In the Moment
Miguel Kertsman composer, keyboardist
with Ernie Adams drums
From genre-smashing composer and keyboardist Miguel Kertsman and drummer Ernie Adams comes IN THE MOMENT, a true-to-its-name album that leaps over musical boundaries and defies any label. The single-take, minimally microphoned recordings capture the raw emotional potential of music and the spontaneity of an intimate recording session. Kertsman’s vintage analog keyboards, bass pedals, and Adams’ drums work in tandem to duck and weave between musical forms, mingling with progressive rock, jazz fusion, Brazilian, Eastern, and more, all seamlessly fused together into one cohesive musical journey.
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Track Listing & Credits
| # | Title | Composer | Performer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Driven | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 5:44 |
| 02 | East West | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 6:12 |
| 03 | In the Moment | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 7:23 |
| 04 | West East | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 6:21 |
| 05 | Acid Blues Bop | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 3:15 |
| 06 | Ipanema Love | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 7:12 |
| 07 | Fusion | Miguel Kertsman | Miguel Kertsman, analog keyboards; Ernie Adams, drums | 3:24 |
Performed on
Yamaha EX-42 Electone organ/synth via two Yamaha R-60B tone cabinets and a two-octave bass pedalboard
Yamaha EX-1 Electone organ/synth via Yamaha TX-III tone cabinets and a two-octave bass pedaldboard
Hammond C2 organ w/ PR40 and Leslie 145 cabinets and a two-octave bass pedalboard
Wurlitzer electric piano through a Hohner 75 MH amplifier and tone cabinet
Hohner D6 Clavinet via a Hohner 50 MH Amp and Custom Fender Cabinet
Mellotron M400
Analog Synthesizers
Yamaha CS-30, Mini Moog, Moog Taurus I bass pedals, ARP 2600, Korg Trident MKI, Roland Juno 106 w/ midi bass pedals, Oberheim OB-8 w/ midi bass pedals, Sequential Circuits Prophet 10, ARP/Eminent Solina Strings — all via a Motion Sound KP612-S, a Roland KC-600, two Gallien Kruger Keyboard Amplifiers, and Allen & Heath UK vintage mixers
Ernie Adams uses Sabian Cymbals, Vater Drumsticks and RhythmTech Percussion
Recordings captured live-in-the space through a Blumlein array microphone pair plus two drum highlight microphones
Recorded in May 2010, and October 2021 at the Keyboard Room in Chicago IL, and Vienna, Austria
Producers Ted Wilkinson, Miguel Kertsman
Engineers David Duff, Hannes Wagner
Premastered by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios, and Miguel Kertsman at the Keyboard Room
Mastering Melanie Montgomery
Photos and Image Art Gerald Trimmel
Disc art U4K-015 © Gerald Trimmel
Executive Producer Bob Lord
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Aidan Curran
Artist Information
Miguel Kertsman
Miguel Kertsman’s compositions organically reach beyond genres and boundaries. They encompass classical symphonic, chamber, and vocal music for the Concert Stage, as well as experimental, progressive rock, jazz, and film/game scores.
His classical works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by international artists such as conductor Dennis Russell Davies, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Saint Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, São Paulo State Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Vienna Symphony, mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager, guitarist John Williams, and others.
Ernie Adams
Drummer and percussionist Ernie Adams has played, toured and recorded with artists including Ramsey Lewis, Al de Meola, Stanley Turrentine, Al Jarreau, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams, Patricia Barber, Dianne Reeves, Rufus Reid, Joe Zawinul, Slide Hampton, Frank Morgan, Arturo Sandoval, Clark Terry, Randy Brecker, Pharoah Sanders, Ahmad Jamal, and others.
Adams also has jazz, funk, hip hop, and worldbeat concerts and projects under his own name, and appears on over 100 recordings. His credits also include movie soundtracks and radio and television jingles.
Adams studied jazz at North Texas State University and The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is currently on the faculty at the University of Illinois-Chicago and provides instruction for Orbert Davis’ Music Alive program, The Jazz Institute of Chicago, Ravinia, and the Music Institute of Chicago.
Notes
This album was made in the moment. It features first-take, live-to-two-track recordings with little or no rehearsal. Drummer Ernie Adams joins composer Miguel Kertsman in transcending music genres and boundaries. Prior to recording IN THE MOMENT, Kertsman and Adams had never played a single note together. Kertsman’s vintage analog keyboard setup includes multiple sets of bass pedals, allowing two musicians to achieve a wide range of musical expression. Bass or melody lines are switched between keyboards and pedalboards.
The recordings were made via minimalist microphone placement techniques, capturing sounds emanating from amplifiers, loudspeaker cabinets, and the drums, all within the actual space in real time. One track may delve deeply into progressive rock, whereas others travel into jazz or jazz-rock-fusion, experimental, Brazilian, or eastern music atmospheres. East West, West East, Southern Ipanema, or Northern Blues Bop…music is global.
“Music is a supreme form of human communication, it is atemporal and transcendent. It carries us from now to a next or previous now through feelings, memories, desires, and emotions. Music unites us, enabling us to share, interact, come together, and exchange in uniquely powerful ways—genres, labels, borders, are irrelevant. Music speaks to all.”
— Miguel Kertsman
*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Big Round Records LLC. The Big Round Records Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC.