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Alright, let’s start down.
THE DESCENT BEGINS.
This is the really scary part.
900 LBS. WORTH $11,000 MAKES ITS WAY DOWN INTO THE CAVERN.
This is a Mason Hamlin Double B
which is about a 7 foot grand piano.
We’ve taken a piano just like this
and put it on its keys to make a turn in a tight stairway.
And here we are taking the piano past the Queen’s watchdog,
just to prove it's really in the cave.
Stop right there for a second.
It’s even more fun going out.
We're having a simple sounds concert here at Longhorn Caverns
featuring jazz pianist Joseph Cordi.
[piano music]
We realized that this room was shaped kind of like a megaphone
so no matter what angle you were at,
your voice or your instrument was amplified
and the resonance and the acoustics were superior.
[piano music]
I’ve been playing since I was a little kid.
I do come from a musical family.
My grandmother was a piano teacher
and my mom played the piano.
ALTHOUGH THE CAVERNS HAVE HOSTED MANY MUSICIANS IN THE PAST,
THIS IS JOSEPH CORDI'S FIRST CD RELEASE PARTY.
Yes, I have a CD here, ‘When the Piano Man Plays the Blues,’
Everything on this CD is my original stuff.
Does it make you nervous?
No, actually I’m ok. I don't know, the cave...
I don't know what it does...
something kind of quieting about it.
[sings] I’d work for you. I’d slave for you...
[sings] I'd a beggar or a maid for you....
[sings] If that isn't love then it'll have to do
[sings] 'til the real thing comes along....
I’d like to thank Frank Baxter of Granger Pianos
for actually putting this on. This was his idea
of moving this down here.
[piano music]
-You just want me to sign it? -Happy Birthday, B.C.
Is that alright?
-Throw a Joe Cordi on there. -Oh yeah.
[piano music]
AND WHILE HIS FANS ARE LOVING THE ATMOSPHERE...
It's amazing!
Who would have thought a grand piano in a cave?
The acoustics are wonderful.
It's just the most the most incredible, unplugged experience
that I could have sitting in this million year-old cave
and listening to this wonderful jazz combo.
JOE IS STILL GETTING USED TO HIS CELEBRITY.
Oh, you want me to actually sign it?
Well of course!
It's going to be really famous one day.
[sings] When the piano man plays the blues...
FOR TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE, THIS IS LYDIA SALDANA.
[music ends] [applause]