LITTLE ROCK — Our story of a piano recital at a store on Main Street in Little Rock actually begins nearly three years ago at a McDonald’s on Broadway in Manhattan.
This was the summer of 2009 and Andy Gibson of Little Rock was vacationing in New York with his wife, Lisa, and their two young children, Grant and Elise. It was a beautiful day in the city and after a round of sightseeing, the Gibsons were ready to eat. With the children in mind, the foursome ducked into a McDonald’s near ground zero.
“When we walked in we heard piano music. I said, ‘What a great sound system they have. It sounds like someone is playing that live,’” Andy Gibson says, recalling that day. “And Grant says, ‘It is live!’ There was a guy playing the piano in the McDonald’s.”
The Gibsons ordered their fast food and positioned themselves to see the pianist play. Both Grant and Elise, now 8 and 11 respectively, were taking piano lessons and seeing someone play amidst all the value meals was a special thrill for them.
After coming home, Gibson, 38, did a little research on the Web and learned more about the McDonald’s with the piano. He found that among the pianists who played there was a fella named Andrew Shapiro, who had a regular gig at the Golden Arches on Sunday afternoons. Indeed, Shapiro had even been the subject of a New York Times story, deliciously headlined, “Quarter Pounder With Keys,” and The Village Voice called him “Best Pianist in a Fast-Food Restaurant.”
Gibson contacted Shapiro and, on Gibson’s next New York trip in January of this year with his brother, Monty, the pair met. Gibson bought a copy of Shapiro’s 2009 CD Numbers, Colors and People, which was for sale at the counter.
The two kept in touch and Shapiro, who was going to be traveling this summer with his girlfriend, asked Gibson if he could set up a Little Rock gig. And so Gibson did, wrangling a Wednesday evening recital at Piano Kraft in Little Rock.
“Now I’m a concert promoter,” laughs Gibson, whose real job is in home health care for senior citizens.
WOULD YOU LIKE A GIG WITH YOUR FRIES?
It’s not the first time his Sunday afternoon gig has gotten him another opportunity,says Shapiro from his apartment in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
“There was a guy from Poland who saw me play and I ended up getting some shows over there,” he says.
One spin through his latest album, Intimate, Casual, and it’s not hard to see why Shapiro, who grew up playing clarinet in Larchmont, N.Y., studied music at Ohio’s Oberlin College and Conservatory and interned with the legendary Philip Glass, attracts so much attention.
The album is a restrained but warm blend of spare, classically influenced pieces with just enough pop sensibility to make them accessible. It features just Shapiro and his beloved upright piano and has a soothing, relaxed air; this is the soundtrack to a lazy Sunday or a thoughtful evening, and it shimmers in its minimalist strokes.
“It’s more pop in a way. It’s not stuffy,” Shapiro says. “It’s not Beethoven. It’s not jazz. It’s sort of its own thing, this ambient, pop blend.”
Inspired by composer Richard Einhorn, Shapiro, 36, says the album, his third, “starts on a C major chord and ends on a C major chord.”
It’s a quest for simplicity, he says: “It’s easy to make really complicated music,” butto strip the music to its barest elements is a real challenge.
Of course, getting that music to the people is also a challenge.
Shapiro had been living in San Francisco when he moved to Brooklyn in 2001. After reading about the McDonald’s that had a piano, Shapiro introduced himself to the manager and was hired in 2004. He works a regular shift, clocking in just like any other employee, but instead of serving fries and making Big Macs, he plays piano.
“It’s hard to find opportunities to play in New York, and this was the perfect way to get my work out there,” he says.
The spot, which is about a block away from ground zero and popular with tourists, has been a useful springboard for the loquacious Shapiro, who admits that he’s not above handing out CDs to strangers and loves to chat up people on airplanes.
Along with playing for Mickey D’s patrons, Shapiro has also played at the giant Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and Gracie Mansion in New York. His music has also been used in television shows and a Michael Jackson documentary.
For Gibson, Shapiro is also a wonderful example to his budding musician children.
“I want to show the kids how musicians can connect to people with their music and [Shapiro] is an example of a professional musician who is sharing his music with the world in a very unique way and is successful at it.”
Andrew Shapiro 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Piano Kraft, 1222 Main St., Little Rock Admission: $10 (501) 372-1446
Style, Pages 29 on 06/26/2012