fit
together musically very well.” I said OK. About a year later, Sándor asked
if I’d called him. I said no. Again he said “You need to call him. Call
him!” This conversation would happen about once per year. Then, in March
2011, I was in the studio with Alex de Grassi, recording our album together.
One afternoon we took a break, and Alex, who has worked with Michael, said
to me, “Do you know Michael Manring?” I said no. Alex said, “You should get
to know him, I think you guys would really hit it off artistically.” I said
OK. In fall 2010, I was interviewed by Barry Cleveland at Guitar Player
magazine for a feature article in Guitar Player, which appeared in the
Holiday 2010 issue. It was a pretty long interview; what appeared in print
was an abbreviated version of the entire interview, so during the course of
that interview, Barry and I started to get to know each other. Then again in
summer 2011, Barry interviewed me again for an article about the recording
of I walked into the silver darkness. That article appeared in the
September 2011 issue of Guitar Player, and after doing a couple of
interviews, Barry and I had gotten to know each other and stayed in touch.
Barry has worked with Michael for well over 20 years, and knows him quite
well. One day, Barry said, “Do you know Michael Manring? You two should work
together.” I said “No, I don’t know him, but you’re the third person that’s
said that to me!” I hadn’t contacted Michael because I felt awkward about
introducing myself, even though both Sándor and Barry had told me that
Michael knew of me and my music. Barry asked if I’d like him to make the
introductions, and I said sure. About a week later, Michael contacted me. We
discussed the possibility of doing an album together, and scheduled some
studio time for October 2011. Those recording sessions would go on to become
the album In Winter.
mwe3:
Your new CD with Michael Manring is called In Winter. How much did
that time of the year effect the style and content of the album? Were the
tracks written before you went in the studio and how did you and Michael
Manring collaborate on the composition of the In Winter music?
KK:
Michael used the Zon Sonus Elite Special bass, Zon Hyperbass, and the
Zon VB-4 bass. In the studio, he records all DI; no amps. I used the
14-string Roberts KK-Contraguitar C1, the 12-string Santa Cruz KK-Alto
guitar, the 6-string Santa Cruz DKK bass-baritone, and the Cervantes
Rodriguez classical guitar. All my instruments are mic’ed in stereo. In
fact, I have a stereo pair for the Contras, and another stereo pair for
everything else. My strings are by John Pearse, but I put together all the
sets and gauges. On the 14-string Contra, the gauges run from an .085 or
.090 bass string on the low E up to a .016 on the high A. For those sets, I
mix together multiple wrapping compounds: nickel, phosphor bronze, and 80/20
bronze all within the same set. I find this provides a much better balance
and more responsive voice, especially when using nickel-wound bass strings;
they just speak better in that register than do bronze wound. Not only a
better balance across all the registers, but they speak and respond quicker
than bronze-wound compounds on the lowest bass strings and courses. I find
that the nickel-wounds in the bass register provide for additional clarity
and separation. Same for the Alto; I make up my own sets and they often
consist of mixed wrapping compounds. I also keep the action quite low, and
that affects the tone and voice as well. For the classical, I prefer
extra-hard tension strings. 
KK:
The release dates were: I walked into the silver darkness in June
2011, Triptych in December 2011, Dreaming As I Knew in March
2012, and In Winter in May 2012. They were not recorded in the order
of release. 
I
walked into the silver darkness was recorded in November 2010, and
released in June 2011. Mark came back to the US in November 2011, and we
recorded material for two more albums; the first of those will be released
this fall, around September. Incidentally, Mark and I are doing a live
on-the-air radio performance in early November this year on WFMU in New York
City, and on November 5, we’ll be appearing in concert at Drom in NYC. While
he’s here this year, we also have a couple of days scheduled to go back into
the studio to record another album. I really connect artistically very well
with Mark; his various and highly individualistic electric guitar voices
blend so well with my various extended-range acoustic instruments. I’m
really looking forward to our next recording sessions.
I
think by now we’ve discussed most of the upcoming 2012 releases. 2013 will
see new duo albums released by myself and Mark Wingfield, a new duo record
with Carl Clements, the new trio record with Sándor and Balazs, and it is
possible that the duo album recorded in Nograd in 2009 will be released in
2013, too. Michael Manring and I are recording another album this year,
which should be out in 2013. Plus the other projects that I can’t mention
just yet. And the album with cellist David Darling is coming soon. Oddly
enough, I’ve had a surprising number of people contact me or talk to me
after concerts and ask when my solo album is going to be available. Most of
those were people that like my music, but a few were concert promoters and
music journalists like yourself, so this is all making me think I need to
focus a bit more on the solo works. I don’t want to predict when that will
be out, as it’s a slow process, but it is in the works. I was asked to do a
solo on-the-air performance for a radio station in New York City next year,
so yeah… that will happen.
Also
this year there is an interesting project happening with Dan Roberts at
Daniel Roberts Stringworks. As you know, Dan is the master luthier that
created the 14-string Contraguitars for me. I have been working classical
guitar into the albums more and more. There are some tracks wherein I’m
playing classical on I walked into the silver darkness, Dreaming
As I Knew, and In Winter. And the new album with Sándor that’s
out next month has some pieces where I’m playing baritone classical, which
is a gorgeous and rich voice. But after playing so much on double-course
instruments like the 12-string bass-baritone, 12-string Alto, 12-string
octave guitar, and the 14-string Contras, working with single-course
instruments feels limiting, like something is missing. So this year, Dan and
I are collaborating again on another new instrument. This one will be an
8-course 16-string classical guitar. I am excited about that, and already
have one album project slated for early 2013 centering around that
instrument.