Sixty Six Steps took a couple months to make and most of a lifetime to plan. The inspiration for the album - the second collaboration between guitarist Leo Kottke and erstwhile Phish bassist Mike Gordon - dates back to a childhood vacation Gordon’s family made to the Bahamas. The not-quite-teenaged Gordon heard a calypso band called the Mustangs playing around a pool, and the groove and good feelings generated by their music stuck with him.

“There are these syncopations within Leo’s guitar playing that twist around in a way that remind me of calypso,” explains Gordon. “So this album took form as an experiment in my mind to see whether Leo’s unique style of playing could be mixed with this kind of music I discovered and really loved when I was younger. And it worked far beyond my expectations.”

“Mike was the first to notice that aspect in my playing, and I think I’d forgotten it was in there,” says Kottke. “No one else had done that. He’s very intuitive that way.” The pair had already successfully tested the waters as collaborators with the album Clone, released in 2002. When they crossed paths last year at a music festival, Gordon told Kottke that he really wanted to do a island experiment as his first project following the Phish era.

Incidentally, the title Sixty Six Steps is taken from a sign at the base of a staircase leading to what is reputedly the highest point on the island. The steps curve around and go to the top of the hill, which is a great spot from which to view the sunset. In its own way, Sixty Six Steps winds and ascends to a point from which the listener can savor some truly unique musical vistas.

Try and Stop Me

Clone

One Guitar No Vocals

Leo Kottke Live

My Father's Face

Sounds of Wood & Steel

Pure Alex de Grassi

Tracy Moore Collection