What’s With All the Hearts? Seven New Solo Piano Singles for 2019

People have been asking me why all of the new singles I am releasing have hearts on the covers. Easy answer: they will all be put out as an album once they are all released as singles. The album will be entitled, “Heartfelt Solo Piano.” Then they ask, “Why are you bothering to put them out as singles when you can just put out an album?” And I tell them that it is because you get much more action on Spotify to release each single separately as Spotify offers to promote each single. They encourage artists to release singles by doing this. If I put an album out, I am only able to promote one song. The rest of the tracks will be overlooked. When I put out singles, I can promote each single separately and hope that they will add the track to a Spotify playlist or will promote it through “Release Radar” or “Spotify Radio.” Also, these days, most people don’t buy albums/CDs, except at concerts. New cars don’t have CD players anymore and most computers no longer have CD drives. Below are singles covers of the tracks that have been released and two that will be released by April 1st.

 

Pure Joy – Live at Piano Haven released 12/18/2018

YOU CAN STREAM THIS MUSIC ON SPOTIFY, PANDORA, and APPLE MUSIC.
YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD ON AMAZON, AND BANDCAMP,

This was an audience participation improvisation that occurred in a concert on November 4, 2018 at Joe Bongiorno‘s Piano Haven Studio. People were asked to pick three notes, from A – G. The notes F, A, C were chosen. Then people were asked to choose a feeling. The feeling chosen was “Joy.” With that, this piece of music was born. Special thanks to Joe Bongiorno at Piano Haven Studio for the fantastic video and audio.

 

“Innocence” was released on January 14, 2019

You can stream this track on SPOTIFY, PANDORA RADIO, and APPLE MUSIC.
You can also download on AMAZON, BANDCAMP and iTUNES.

 

“Sweet Honey” I wrote this for my life partner, Christine. The title sums up my feelings about her and having love in my life. This single was released on Valentine’s Day, 2019.
YOU CAN STREAM THIS MUSIC ON SPOTIFY, PANDORA, AND APPLE MUSIC.
YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD AT AMAZON, BANDCAMP, AND iTUNES.

 

“Yin and Yang” was released on February 25, 2019.

This piece is a jazz waltz. Something a little different.

You can stream this music on SPOTIFY, PANDORA RADIO, and APPLE MUSIC.
You can also download at AMAZON, BANDCAMP, AND iTUNES.

 

“Day of Reckoning” was released on March 4, 2019.

Most of my music is peaceful and positive. Not so much here. Put on your headphones and turn the volume up to “11.” Here my Steinway B roar!

You can stream this music on SPOTIFY, PANDORA RADIO , and APPLE MUSIC.
You can also download on AMAZON , ITUNES AND BANDCAMP.

 

“Foreign Lands” – Release date 3/18/2019

I was taking a spiritual journey to foreign lands while playing piano in the comfort of my home studio. It is about traveling and exploring new territory with eyes wide open. I think it works on the physical level of going to another country and it also works for internal exploration. It’s peaceful, comforting and mysterious as well.

 

“Have No Fear” – release date 4/1/2019

Music is in his Soul

Article by Shea Stanfield – Arts Columnist for the Foothill Focus.

“To create a more lovable and peaceful world by writing, recording, and performing music from the heart.” From all indications, from his concerts, recording schedule, and feedback from fans, Louis is spot-on his mission.

Louis was literally “born” into a life of music in Yonkers, NY; his father Leo de Lyon, played the piano and was an entertainer working with such greats a Rat Pack’s Dean Martin on his television show. The entertainment industry would keeps Louis’s family on the move during his childhood, beginning in New York, on to California and back again. Louis started his piano training at age 4, sticking with the “less than gentle” teaching style of his Russian piano teacher until he was 13. At that point Louis had enough; he quit the piano and set off on the path, a number of young men of the 1960’s were following, picking up the guitar as his preferred instrument. He counts among his guitar teachers Eric Claption, John Mayall, B.B. King, and Jimi Hendrix, rock and roll and the blues were all the rage. Later, as he entered his young adulthood Louis returned to his piano roots paying close attention to the greats Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and John Coltrane to name just a few.

Upon graduating from high school, Louis was back to the piano full time majoring in Arranging and Composition at SUNY at Stony Brooke. He then transferred to Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. Louis claims, “It was at Berklee that I realized that I wanted to play jazz piano.” This decision would take him on the road for the next 20 years. Now, after playing piano for 61 years, 51+ professionally, Louis considers himself fortunate to have made a career in music, everything from running a music production house in NYC for 13 years, to playing in a number of venues of the business. It was a Southwest tour, a few years ago, that brought him to Sedona, Arizona where he met the “love of his life.” Today, Louis, faincé Christine, and his Steinway B piano now call Sedona home.

The move to Arizona has proven to be very productive. In the last four years Louis continues to play and compose every day, and to his astonishment he has recorded ten albums in that amount of time. He continues to play concerts, touring about five times annually for 2-3 week stretches. Louis’s favorite venues are private home concerts where he enjoys getting to know his audience and welcomes the comfort a home venue offers over large concert halls. When asked about the direction his recordings are taking, the answer is very diverse, Soul Healing Piano Music was recorded live during a healing concert that completely improvised. Departure is the material Louis had composed and went in a more classical direction. Classic Pop Rock Solo Piano is a collection of songs that he put his interpretation on Rock classics. Peaceful Solo Piano Christmas 2 (to be released on November 12) is his interpretation of thirteen traditional Christmas songs and two originals. Each album is an inspiring and very individual entity.

The bottom-line is “music is in Louis Landon’s soul.” Louis has a full local concert schedule. To view information on Louis’s concerts, isit https://louislandon.com/tour-dates.html. Contact Louis Landon at https://louislandon.com/connect.html. Louis Landon’s music can be streamed on Spotify and Pandora Radio.

Solo Piano Gratitude

SOLO PIANO GRATITUDE WAS RELEASED ON JANUARY 28, 2019.

Available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora Radio
Also available for download at iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and CDBaby.

Listen to samples here:
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/4puqsJ0A5gU0fqhiirqfXW

Recorded live at the Peace Palace during a “Gratitude Concert” on November 17, 2018. Audience members were asked to submit cards and write down the things they were thankful for before the concert. All selections were improvised live and based on those suggestions.

Music mastering: Joe Bongiorno at
Piano Haven Studio, Sedona, AZ

CD Layout and Design: Louis Landon

Cover design: Louis Landon

Cover, disc & tray photos: Louis Landon

Photo of Louis Landon: Ted Grussing

Grateful for Wisdom 03:41

Grateful for Every Day 04:46

Grateful for Breath 04:33

Grateful for Artistry 04:41

Grateful for Awakening Hearts 04:16

Grateful for Peace 04:42.

Grateful for Love 04:35

Grateful for Kindness 04:36

Grateful for New Beginnings 04:41

Grateful for Freedon 04:02

Grateful for Family 04:12

Grateful for Life 04:54

Five Years of Sedona Solo Piano

FIVE YEARS WAS RELEASED ON DECEMBER 25, 2018.

It is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora Radio

It is available for download at iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and CDBaby.

Listen to samples here:
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/3oLtfZ8alVsm38yYdqE43v

This is a retrospective “best of” album covering five years from 2013 through 2017.
The music contained in this album/CD comes from the following albums/CDs:
Sedona on My Mind – 2013*
Healing Piano of Sedona – 2014*
Healing Hearts – 2014**
Walking the Plains – 2015**
Healing Hearts 2 – 2015**
Ebb and Flow – 2016**
Healing Hearts 3 – 2016**
Soul Healing Piano Music – 2017**
Departure – 2017**
*recorded at Piano Haven Studio, Sedona, AZ
**recorded at the Peace Palace, Sedona, AZ

Music mastering: Joe Bongiorno at Piano Haven Studio, Sedona, AZ
CD Layout and Design: Louis Landon
Cover design: DanLevin.com
Cover, disc & tray photos: Louis Landon
Photo of Louis Landon: Ted Grussing
Total running time: 62:04

Sitting in with Former Piano Student and Present Day Rock Star, Gavin DeGraw.

I used to live in the Catskill Mountains. That’s where I first met Gavin when he was a high school student. I believe he was seventeen at the time. He was looking for a piano teacher and I was teaching at the time. He played me some songs he was working on and they were pretty good for a seventeen year old. What really impressed me was his singing. I was blown away and told his parents that he was definitely going to make it in the music business. And I didn’t say that lightly. He was that good as a singer.

So, I believe we worked together for about a year and then he went off to Ithaca College. Before the end of the year, Gavin came home and I gave him a few more lessons. He played some of the songs he was working on and they had come a long way from the first songs he had played for me. I told him he might want to try Berklee College of Music. He decided to give Berklee a go. He ended up coming back home after one semester, if I remember correctly. He then played me some of his new songs and they were really good. I said to him, “Gavin, I want to play with you.” So, we ended up playing a bunch of gigs at a local pub with me playing solos on the Melodica. It was a lot of fun and he kept getting better at performing.

Gavin decided to move to NYC. He started playing gigs there and I remember going down and playing a showcase gig with him at “The Bitter End” on Bleeker Street. From there he ended up getting management, a publishing deal and a record deal. His first record went platinum.

We lost touch for a while, but I had his phone number and from time to time we would text back and forth. Recently, I heard he was coming to Flagstaff and I texted him and invited him to Sedona. Unfortunately, his schedule was jammed doing one nighters. I asked him if he could get Christine and me into the show and maybe get us backstage passes. I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but Christine and I went up to Flagstaff to the Pepsi Amphitheater anyway. Sure enough, we got to the ticket booth and there was an envelope with two VIP tickets and backstage passes.

We went in and went backstage, but Gavin wasn’t expected in for a while. So, we hung out backstage and Gavin rolled in with his tricked out Mercedes RV and Airstream rig that he put together for this tour. He texted me asking where I was and we got together. It was the first time seeing him in maybe twenty years. It was really nice to see him again. We hung out until about five minutes before the show and then he went out to perform to a packed house.

Christine and I were sitting on stage right watching the show. It was just Gavin on keys, a guitar playing/bass playing singing guy and a drummer. They sounded great and tight. At one point in the show, I was uploading a picture of Gavin to Instagram, when it got quiet and the spotlight was on me. I looked up and Gavin was pointing to me and waving me over. He was telling the crowd that I was his piano teacher back in the day. I came up and the band was already vamping. I sat down and took a solo. It was so much fun!

Gavin had a “meet and greet” after the show, but we were able to take some photos with him. He was really grateful for all the support I had given him when he was just starting out. I was really surprised with how appreciative he was about those days. I wasn’t in the best of places back then and my memory of a lot of things was suspect, to say the least.

I am so proud of the career that Gavin has carved out for himself. He is most definitely a “Rock Star” in my books. He put out an hour and twenty minutes of high energy music. He sang and played his ass off. His fans loved him. He is a gifted singer, songwriter and performer. Keep it up Gavin!

Two videos of sitting in with Gavin. The first was shot by Christine from stage right. The second and shorter video was shot by a fan in the audience. It’s fun to see Gavin’s expressions while I’m playing.

View this post on Instagram

Gavin DeGraw live in concert Flagstaff, AZ

A post shared by Louis Landon (@louis_landon_solo_piano) on Aug 23, 2018 at 9:23pm PDT

Ticket and backstage pass

Gavin performing

Sitting in

Sitting in 2

Selfie

Selfie 2 – too much fun

Christine, Gavin, Louis

Healing Hearts 4 – Solo Piano

Recorded at the Peace Palace in Sedona, AZ from January 9, 2017 to April 6, 2018 on a Steinway B as part of personalized Healing Piano of Sedona sessions.
All 12 tracks were improvised in real time with minimal editing.

Music mastering: Joe Bongiorno at Piano Haven Studio, Sedona, AZ
Cover design by Matt Strieby of NewLeafDesign.com
CD Layout and Design: Louis Landon
Louis Landon is a Steinway Artist

Self-Assured 4:37
Healing and Hope 5:07
Alignment 5:10
Lighter Than Before 4:34
The Healing Touch 5:03
Easy Living 4:08
Going the Distance 4:45
Confidence 4:52
Heavenly Voices 5:19
On My Way Now 4:56
Stay the Course 5:06
Moving on Up 4:39
Total running time 59:00

All Music published by Landon Creative, Inc. BMI
All music produced, arranged, composed & performed by Louis Landon.
Visit LouisLandon.com for bookings, CDs, sheet music, contact info and more

July 6th and 20th in Sedona, AZ: Two Trio Concerts at Sound Bites Grill

The Louis Landon Trio is back for two more nights after a sold out debut performance in June at Sound Bites Grill! The Louis Landon Trio features Louis Landon on piano & vocals, Troy Perkins on the electric bass and Eddy Barattini on the Drums. It’s a jazz trio that mixes it up with standard jazz instrumentals, jazz vocals from the Great American Songbook, Classic Pop Rock hits, with an occasional solo piano piece. The goal is to create a joyous atmosphere through music. Fun!

Tickets are $20 – VIP $75
Purchase tickets online here.
Sound Bites Grill is located at 101 Arizona 89A, Sedona, AZ 86336  Call 928.282.2713 for more information.