Doyle is one of the four co-artistic directors of Touki Delphine as well as a pianist and composer. On November 23rd in our studio at De Sloot in Amsterdam, he will perform together with our newest installation, TRANSMISSION. Doyle will be playing pieces from his new album “For Afie” (out on Excelsior Recordings) and similar improvisations, together with fellow Touki Delphine member John van Oostrum, who will operate the installation live and improvise together with Doyle.
The music on “For Afie” is based on improvisations I played for my wife during the birth of our son. At the time, my sister-in-law was pregnant, and asked if I wouldn’t mind recording some piano to add to her birthing playlist. What she meant was a short piece recorded with a telephone, but in my recent experience of playing for my wife, the length, space, and a combination of calm and distraction that are helpful during labor wouldn’t be capturable in one short piece. I perhaps overcompensated, and improvised an album’s worth of material with a couple of nice microphones around my home piano where I had played for my wife. A few months later, my niece Afie was born with those recordings as a soundtrack in the background. In September 2023, Excelsior Recordings in Amsterdam digitally released the album “For Afie”, and this event on November 23rd will be the first live performance of that music and serve as the CD release show. I’m excited to perform this music and to combine two of my artistic worlds by playing with TRANSMISSION. It is a compelling combination that I hope will produce intriguing and delightful music, and if nothing else, make for a relaxing evening. – Chris Doyle.