In
2014, keyboardist Peter Kater released his album Etheria
on CD and in 2015 he follows with his latest solo piano album
called Love. Kater's first solo piano release
in over ten years, the 13 track, 72 minute Love CD is filled
with a range of deeply memorable and meditative piano musings. When
it comes to heartfelt, piano performance and music that matches, there
are just a few artists that are in the same class as Kater. Commenting
on the Love CD, Kater adds, “These improvisations and
compositions were recorded over the last three years in the heat of
the moment. These are musical portraits of my heart, ripe with all
the emotions, joys, complexities, excitement, pains and revelations
of the various manifestations and landscapes of love.” It’s
incredible to learn that Kater has released some 60 recordings in
a catalog of instrumental music magic that goes way back to 1983,
so for those music fans first getting into his music, there’s
plenty of great sounds to catch up on. A good place to tune into the
sound and vision of his music, Peter Kater’s Love CD is
superbly recorded, with eye-catching packaging to match and is filled
with Peter’s own track by track notes of the sentiments behind
these songs. Peter Kater’s fourth album for the Mysterium Music
label, Love is a timeless solo piano album for music lovers
to delight in. www.PeterKater.com
/ www.MysteriumMusic.com
mwe3.com presents an interview
with
Peter Kater
mwe3:
Are you still in Hawaii now or have you moved back to the mainland?
Anyway, between Hawaii, L.A. and Colorado, I can’t think of 3
cooler places to live and work! What’s your favorite place to
live / work of all those 3?
Peter Kater: L.A. is my favorite place to work. Hawaii is my
favorite place to live and Colorado is one of my favorite places to
visit.
mwe3: Just when you thought Etheria could kind of categorize
your music, you change course for the 2014 CD release of Love,
which is completely different. From the “ether” to the
profound feelings of love. Are the two polar opposites? Is Love, for
all it’s metaphysical side effects, harder to deal with than
the unknown cosmic notions of where we fit in the planets and stars?
Peter Kater: If you go back and look at my CDs you’ll
find that most of them are a bit different and some very different.
Diversity is a beautiful thing. And yes, Love is harder to deal with
and yet ultimately more rewarding as well. With the cosmos we’re
free to muse and project wonderful and awe-inspiring things upon a
relatively empty and very large canvas. With “love” we’re
dealing with another human being. It doesn't matter how much they
stimulate our fantasy in the very beginning... ultimately they become
very real and uncomfortable to project upon. We have to deal with
ourselves in order to see the other clearly and accurately. And when
we can do that with love and compassion in our hearts and thoughts,
it can be a very, very beautiful and rewarding experience.
mwe3: From Etheria to your collaboration Heart Of
Silence, with Michael Brant DeMaria to the solo piano sounds of
Love. Is there a common chord or sonic vision on these 3 albums
or are they all different? Of the three, which project was the most
fun to do and which was the more serious compositionally and which
was the most cosmic or metaphysical?
Peter Kater: My job and joy is to be present and true to my
muse. If you want to categorize and make distinctions, that’s
entirely up to you. For me, it’s all about being present and
since the present is always changing then it would make sense that
the expression of the present would be different as well. I’m
never trying to cosmic or metaphysical. But if that’s what happens
then...
mwe3:
How and when did you start working with Mysterium Music? I know you’ve
worked with Trisha Bowden, who is also a singer. Seems like Mysterium
is a cool music label and you’ve already released a few albums
with Mysterium. What can you tell us about Mysterium Music? It’s
impressive that you and Mysterium are donating some of the proceeds
of Love to aid the victims of the Nepal earthquake. How is
that going and what have you heard from that part of the world? How
did you become involved with the UN environmental leadership award?
Is it tough to know where to put your energy
helping
others with all the trouble in the world these days?
Peter Kater: I started working with Mysterium a few years ago
when I was coaching Trish as to how to start and run a small record
label. Yes, she’s doing a great job and it’s a cool company.
I don’t really know what’s going in Nepal right now but
it felt good to help out a little. I met the director of the UNEP
at a conference and he was aware of my environmental efforts with
other organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace
and he suggested that we work together. I did a 60 city tour around
the US promoting environmental respect and awareness. These days I
do what I’ve always done... follow my intuition. There’s
plenty of things to do and plenty of avenues to help. It’s a
matter of what I... we feel drawn to.
mwe3: The Love CD features track by track notes that
you wrote. How would you describe the difference between compositions
and improvisations? Many of the Love tracks have strong melodic
lines. Do improvisations come out of a basic melodic idea or do the
melodic ideas come out of the improvisations and at what point does
an improvisation become an actual melody or song?
Peter Kater: The compositions are written out. The improvisations
are not and are created on the spot and then forgotten for the most
part. They start any number of ways, sometimes with a melody, sometimes
with a sound or rhythm. Sometimes with just a lot of space. They evolve
and I follow along, getting out of the way and trying not to think
about it.
mwe3:
It’s interesting that Mysterium is involved in musical therapy
and your music is very much at the core of that. How do you feel your
music can help people with health issues and also, what’s your
opinion on why there’s still so many illnesses that have such
devastating effects on people? You’d think in 2015 we would have
a better handle on the well being of human beings but it looks like
the same old greed and ignorance is still running things these days.
Peter Kater: Yes, money for the most part rules the material
world. There’s more toxins and pollutants in our air and water
then ever before and they’re even pumping more and more into
the sky with chemtrails and trying to control the weather. There’s
a great disrespect for life of all kinds. And yet, there are those
that are making a huge difference in the world and contributing energetically,
financially and technologically for the betterment of the planet and
humanity. I think I can best offer my services by creating the music
that I do. I think healing happens when we choose to be fully present
with ourselves and feel what ever is going on inside. Feelings left
unfelt or ignored become infected and can cause disease. If my music
can aid in inviting people to be present on a deeper level and to
go into their emotional and spiritual bodies in a more present and
full way then I think it is healing. And the way that I do that is
by going into my "self" as well and feel what ever there
is to feel and let it go. We are so complex as humans and there’s
so much that goes on in any given day and we’re not taught how
to release and deal with the constant bombardment of information and
energy. Meditation can be helpful but I think music has an “all
access” pass to the deepest most powerful centers of our various
states of being.
mwe3:
Are the concerts you spoke of in Japan and Europe still happening?
So with Love just released and 2015 half over, what’s
next for your music? Have you thought about where you’d like
to go next and with the solo piano album done, would you consider
working with collaborators again?
Peter Kater: I’m playing in Germany in October and have
other gigs around the USA. Nothing in Japan as yet this year. I’m
working on a couple new projects and two of them are collaborations.
I’m also writing the music for a 3 hour PBS special called “Heart
Of The World”.
Thanks to Peter
Kater and to Mysterium
Music
