About

Each of Scotty's kalimbas has a unique key arrangement and tuning.  The instruments and tunings are always evolving. He might add a note, change a note, or rearrange the tines to make a pattern easier to play.  He creates each tuning by starting with the pitches that resonate best on that kalimba.  Then he gradually add notes to fill out a scale, or to play a certain pattern.

     The sound holes are used to focus on a note, or notes, and to create vibrato.

     Most of these kalimbas are amplified using Barcus-Berry acoustic guitar pickups. Most of his Hugh Tracey Kalimbas have built-in pickups.

    African Mbira players are usually accompanied by a hosho (shaker) player.  The first time he saw an African Mbira player, Scotty was traveling without a hosho player.  He had devised foot percussion by attaching bells to his shoes.  After that, Scotty started experimenting with foot maracas.  Some of his youngest fans think that the coolest thing he does is to play something with his foot.

     A word from Kalimbaman himself:

I grew up around pianos.  My father rebuilt pianos in our garage.  And he also had a great collection of records from The Caribbean and Africa.  So I listened to everything from Bach and Chopin to Belafonte and Olantunji.

     I studied classical piano with a wonderful teacher.  But as a teenager I started listening to a lot of jazz and I wanted to get away from playing music from a written page.  

     Then I got my first kalimba, an instrument with no written music and no set tuning.  I figured out how to play a few tunes, and I got some records of African Mbira music.  I tried to copy some of their riffs, but my kalimba was totally different from theirs, and I did not even know how they arranged their keys.

     I was still playing classical music, mainly on piano and French horn.  About the same time I was getting tired of classical music (and school), I met Gary Gray (later renamed Ryphon Gray).  He was making superb, innovative kalimbas.  I became his apprentice.  After a year we were broke; but I had a suitcase full of great kalimbas.  For the next 15 years I continued developing my kalimba skills, led jam sessions, and occasionally played percussion in local bands.

     I formed my first band, The Earthmother's Majimba Band, in 1989, and we began touring festivals and art shows.

     Over the years, people have given me many different kalimbas, including a Jamaican bass kalimba, also known as the rumbabox.

    In 1995, I started playing the rumbabox with my friend, Mak Dervo, who played panflutes, charango, and guitar.  We learned a few calypsos, boldly named ourselves The Calypso Kings, and started playing gigs, mostly strolling shows.  We did our Mak and Scotty Strolling Minstrel Show all around the Midwest for about 15 years.  We also had a band, The Party Guise, with a drummer and often, a didgeridoo.

     Since 2010, I have concentrated on my solo Kalimbaman show.  I've added several Hugh Tracey Kalimbas, which are quite different from the ones I make.

     For the past few years, I've also performed with the all-percussion ensemble: The Fabulous Yahoo Drummers.