Piano improvisations by Randy Klein

I’m never really sure where my hands will touch down on the keyboard, but the moment my fingers feel the keys, ‘it’ the music simply flows through me. It is a most joyful moment, completely exhilarating. Yet, there is always the sensation of the ‘unknown’, not knowing where I am going. Improvising is, yes, joyful and exhilarating, but it is also a bit terrifying.

I have been blessed with this gift of improvisation. I don’t own the music and never feel that I do. If I try to control it, then the music tends to come out a bit rigid and not of my voice. Sometimes though, I do have the ability to guide the music, but for only a split second here or there. And when that happens, it takes merely a nudge to keep the ‘flow’ flowing. If I find that I’m critiquing myself as I’m playing, then the flow stops. When I realize that my playing has become self-conscious, I immediately end the improvisation. I lift my hands from the keyboard, wait a moment, collect myself, and begin again. Letting go and not trying to control the flow is when the music is the most beautiful and pure.

The piano improvisations on this CD were recorded in one session on April 23, 2008, in the evening. There was no overdubbing of any kind, no note fixes. You are hearing them as I played them. Originally, there were eighteen takes,
a little over eighty minutes of music. I took the liberty of editing out what I felt were the weaker performances, leaving only these twelve improvisations which I hope you enjoy.

-Randy Klein