“Heat” Live from the Maple Room, Volume 1

$15, two discs

Available at Bull Moose Music and online at www.heat4all.com

Artists include Bill Frisell, Jud Caswell, Peter Mayer, John Hammond, Pierce Pettis and Taylor Mesple

Proceeds go to the Maine Community Action Association’s efforts to aid home heating expenses.

Cool sounds, hot idea
CD sampler to benefit home heating initiative

LEWISTON – Taylor Mesple hopes to warm people with music.

The co-founder of the Maple Room, a local performance venue, has created a sampler of music recorded live on his stage. The double CD’s profits will go entirely to help Mainers pay for heating oil.

It’s titled “Heat.”

Players include acoustic guitarist Peter Mayer, ethereal Kennebunk singer Clara Berry and Mesple. All submitted their work at no cost.

“It’s a charity that everybody can get behind,” said Mesple, a singer, producer and keyboardist who has played with Keb’ Mo’ and James Taylor. “Nobody’s trying to exploit anybody else.”

Of course, a little exposure for the artists and the venue would be good, too.

Mesple and his wife, Rebecca, opened the Maple Room in September 2007. Holding 95 seats, they labeled it “a listening room” rather than a concert hall.

Audiences sit up close. Artists can see listeners’ faces, as if they were playing a living room show.

It comes with a downside, though. Even extraordinary performances are heard by fewer than 100 people.

The solution came from Mesple’s habit of recording almost every show. By last Christmas, he suspected that he had the makings of a strong album.

A year later, he is convinced.

He and executive producer Gil Helmick sorted through hundreds of hours of material, choosing their favorites. They started by taking one or two songs from every show. When that proved to be too big, they cut it. Then, they cut it again.

The resulting 24 songs cross genres from classical to blues, jazz and adult contemporary. Many of the songs are accompanied by the artists’ introductions.

In almost every case, the musicians agreed to grant the songs to the benefit project, free of charge. Only one refused. Two others failed to return calls. A bigger problem proved to be licensing the songs and getting the artists’ permission.

“They’re traveling all over the world,” Mesple said. Getting all of the signatures took a year.

In the end, it proved worth it.

With the two CDs, folks can hear the shows attended by an exclusive few, Mesple said.

He is continuing to record shows for a later CD and another charity.

“We hope to make this an annual project,” he said.