Dream
a Little Dream...
(how Southwest Florida Musician Kat Epple makes
hers come true)
: by Julie Weaver
Gulf & Main, November, 2004
Kat Epple's
new CD, her 14th, is called "Azure Pieces of Life." The
album, a collaboration between Epple and her long-time fried Chuck
Grinnell, with Epple on the flute and Grinnell on keyboards, was spontaneously
composed, and the music is inspired by the natural beauty of Southwest
Florida. Though this album was inspired by nature, Epple says alot
of her compositions come to her in her dreams. She seems a little disappointed
that once she wakes up and starts composing, the music "is never
quite as good as what I hear in my dreams." Perhaps she's being
a little hard on herself, though, because the compositions that she's
been dreaming up over the years have earned this local musician worldwide
recognition.
"although ~~ she's
a rather quiet person~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ she has Nerve ~~~~~~~~"
Epple's
14 original CD's, which she has released both as a solo artist and
as a member
of the groups Emerald Web and White Crow, are only
a part of the story of her fascinating career. She has won 8 Emmy awards
for her television soundtrack work, featured on, among others, "National
Geographic" and "Nova". She has also traveled the world,
her multitude of destinations including China, Japan, Russia, Africa,
and the Amazon, to perform her music and search for new additions to
her ever-expanding flute collection, which is currently numbered at
somewhere around 200. With all this going on, Epple still manages to
make those of us here in her beloved Southwest Florida home regular
beneficiaries of her talents. Epple often lends her musical performances
to charity events around the region, some of which she has also helped
to organize. For those G & M readers with kids, don't be surprised
one day when the little ones come racing home from school all aglow
about the nice lady who came to share her music and her knowledge with
their class. That would be Kat Epple. Funny thing about working with
the children Epple says, is that their most oft-asked question about
the flute is, "how can that make music when it’s not plugged
in?" In the hands of Kat Epple, the answer is, very, very well.
Although
Epple's music is often composed spontaneously, her successful career
is definitely
no accident. It is a result of years of hard work
and perseverance. She started performing professionally in coffee houses
to help pay her way through college at the University of South Florida
in Tampa. After college, it was off to Connecticut, where she got her
first record deal. During that time, Epple, who is also an accomplished
synthesizer player, was doing session work in New York City, and traveling
to planetariums to perform her music for light shows. She got into
soundtrack work on industrial films. The producers of Nova recognized
that work, and it was their call that opened the door to what has become
the multi-Emmy award winning facet of Epple's career. Nowadays, Epple
is her own record company. In addition to her contribution to composing,
performing, and producing “Azure Pieces of Life,” Epple
has been in charge of its release. So far, since that September 15th
release, she is finding the project to be "well-received and fairly
easy to get (into) distribution." Through her career, Epple has
learned the importance of being a good business person, and she credits
that for helping to steer her into long-term, consistent success in
a business where so many hopefuls have failed.
Many an
artist will also tell you that the difference between making a living
from
art and being forced to relegate it to the status of
a hobby, or, worse, a broken dream, is skillful and shameless self-promotion.
Kat Epple is such a dear, quiet, and unassuming soul that one finds
it difficult to see her in the role of a shameless self-promoter. But
here's the thing about that: Epple loves her music, and, she says, "because
I love the music so much, I feel very comfortable talking about it." She
also points out that, although she is kind of a quiet person, she does
have nerve, enough of it to get out there and play her music in front
of thousands of people. And enough of it to make the calls and get
the gigs when necessary, though at this point, it's a safe bet that
she's the one who's getting the calls about the gigs. A recent example?
An invitation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to play during this past
September's 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York City, an honor
she readily accepted.
Early
in this interview, Epple said, “I think a lot of people
don’t even really know about all the things I do…” We
Southwest Floridians who are familiar with Epple may have only known
her from seeing her perform as a flautist, for example, while staying
mostly clueless about all of her other abilities and accomplishments.
Even now, having gone perhaps a few words over the Gulf & Main
editor’s allowance for this story, there is so much more that
could be told about our local gem of a musician.
*Kat
Epple photo by Garth Francis
|