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ENCORE PERFORMANCE ADDED: SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 7:30 PM
Crosstown Arts is pleased to present Duets for Mellotron, a live performance by Jonathan Kirkscey and Robby Grant, organized in collaboration with Winston Eggleston.
This unique performance experience—the world’s first Mellotron duet—features an obscure but ingenious keyboard instrument invented in the 1940s which was designed to reproduce the sound of virtually any acoustic, electromechanical, or synthesized instrument.
The Mellotron is essentially a giant cassette tape player, operated manually by pressing keys on a keyboard. When a key is struck, a prerecorded sound is played/heard, conceptually making the Mellotron an analog forerunner to digital sampling.
The M400 and a new M4000 cycling Mellotron, from Winston Eggleston’s small but diverse Mellotron collection, will be played at the performance. Eggleston will also share a series of new site-specific digital projections to complement the music.
The collaboration will result in a forthcoming limited-release vinyl recording of the performance and other duets for Mellotron composed by the artists.
Event tickets can be purchased in advance, online for $30 (includes a copy of the record) or $15 (performance only). Capacity is limited. Performance location is Crosstown Arts at 422 N. Cleveland, Memphis. A complimentary reception will take place prior to the performance.
TICKETS
Duets for Mellotron
Saturday, April 16, 8 pm doors/8:30 pm show (45 mins)
Crosstown Arts, 422 N. Cleveland
Tickets: $15 / $30 with record
SOLD OUT
Duets for Mellotron Encore
Sunday, April 17, 7:30 pm doors/8 pm show (45 mins)
Crosstown Arts, 422 N. Cleveland
Tickets: $15 / $30 with record
Organized by Robby Grant, Jonathan Kirkscey, and Winston Eggleston
More about the Mellotron:
The Mellotron is essentially a giant cassette tape player, operated manually by pressing keys on a keyboard. When a key is struck, a prerecorded sound is played/heard, conceptually making the Mellotron an analog forerunner to digital sampling.
An American engineer named Harry Chamberlin invented the precursor to the Mellotron in the late 1940s. While playing his Hammond organ, he wondered if it would be possible to create a keyboard instrument that allowed the player to reproduce a wider range of orchestral and brass sounds. Over the course of many decades and through the hands of several manufacturers and marketers, the Mellotron’s technology and appearance took many forms.
While the individual instruments sampled for the Mellotron were recorded in the highest available fidelity for the time, the wow and flutter of the tape playback mechanism, as well as the ability to affect volume and speed through the relative amount of pressure applied to the keys all contribute to the instrument’s characteristic sound.
The iconic sound of the Mellotron has helped shape important moments in the history of modern music, such as the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and work by The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, and Led Zeppelin, to name a few.
More about the artists/organizers:
Jonathan Kirkscey and Robby Grant have been playing music together for over 10 years with the band Mouserocket. Jonathan also performs with Glorie, String Theory, the Memphis Symphony, and recently scored the documentary “Best of Enemies.” Robby has performed at Crosstown previously with the experimental band, >mancontrol<. He most recently recorded and released “Let the Little Things Go” under the Vending Machine moniker.
