Copyright 1999 Susanne M. Alexander
The Shifting Times

PAUL WINTER: SYMPHONIES OF THE EARTH
by Susanne M. Alexander

There's something about a saxophone that reaches way down deep in the soul. And there's something about a wolf howling that ripples down the spine and then releases the soul. Put them together and every lonely moment, every loss, every pain, every separation finds a resonance and a voice.

"Wolf Eyes" is musician Paul Winter's signature piece. Winter said it is based on a wolf recording made by biologist Fred Harrington near Ely, Minnesota in the early 1970s. "This is the most powerful and musically interesting solo wolf recording I've heard," said Winter, who has a profound respect for the intelligence and wisdom of wolves. "For years we've invited audiences to howl with us at the end of this piece." He can also imitate the four phases of the wolf solo on his soprano sax.

"Living Music" is the label Winter, now 59, puts on his music and the music company he founded in 1980. "The name 'Living Music' rang true for me, since it alluded to our primary intentions: to strive towards timeless music; to record in natural acoustic spaces like stone churches, canyons or the loft of a barn; to create a catalogue that would embrace the vital traditions of music we revere from Bach to Africa, and cello to wolf," said Winter. Winter produces albums for other performers, including a 1996 album ("Pete") for his friend and mentor, folk singer Pete Seeger, whom he first met in 1966. As of July 1998, Windham Hill now has a worldwide distribution contract for Living Music.

Notes swoop down canyon walls and echo across the chasm. Birds perch on twigs clinging to crevasses and sing across the space. Notes swirl and dance over rocks in the river far below. Sunrays turn craggy walls to rose-light and shadows, and music sings to greet the dawn. Winter has many songs featuring canyon themes and recordings, and he says the Grand Canyon is "perhaps my favorite" place to record. The album "Canyon" was nominated for a Grammy in 1986, and "Canyon Lullaby" was nominated for a Grammy award in 1998.

Winter's music has been inspiring audiences around the world since the 1960s. He comes from a musically influenced family. His grandfather was a bandmaster in the Civil War and started a music store Altoona, Pennsylvania in the 1880s. Winter grew up in Altoona. His father played the violin, and Winter and his sister played piano. Now at age 87, his mother is finally getting her turn at piano lessons! His first group was the Paul Winter Sextet, which won the Intercollegiate Jazz Festival in 1961 and signed with Columbia Records. "Our final gig was in the East Room of the White House, for the Kennedy's, on November 19, 1962," said Winter.

Annually, the Paul Winter Consort, a loosely joined group of 5-20 changing musicians, plays for the winter and summer solstices at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, the world's largest Gothic cathedral. The winter solstice is on the darkest, shortest day of the year and the summer one on the lightest, longest day. The Consort members are considered artists-in-residence at the Cathedral. "The Solstices are the most universal rituals we can all celebrate together," said Winter. "The sounds of the cosmos embrace all of us, and transcend all denominational differences."

Winter's latest album, "Celtic Solstice," was released in February 1999. Its roots go back to the 1960s and 1970s when Winter discovered a distinctive and soulful Irish bagpipe called the Uilleann pipes. Finally, in 1998 he located Davy Spillane, a piper from Ireland and a member of the original "Riverdance" cast, and brought him and other musicians and singers to New York. With Paul Halley on the pipe organ and piano, the Cathedral filled with a "marriage of the earthy and the sublime," said Winter.

It's obvious that Winter feels a spiritual connection to the Earth and all its living creatures. "Breathing, smiling and making sounds are my spiritual connection," he said. "When I've played my horn for a while, I feel more centered, grounded and alive." He added, "My two-year old daughter Keetu is my spiritual teacher. She manifests more truth than any teacher I've known." Winter and his wife, Chez Liley, are planning to build on this truth with unique education. "We are going to explore home schooling for her that incorporates as much experience with nature, animals and music as possible," said Winter.

Going beyond the boundaries is characteristic of Winter and his work. In 1971, the Consort's album "Road" was even taken beyond Earth when it went to the moon aboard Apollo XV. Astronauts named two craters after the songs "Icarus" and "Ghost Beads." Ralph Towner composed "Icarus," the Paul Winter Consort theme song, in 1970. It is a lively, upbeat piece that pulls the audience into feeling connected and joyful. The 1998 release of "Paul Winter, Greatest Hits" has a new version of the song featuring Winter's sax as the lead melody voice instead of the original cello.

Winter has incorporated many different animal sounds into his music over the years. Among the first to inspire him in 1967 were the beautifully complex songs of the humpback whale. He has also recorded the voices of seals, sea lions, elephants and birds. His "Earth music" has awakened many people to environmental and preservation issues. This has won him many awards, including ones from the World Wildlife Fund, the United Nations Environment Program and the United States Humane Society.

Winter is humble about the awards. "I would hope that every person with a measure of sanity is an environmentalist," he said. "Most everyone wants their children to have clean water and unpolluted air and unadulturated food. Most people are moved by the beauty of nature-whether it's a rainbow or the Grand Canyon or a little baby." His musical celebrations for creatures and the Earth have led to many benefit concerts for environmental groups and involvement with activists and concerned citizens. He feels these people have become part of his life and community.

Winter's community is a broad one. He has performed at over 2000 concerts in major concert halls and cathedrals in the Americas, Europe and Asia and traveled to 37 countries and wilderness areas on 6 continents. The locales have been as diverse as the Negev Desert in Israel and the palace of the Crown Prince of Japan. His recent album, "Brazilian Days," a "Bossa Nova/new swing" album with Oscar Castro-Neves, reflects his love for a country he first visited in 1962 and lived in from 1964 to 1965. In 1984, Winter made the first of 15 trips to the Soviet Union under a government cultural exchange protocol, and he has been involved in bringing Russian performers to the United States. He has also done many tours of Spain and played twice in Croatia on Earth Day 1996 and 1997.

Winter is well known for finding, mentoring and involving musicians and singers of all varieties around the world. "The greatest contribution I can make, will be in encouraging people to make their own music. Vibration in our bodies makes us feel good. Anyone can do this, by blowing on a garden hose. You don't have to take sax lessons." But anyone listening to the sweet notes of Winter's saxophone will be glad he did.

Winter won Grammy awards for Best New Age Albums for "Spanish Angel" in 1994 and "Prayer for the Wild Things" in 1995. This latter album includes some Native American chanting and drumming.

Further information about Paul Winter can be obtained at www.livingmusic.com

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