Interview
Interview with Chuck Leavell
You've been using the CP series for many years now on tour and in the studio. What is it about the CP series that makes it your go-to stage piano?
Well you know, for me it's all about getting as realistic of piano sound as I can. The acoustic grand sound, that's what I'm after. And I also want a sound that will cut through when I’m playing rock and roll. If I'm playing with The Rolling Stones or The Allman Brothers band, for example, I really want the sound to stand out and to be clearly heard. That's what the CP series has been doing for me.
On your website you say you were first inspired to become a musician by another Yamaha artist, the great Ray Charles. Can you tell us about that?
Oh absolutely. I must have been about 12 or 13 years old and my sister, Judy, had a date to go see Ray Charles at the coliseum in Tuscaloosa AL, where we grew up. My parents were away for the evening and they said, "Judy will you take Chuck with you?" And lucky for me she did. And man, I just had never seen a band like that, an artist like that. You had of course, the great Ray Charles, but you also had the Raelettes, you had Fat Head Newman on saxophone, you had Billy Preston playing organ, and it was just the most awesome thing I had ever seen in my life. I went away from that concert saying, "Well I know I don't want to be a doctor or a lawyer or an insurance salesman or anything like that. If I could ever be in a band that was anywhere near that good, that's what I want to do.
When you were on tour with The Rolling Stones you got a chance to stop at the Yamaha offices in California and check out not only the new CP4 STAGE but also the actual CFX acoustic piano that we sampled. What's your impression of the sounds and feel of the new CP4 STAGE?
Well, you know, the CFX grand piano is just a marvel of acoustic technology. I think what they've done to emulate that technology in this instrument, the CP4, is amazing! It's very, very close. That's what you want in an instrument. I want reality, and that's what it's given me.
Do you think you will be using the new CP4 STAGE piano for your next tour?
Oh yeah, I can't wait to get this instrument on the stage and play live. Whether it's with The Stones or if it's with my band. I just can't wait. I'm very excited about it and it'll be onstage with me very soon.
Why do you love to play the CP4 STAGE piano?
Well, you know, I love this instrument because it has the best piano sound I've ever heard, and that's important to me. But there are certainly other attractive features that you have in the instrument. It gets great tine sounds, great reed sounds, it has strings and fantastic acoustic bass and so it's a very versatile instrument and in such an incredibly small package. And by the way, it’s pretty lightweight you know—I can put this thing under my arm and walk out the door which is very appealing. There are so many things that I love about the instrument, the versatility of it, but I'd have to say for me the main thing is that beautiful acoustic piano sound that it has.
Chuck Leavell Bio
Chuck Leavell has been pleasing the ears of music fans for more than 30 years now. His piano and keyboard work has been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Montgomery-Gentry, Lee Ann Womack, Lady AnteBellum, John Mayer and many, many more. In 1982, he was invited to assume a significant keyboardist/vocalist role for the Stones that continues today. Says guitarist Keith Richards: “Without the continuity that Chuck brings to us, the Stones would not be the Stones.” In addition to his musical expertise, he is a Board member of several important environmental organizations and is also the co-founder of The Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com), the world's most visited environmental website. Chuck Leavell is one of music’s most respected and sought-after pianists, an active spokesperson for environmental issues and a devoted husband, father and grandfather. At his home in rural Georgia, you can find Leavell working in the woods, playing his piano and declaring he’ s fortunate to have three real passions in his life: “My family, my trees and my music.”
