: How old were you when you wrote your first song?
Landon: I was fifteen when I started composing on the guitar. One of my first songs, "Rennie Rode," was picked up by Sandler and Young. My father was their musical director and played the song for them. They liked it and recorded it - definitely positive feedback!
KP: When did you know that you wanted to be a professional musician?
Landon: I knew after my first year at SUNY and changed my majors to composition and arranging.
KP: Did your parents object?
Landon: My parents were expecting me to go to college. They didn't want me to pursue music because they knew firsthand from my father’s experiences how difficult that path is.
KP: Who or what have been your biggest musical influences?
Landon: I would have to say that my father was my biggest influence. He played a lot of piano when I was growing up. He was totally self-taught, but knew a lot about music and theory from listening and playing. Other major influences have been Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, and McCoy Tyner, not necessarily in that order.
KP: What inspired you to start composing your own music?
Landon: I think it was the need to express myself. I also like the experience of creating music. One minute there is nothing, and the next minute there is a piece of music. It's a wonderful experience to create art.
KP: Have you done any composing for films and TV?
Landon: I have composed music for film, video, and commercials. I was the Vice-President of Music Production for Ross Enterprises in NYC before starting my own music house. I wrote the music for all of the National Basketball Association's “Best Plays and Bloopers” commercials for three years.
KP: Was that music piano and keyboard or orchestrations?
Landon: Most of the music I did was MIDI. I had one of the first MIDI studios in NYC, and it really helped me land jobs because I could do them quickly and priced reasonably.
KP: Was it fun scoring the basketball bloopers?
Landon: I did enjoy the music I scored for the NBA commercials. Some of it was hard work, though. Sometimes Paul Gilbert, who did the video, wanted something different from what I had provided. He knew what he wanted and he usually got that from me.
KP: What has been your most exciting musical moment or experience so far?
Landon: I've had so many amazing musical experiences - too many to go into - but I would have to say that one of the high points in my life was in a small town in Mexico. I was traveling to Belize with some guys to go diving. One night, we stopped at a big dance hall. My cousin had his guitar and I had a little Melodica (a keyboard instrument that you blow into). We met the leader of a Mexican band, and he saw our instruments. Between our poor Spanish and his poor English, we decided to play together on a big stage overlooking about five hundred couples dancing. We jammed for about two hours. I was trading lines with the sax player on my Melodica and the crowd was going crazy. We couldn't speak to each other with words, but the communication in the music was amazing.
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