Help Keith Slattery complete his Debut CD
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Hi! My name is Keith Slattery and creating/performing Music is what I do! I have created this GoFundMe campaign to assist in the creation of my first Solo CD as an Artist. Before I get into the details of this very exciting project, let me tell you a story about my musical journey.
I started playing Piano when I was 4 years old. My family lived in Brooklyn Heights, NY and there just happened to be a piano in the house. My mother says one day she heard someone playing the piano and thought someone had snuck into the house and was playing it! It was me... I don't really have a recollection of that moment but I do remember that it just felt very natural for me to play. My uncle Bill is a pianist and maybe he had some influence on me. I'm not sure but my parents recognized my talent and signed me up for some group music lessons at A&S Department Store in Brooklyn, NY. I still wonder what the teacher must have thought with a 4 year old in their class! It was there that I learned the basics of reading music.
I became a voracious reader of sheet music. My uncle had a large collection of classical and believe it or not, Broadway/Film sheet music. I continued for a few years pretty much learning on my own until I started "official" classical Piano lessons with Morris Borenstein in Middletown, NY. Around this time I also played my first time in a public setting. It was actually a strip club that my 2 uncles played at on a regular basis but they had a night where they made the venue suitable for an 8 year old. If I remember correctly, I played Light My Fire (The Doors) and Summertime (Gershwin).
After studying with Morris for 6 years, I passed an audition for the High School Of Performing Arts (from the movie FAME) in New York City and moved there to continue my musical studies. I had a wonderful teacher from Manhattan School of Music and also attended the Preparatory School there on weekends. It was at this time I joined my first band called Montage which was a jazz fusion band. We started playing gigs in NYC at a few historic jazz clubs and it was my first taste of the NY music scene. Shortly thereafter I joined a 9 piece R&B Band called Phase II in Staten Island, NY. We did a few gigs but had also caught the attention of a record producer (Clyde Polk) who brought us in to record a song on spec for Prelude Records.
That deal never went through but I developed a relationship with Clyde and joined a band he had produced called Secret Weapon that had some success with a song called Must Be The Music. At the same time I started doing a bunch of session work in NYC for various producers including the production team Anderson/Reid from Crown Heights Affair. I worked on a bunch of great records with artists like Enchantment and Unlimited Touch. Keep in mind I was 15-16 years old working with some very well known much older studio musicians in world class recording studios. It was these experiences that gave me the inspiration to be a record producer and songwriter.
Fast forward 25 years with thousands of gigs, countless recording sessions under my belt, and one CD that I produced. I decided to become a recording engineer and attended the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH to start learning that craft. At that time I was still writing music and performing here and there but I was not involved in music as a full time profession. I essentially gave up everything in my life - my business, my home, got divorced, and started interning at a couple of recording studios after finishing 1st in my class at The Recording Workshop.
This was when I started working at the historic Quad Studios in NY City. I started off running errands, cleaning toilets, and fetching food for clients. I was 40 years old at the time and developed the nickname "OMK" there. Short for Old Man Keith! After a few months I started working as the front desk manager from 9-5 and at the same time starting touring (100+ gigs/year) with the Jimmy Sturr Orchestra (18 Grammies).
I shortly got tired of the administrative job at Quad and became an assistant engineer working with some of the most successful people in the music industry. After just a few months more I moved up as a staff engineer at Quad and then as a freelance engineer working with many top hip hop artists at the time (Kanye West, Ludacris, DMX, etc). This period of time was an amazing learning experience that prepared me for the next step in my journey.
I produced my second full length CD in 2005 for the artist Gennarose and continued writing, performing, and recording. In 2009 I met Lindsey Webster and we started writing music and released Lindsey's debut CD in 2013. The rest is history with Lindsey and we have now released 4 full length CDs, performed over 1,000 gigs together, and have had 7 Top Ten and 2 #1 songs on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts. Lindsey and I are currently working on her 6th CD.
So... this brings us to the present. I decided a year ago to start my own solo CD project. I had some help from a wonderful benefactor and recorded Drums for 5 original songs in Chicago. I am planning on completing the project with more recording in Los Angeles in late June with some amazing world class musicians (Vinnie Colaiuta and Nathan East). In addition I will be having some wonderful guest artists on my CD such as Rick Braun, Ken Gioffre, Lenny Castro, Eric Valentine, Mike DeMicco, and many more.
The CD is projected to be released later this year and will be distributed by Maxophone Records which is our label that released Lindsey Webster's debut CD.
I started playing Piano when I was 4 years old. My family lived in Brooklyn Heights, NY and there just happened to be a piano in the house. My mother says one day she heard someone playing the piano and thought someone had snuck into the house and was playing it! It was me... I don't really have a recollection of that moment but I do remember that it just felt very natural for me to play. My uncle Bill is a pianist and maybe he had some influence on me. I'm not sure but my parents recognized my talent and signed me up for some group music lessons at A&S Department Store in Brooklyn, NY. I still wonder what the teacher must have thought with a 4 year old in their class! It was there that I learned the basics of reading music.
I became a voracious reader of sheet music. My uncle had a large collection of classical and believe it or not, Broadway/Film sheet music. I continued for a few years pretty much learning on my own until I started "official" classical Piano lessons with Morris Borenstein in Middletown, NY. Around this time I also played my first time in a public setting. It was actually a strip club that my 2 uncles played at on a regular basis but they had a night where they made the venue suitable for an 8 year old. If I remember correctly, I played Light My Fire (The Doors) and Summertime (Gershwin).
After studying with Morris for 6 years, I passed an audition for the High School Of Performing Arts (from the movie FAME) in New York City and moved there to continue my musical studies. I had a wonderful teacher from Manhattan School of Music and also attended the Preparatory School there on weekends. It was at this time I joined my first band called Montage which was a jazz fusion band. We started playing gigs in NYC at a few historic jazz clubs and it was my first taste of the NY music scene. Shortly thereafter I joined a 9 piece R&B Band called Phase II in Staten Island, NY. We did a few gigs but had also caught the attention of a record producer (Clyde Polk) who brought us in to record a song on spec for Prelude Records.
That deal never went through but I developed a relationship with Clyde and joined a band he had produced called Secret Weapon that had some success with a song called Must Be The Music. At the same time I started doing a bunch of session work in NYC for various producers including the production team Anderson/Reid from Crown Heights Affair. I worked on a bunch of great records with artists like Enchantment and Unlimited Touch. Keep in mind I was 15-16 years old working with some very well known much older studio musicians in world class recording studios. It was these experiences that gave me the inspiration to be a record producer and songwriter.
Fast forward 25 years with thousands of gigs, countless recording sessions under my belt, and one CD that I produced. I decided to become a recording engineer and attended the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH to start learning that craft. At that time I was still writing music and performing here and there but I was not involved in music as a full time profession. I essentially gave up everything in my life - my business, my home, got divorced, and started interning at a couple of recording studios after finishing 1st in my class at The Recording Workshop.
This was when I started working at the historic Quad Studios in NY City. I started off running errands, cleaning toilets, and fetching food for clients. I was 40 years old at the time and developed the nickname "OMK" there. Short for Old Man Keith! After a few months I started working as the front desk manager from 9-5 and at the same time starting touring (100+ gigs/year) with the Jimmy Sturr Orchestra (18 Grammies).
I shortly got tired of the administrative job at Quad and became an assistant engineer working with some of the most successful people in the music industry. After just a few months more I moved up as a staff engineer at Quad and then as a freelance engineer working with many top hip hop artists at the time (Kanye West, Ludacris, DMX, etc). This period of time was an amazing learning experience that prepared me for the next step in my journey.
I produced my second full length CD in 2005 for the artist Gennarose and continued writing, performing, and recording. In 2009 I met Lindsey Webster and we started writing music and released Lindsey's debut CD in 2013. The rest is history with Lindsey and we have now released 4 full length CDs, performed over 1,000 gigs together, and have had 7 Top Ten and 2 #1 songs on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts. Lindsey and I are currently working on her 6th CD.
So... this brings us to the present. I decided a year ago to start my own solo CD project. I had some help from a wonderful benefactor and recorded Drums for 5 original songs in Chicago. I am planning on completing the project with more recording in Los Angeles in late June with some amazing world class musicians (Vinnie Colaiuta and Nathan East). In addition I will be having some wonderful guest artists on my CD such as Rick Braun, Ken Gioffre, Lenny Castro, Eric Valentine, Mike DeMicco, and many more.
The CD is projected to be released later this year and will be distributed by Maxophone Records which is our label that released Lindsey Webster's debut CD.
Organizer
Keith Slattery
Organizer
Woodstock, NY
