Mike Keneally/Marc Bonilla: Ravel’s Prelude from Le Tombeau De Couperin
It is hubris, given the history of the world, for me to refer to an indignity perpetrated by a record company upon me as “a wrong.” But still, making this video last year with Marc Bonilla did somehow “right a” very insignificant-in-the-scheme-of-things “wrong” for me, in that Warner Bros. Records forbade Marc Bonilla to record this duet with me on his second album American Matador back in 1992. They wanted Marc to occupy a Satriani/Vai-like guitar-hero spot on the label roster, and they were eager for Marc to play both guitar parts himself, which he did, and did brilliantly.
I must also say that, at that time, it was probably more “right” from a musical standpoint for Marc to play the second part, as I don’t doubt for a second that he executed the part more crisply and accurately than I would have back then. When he asked me in 2020 to finally do the duet he’d asked me to do with him all those years ago, I felt I was ready to finally do it justice. Of course, it still took me about a month solid of practice, to the exclusion of nearly all other human activity. My gratitude to Sarah for enduring weeks of my constant practice of my part over, and over, and over, and over again.
And thank you Marc for asking me to do this! It was fun, nearly impossible, and extremely satisfying.
