MUSIC MASTER NOW MINES MYSTERIES.Byline: Victoria Giraud Standards engineer Chris Banta is a man who has found a balance between right- and left-brain proclivities. He has a full-time job with Disney Imaginarium, and he and his wife, Brenda, have a combined family of three children. Chris also finds time to play jazz piano Jazz Piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. The instrument is also a vital tool in the understanding of jazz theory and arranging, because of its combined melodic and harmonic nature. professionally, with his own Chris Banta Trio, and to write books. Until 1991 he was custom building bass marimbas, a melodic percussion instrument percussion instrument, any instrument that produces musical sound when its surface is struck with an implement (such as a mallet, stick, or disk) or with the hand. . A childhood interest in strange phenomena has turned into a new book, ``Seeing Is Believing Seeing is believing is an idiom first recorded in this form in 1639 that means "only physical or concrete evidence is convincing".[1] Seeing is Believing may refer to:
``When I was 7, my parents took me to the Haunted Shack at Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a brand name of two separate entities: a theme park in Buena Park, California, and a manufacturer of food specialty products (primarily jams and preserves) based in Placentia, California. . I was so impressed by it. It's been an indelible impression ever since,'' Chris explained. The book includes the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, city, United States Santa Cruz (săn`tə kr  z), city (1990 pop. 49,040), seat of Santa Cruz co., W Calif., on the north shore of Monterey Bay; inc. 1866. , Calif.; Confusion Hill in Pennsylvania; Spook Hill Spook Hill is a gravity hill (an optical illusion where cars appear to roll uphill) in Lake Wales, Florida.Spook Hill is located on the Lake Wales Ridge, a geologically significant range of sand and limestone hills, which were islands from two to three million years ago, in Florida; Cosmos of the Black Hills in South Dakota and other locations with odd phenomena. The Winchester Mystery House The Winchester Mystery House is a well-known California mansion that was under construction continuously for 38 years and is reputed to be haunted. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester, but is now a tourist in San Jose is added for all the construction curiosities in this 160-room mansion. ``I did it all on my PC. I even did all my own scans. It was pretty labor-intensive,'' Chris said. The Pasadena native has printed up 2,000 copies and believes that with the proper marketing that he'll have a success. One of Chris's priorities is to sell the book at the gift shops adjoining all the mysterious places. Having his book in print has the wheels turning for other book projects through his own Funhouse Press in Agoura Hills. He believes a good companion piece to his book will be one on campy museums or funhouses, like the chambers of horror in wax museums all over the country. Chris is not a stranger to writing books. His first was ``Basic Marimba marimba: see xylophone. marimba Xylophone with resonators under each bar. The original African instrument uses tuned calabash resonators. In Mexico and Central America, where it was brought by African slaves, the wooden bars may be affixed to a Bar Mechanics & Resonator resonator /res·o·na·tor/ (rez´o-na?ter) 1. an instrument used to intensify sounds. 2. an electric circuit in which oscillations of a certain frequency are set up by oscillations of the same frequency in another Principles,'' a result of many years custom building the instrument. Music has always been a keen interest for Chris, beginning in childhood when he heard his father playing piano in jam sessions and continuing when his parents took him to Wurlitzer pipe organ concerts. Chris is a self-taught pianist. ``As I started to get older, I would listen to my parents' old 78 records, like Fats Waller and boogie-woogie, and would try to mimic it on the piano.'' While taking a music course at California Institute of the Arts California Institute of the Arts known as CalArts U.S. private institution of higher learning in Valencia. Created in 1961 through the merger of two other art institutes, it was the first in the U.S. in the early 1970s, Chris heard a Harry Partch record that featured a bass marimba. ``It was the neatest sound I've ever heard,'' Chris remembered. He decided to build his own marimba and had one finished in six weeks. His expertise grew over 20 years, with the creation of 14 marimbas now owned by individuals and organizations all over the world. His creative passion also led him to build experimental marimbas of different shapes and resonator power, one of them with a bass tone lower than the lowest C on the piano. Besides marimbas, Chris has built log drums and kalimbas, or thumb pianos. Although he's temporarily stopped building marimbas until he can set up another workshop, he and the Chris Banta Trio play jazz - ``bluesy, traditional things'' - all over Southern California and recently finished a gig at Dockside Terrace in Westlake Village. His music interest - he's played jazz professionally since 1974 - has prompted another book idea, which he plans to call ``The Live Music Manual: A Performing Guide to Getting a Gig and Keeping It.'' ``I have great musicians,'' Chris said. ``I really want to cut a CD by this time next year.'' MEMO: Victoria Giraud welcomes comments and suggestions for columns. Call her at (805) 344-3939. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Jazz pianist and marimba builder Chris Banta has bra nched out with a self-published book on geographical and phenomenal mysteries. Evan Yee/Daily News |
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