Oh Yeh! Photographic Reversal of Double Pro Pianos. And Much, Much, Much More True Dat!
Well this one is comical, historic, iconic and archival samples of it are nearly impossible to find, However, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea toured with two concert grands from Pro Piano. Those 2-pianos were again serviced throughout the tour by Brian Alexander, our very first employee and First Hall of Fame Piano Tuner-Technician of All Time!
The album(s) in question are an Evening with Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea on Columbia Records, 1978, or an earlier album, Corea-Hancock, Polydor, 1978. Both albums feature black and white photography but the cover I reference seems to have been a one and done mistaken negative-print style that resulted in pianos pictured side-to side, but with the negative actually reversing the image to reveal the side-by side piano lids opening to the left instead of the actual way they must open, to the right, to the audience, rather than to the left …upstage, to the back of the stage.
The pianos in question were Pro Piano’s first, only and last Yamaha CF 9’ grand, vintage somewhere around 1975 and a Hamburg Steinway Model D-274 that previously described unit that Herbie eventually purchased and we delivered to his home in LA where it resided for many years.
I need a biographer! Good Bye, but True All Dat!!!
I’m writing this tired and nearer blind, after a long 18 hour day, but do you get the serendipity of my Pro Piano life? That piano came to me through this same providential strength and determination that guide every single motion I, we and Pro Piano ever make.