Tape Recorders

Conversations With Myself; Bill Evans, piano

Great Uncle Paul owned a reel-to-reel audio tape player. Once or twice, when we went to visit him and Aunt Vi, he opened it up from the cabinet that it sat in, and played a few of his tapes. The one that we enjoyed most featured Bill Cosby.

Grandma E. owned kind of a mini reel-to-reel audio tape player and recorder with a microphone. I don’t know what Grandma had recorded on her tapes. It might have been conversations that she had with various family members.

Some time in the 1970’s, Mom purchased a Panasonic portable cassette tape player/recorder. My sisters and I had so much fun with it. We recorded the cows, the cats, the TV, the radio, each other and anything else that registered as hilarious to eight-, nine- and twelve year old recording enthusiasts.

At some point I came up with the notion of recording one part of a two piano or four hand arrangement of a song so that I could play along. This was amusing to Dad. “Now you need to have two tape recorders.” That was his version of a multi-track tape recorder: two tape recorders.

D. took some work as a baby sitter when she turned of age, and spent her money on a combination radio/cassette tape recorder. Dad’s wish came true. We now had two tape recorders. I don’t remember how I got everything timed right. I must have used a watch. But I learned how to record one part on one tape recorder, the other part on the D.’s tape recorder, and then play both tape recorders at the same time. It sounded pretty good. Dad said, “Now you need to have three tape recorders.” Dad could get into the spirit of things pretty easily.

The title “Conversations With Myself” provides a fairly self-explanatory description of the nature of this album by jazz pianist Bill Evans. Just to be clear, Mr. Evans recorded himself on one track, then recorded a second track for dubbing over the first one. Mr. Evans recorded this album in February of 1963. At that time, overdubbing was somewhat controversial. The potential to make somebody artificially sound better than they actually sounded kind of freaked everybody out. Whatever scruples and ethics that anyone in the recording industry had at that time, however, have completely evaporated. At the end of any recording venture these days is a desired effect, as opposed to the natural capabilities of the talent in front of the microphone.

“Conversations With Myself” allowed the industry and the LP-listening public to encounter the more positive aspects of overdubbing. We had two piano parts played simultaneously. The two pianists just happened to be the same guy. Now we need to have three Bill Evanses.

Credits: To Bill Cosby, for great, creative story-telling, for massive intelligence, and for personally mandating a higher level of sophistication, culture, speech and thought, not only for those in the “global” African-American community, but for everybody, regardless of race. Thank you for “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”. Hey, hey, hey!!!