This article first appeared in New Age Voice, November, 1998
Changing seasons with
Paul
Winter
by Carol Wright
This interview was conducted
on September 14, 1998.
Changing seasons with
Paul
Winter
by Carol Wright
This interview was conducted
on September 14, 1998.
Paul Winter started his professional music career with his Jazz Sextet (Columbia Records). He changed direction when, on a 1962 tour, he sought out the music of Latin America. His latest album, Brazilian Days recorded with guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, recalls the lush richness of those bossa nova times.Carol: It was a great pleasure to hear the title track from Icarus again. It's been a friend for so many years, almost like an anthem of the 1970s.In 1967, Winter formed the Paul Winter Consort, a pioneering blend of instruments (guitar, oboe, soprano sax, bass, cello, and Indian instruments), jazz, and world music. Winter's also broken ground by embracing animal sounds (especially the songs of the whale and wolf), using the acoustic dynamics of live recording locations (the Grand Canyon and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine), and by using his music as a tool to help the environment. In 1980, he formed his own label, Living Music, and recently a signed a distribution deal with Windham Hill/BMG.
Considering his music pioneering, music awards, and longevity, Winter was especially humble when I interviewed him. To add some exclamation marks, I talked to Nancy Rumbel, a Consort oboeist for three years. As soon as I asked her about Winter, she laughed, "I laugh to remember some of the experiences we had together! I loved those recording sessions down the Grand Canyon and the trips we took to Baha to watch the gray whales. We'd play music out on these little 'pongas' in the bay, with the whales swimming right along side. On shore, we could see the beaches, which were covered with bleached white whale bones. It was amazing!
"Paul is such a visionary and conceptual artist, a great musician who brings ideas, music and philosophy together. He's a very intelligent person (he majored in English) and brings that to his music. I had done some volunteer work for an environmental organization, and Paul told me I could combine being a musician with my love for the Earth. This was a great teaching for me, and I've definitely carried it on."
12-string
guitar (he was skeptical about "folk" instruments and wanted to stay with
classical guitar), and I let him hear Joni Mitchell's first album, which
featured the 12-string. Ralph then wrote the song in thirty minutes.
Carol:
With the exception of a few albums, you've always performed with an ensemble.
What have some of these musicians meant to the group effort? Let's start
with Towner.
Winter:
Ralph
is a magical guitarist and composer. He contributed a number of pieces
to our early repertoire. Likewise for guitarist Jim Scott who was with
the Consort in the early 1970s; he was one of the major collaborators on
Missa
Gaia.
Carol:
What about percussionist and sitar player Collin Walcott?
Winter:
Collin
really added a new color stream to the Consort. I hadn't thought of including
the sitar, vtabla, or other Indian instruments because I had such a deep
respect for their musical tradition. Collin, a road manager and student
of Ravi Shankar for many years, was an extraordinary musician. The world
of music really lost something special when he was killed in a car accident
in 1984.
Carol:
In 1970, he and Ralph Towner, oboeist Paul McCandless, and bassist Glen
Moore left to form the group Oregon. You must have seen many changes over
the twenty-plus years of the Consort. How do you roll with the changes?
Winter:
When
musicians leave the Consort, I usually don't replace them. Each musician
has been unique; I haven't substituted them with another player of that
instrument. After Ralph and the others left, we still had cellist David
Darling; I added harpist Joel Andrews (who stayed for three years) and
extra percussionists. For many years, I did not have a second horn in the
group, and it was six years before oboeist Nancy Rumbel joined.
It's the way of life, a natural evolution for everybody.
Ideally a group like ours provides a forum or garden in which the players
can grow in their own direction. The intensity of a group like ours leads
to new paths.
Carol:
Vocalist Susan Osborn certainly made a big impression
on some of your early albums.
Winter:
We
met Susan and the members of her vocal trio in 1975 at a workshop in Minnesota. 
Her
powerful voice knocked my socks off. I thought it would be great to do 
something
with the voice, so two years later, I invited Susan to record with us.
She has contributed a great deal, especially on the Missa Gaia album
and the song "Lay Down Your Burden" on Common Ground. She has an
extensive performing and recording career in Japan, and I just missed seeing
her on my recent tour there.
Carol:
Here's another type of voice provided by Dr. Roger Payne.
Winter:
The
whales. He's the one who first recorded the songs of the humpback whales
and 
recognized
the patterns of their songs. It was 1968 when I first heard Roger's lecture
about whale songs.
Carol:
You use them a lot in your recordings, especially on the Whales Alive
album. I hear them as tragic voices, do you?
Winter: Tragic? I heard them as musical expressions first
of all: beautiful soulful blusey voices, like a cross between Charlie Parker
and, well, an elephant. I didn't read into their sounds a sense of tragedy
or sadness, because I am so familiar hearing those phrases played by jazz 
musicians.
I say their songs are more poignant, and I am proud to have these whales
as charter members of the Consort.
Many other animals have sung with the Consort: wolves,
dolphins, orcas, and eagles. Callings is a double album interweaving
the voices of thirteen species of sea mammals. We didn't have an extra
goal in mind when we made the album, but the album and some of our live
concerts were instrumental in passing a resolution to help protect the
seals. We've had support from environmental organizations and have played
benefits for them. Often the album is sent to their membership, so our
music is carrying the animals' message to the world.
Carol:
With all the upheaval in Russia right now, could you comment on The Dimitri
Pokrosky Singers?
Winter:
The
first night I heard them was in September of 1986. We were booked together
at a concert at Moscow University. They played their music, then we did
our set. Then we came together to perform a blues tune, which they had
heard on the Voice of America. It was revelation to us to hear singing
like that. The sounds they made were amazing-rich and dissonant and earthy.
We loved their sound and their spirit. The next March, Paul Halley and
I went back to Moscow to record 
Earthbeat.
What a celebration that album is!
Where are they now? Dimitri passed away two years
ago. The group is still in Moscow, but has difficulties. I hope they can
stay together and we can record again.
Carol:
Organist Paul Halley has made huge contributions to the Consort.
Winter:
Paul
was the organist and music director at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
in New York. I'd say he has contributed more pieces than anyone else; he
is one of the great composers of our time.
Carol:
Much of your music has a hymn or anthem flavor. Has this been Halley's
contribution?
Winter:
His main contribution has been the lyricism of
his music. It hasn't necessarily been a religious connection, but a deep
reverence for life and the beauty of the Earth. When we did Missa Gaia,
Paul guided us to weave together the music of different religious backgrounds.
He also contributed his knowledge and experience of 800 years of European
liturgical music. He is one of the mainstays of the current group. Percussionist
Glen Valez and cellist Eugene Friesen are the other two current members.
Carol:
Your most recent CD, Brazilian Days, is with guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves.
It's a lovely album, and I can hear how much the bossa nova has colored
the pulse of your music.
Winter:
Oscar is a magic soul of music and spirit. I
first met him in 1962 when I 
was
on a State Department music tour of Latin America with my jazz ensemble.
Since then, he's toured with me and played on and produced many albums.
He brought many facets of Brazilian music into the Consort and has revived
my whole love of the bossa nova.
Carol:
What so captivated you about this music?
Winter:
With
my background in straight jazz, hearing this music-a rare recording of
Joâo Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim -- was a major turning point
for me. Its beguiling melodies and harmonies were an exquisite musical
expression that bloomed for a brief period in the late '50s and early '60s,
a renaissance time for Brazilian music. We did not play any of the pop
songs on this album-only the songs that we loved. This album is a tribute
to this music, those beguiling times, and our friendship.
Carol:
You've not only been musician and producer. You also run your own label,
Living Music. What's been your industry experience?
Winter:
I've
been with many major labels and know the frustration of trying to be creative
within 
the
industry. My jazz sextet released seven albums with Columbia in the early
1960s. Some of our Consort albums were with A&M, then I recorded Icarus
with Epic in 1971. Common Ground was recorded independently in 1977, but
placed with A&M and is still there. So, I've had a lot of experience
with the majors.
I had a growing wish list of albums I dreamed of
making, but I knew that no major record label would give me the support
to produce them. So I formed Living Music in 1980.
We're very enthused about this new distribution
deal we have with the Windham Hill group. They are a very intelligent,
creative, and effective marketing organization with very fine distribution
through BMG. The strong reason we went with them is because of their president
Steve Vining; he's a musican and producer, and a rare executive who is
superb in marketing…and who also has "ears." It's hard to find people who
have both skills. Our next releases with the Windham Hill Group will be 
The
Greatest Hits from Paul Winter, and The World of Living Music,
with tracks from Paul Halley, Pete Seeger, Norín NíRiain,
and others. Our next recorded album, Celtic Solstice, will feature
Davy Spillane, the great Uilleann pipes player. [Note: This album
has been nomimated for a 1999 Grammy Award as best New Age album.]
Carol:
Your albums have garnered enough Grammy nominations and awards to take
up a whole evening! Have these awards helped with sales?
Winter:
The
Grammy Awards have been an encouragement to us to know that our peers have
appreciated the music we've done. I'm not sure if the awards have meant
extra sales, but winning them encourages us.
Carol:
There's one key member of the Consort I'd like you to comment on: You.
Winter:
In
the last year or two, I've been focusing on my own voice as a sax player;
I'm coming out from the woodwork of the ensemble texture that has been
my priority for 30 years. I want to reissue those early Columbia jazz albums,
but I don't see myself returning to this form of jazz except for a celebratory
visit.
Canyon Lullaby was my first solo album, and
I plan to do seven more in that canyon space. I 
used
lullaby in the title because it happened that in the midst of that two
year period, my first child was born. That has shifted my focus more than
anything. On my last recording trip to the canyon, all I could think about
was my family. The canyon itself is a main influence, which has been seconded
by the experience of playing in the cathedral. Those spaces have led me
to becoming a solo player for the first time after several decades of being
a band leader.
Carol:
Looking back on your career, can you see your own legacy?
Winter:
I
don't look back. I have too much ahead of me.
PAUL
WINTER / LIVING MUSIC Website
PAUL
WINTER Discography
1969 -1985
copyright 1999, Carol Wright
Carol Wright
P.O. Box 402 / Eastsound,
WA 98245
cwright@rockisland.com