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KP: You have been a professional musician virtually all of your adult life. Were there a lot of hard times, or has it been a good way to make a living?
Landon: I have definitely paid my dues in this business. I have literally gone hungry for my art. I was in one band who lived on a box of frozen chicken that was left over from a BBQ where we played. That's all we had to eat all week, and we were also having trouble paying the rent. It was bad. I also lived the life of a poor artist around Boston. I was playing a lot, but made very little money. I was living in a real dump of an apartment, but I had no choice in the matter - I had to follow my dream. When it was good, it was really good. I toured with Baryshnikov and Company during the summers from 1983 to 1986. (I was supposed to go out in 1987, but the tour was canceled at the last minute due to Misha's knee surgery.) Touring with Mikhail Baryshnikov was the highest level of touring I have ever experienced. We had our own plane and limos took us to the plane. It doesn't get much better than that! I double-dated with Misha, too. Along with the four summer tours with Misha, we did a few weeks in Japan and an AIDS benefit performance in Paris for Francois Mitterand other French dignitaries. So, I've experienced some of the best and worst times that music has to offer.
KP: What was your job when you toured with Baryshnikov?
Landon: Basically, I covered all the orchestral parts and the conductor, Paul Connelly, played the piano. It was a small ensemble and we had to sound like an orchestra. We were one of the first touring units to integrate MIDI into performance.
KP: With such a varied career in so many genres of music, what brought you back to solo piano?
Landon: It’s funny how that happened. I was rehearsing with Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers at a studio in the home of architect Paul Hirsch. He had a Kawai piano there and was recording the rehearsal just for fun. Afterwards, he called me over and told me to listen. I was knocked out by the piano sound that he had and told him that I wanted to record a solo piano CD there. I went back a month or so later with the intention of recording a jazz CD, but for some reason, every time I tried to record the tunes I went in there with, the music would slow down and I would get caught up in the sound of the piano. Paul did this thing with the temperature and the humidity, and the piano would start to sing. I just went with it, and in no time I had a new age CD recorded. Everything was very down- tempo - kind of the opposite of my crazy life. It was my way to go somewhere calm and peaceful.
KP: Do you still play a lot of jazz?
Landon: Not anymore. I pick up some gigs here and there, but I don't live and breathe jazz like a lot of the players I play with. I don't practice and play that stuff day in and day out. To be a jazz player is to be constantly listening and stretching the limits of harmonic knowledge and rhythm. For me, there came a point when I realized that that was not me. I wanted to simplify and was no longer interested in how complex my chord voicings were or how far out I could go playing 3 against 4 and still be able to keep that all together over a song form. It wasn't me.
KP: You have a couple of concerts coming up with David Nevue and the Whisperings group. Where are they?
Landon: I am playing a concert with David Nevue in Spring Valley, NY on May 3. It is not an "official" Whisperings concert, because it is just the two of us. The Whisperings concert is in York, PA on May 7 and features David Nevue, Jace Vek, Greg Maroney, and me.
KP: What a lineup! I wish I could be there! Is there a particular philosophy that you try to convey in your music?
Landon: I am on a peace mission. My personal mission statement is to create a peaceful world by writing, recording, and performing music from the heart.
KP: Are there any specific pieces that you feel say the most about who you are as a person?
Landon: I would have to say “Peaceful” from my first CD, “unwind,” and “Peace Revolution!” from my new album, as they are the subjects of my mission.
KP: Do you have any favorites of your pieces?
Landon: That would have to be “Camelot” on “Peace Revolution!” - a new, more neoclassical direction for me.
KP: How much of “Peace Revolution!” is improvised?
Landon: There is improvisation in all of the tracks on the CD, but it varies from piece to piece how much is improvised. “Impromptu,” which was tagged onto the CD as an epilogue, came out of a 25-minute improvisation in the studio, and was actually pieced together. (It’s the only edited track on the CD - everything else was recorded as played.) “Elegant Lady” was composed and recorded on the spot. The rest of the pieces were composed before going into the studio. Some of them were from my "Joyous Spirit" CD.
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