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