Obchodzący w tym roku 81-urodziny, siedmiokrotny laureat nagrody Grammy, amerykański saksofonista i kompozytor Paul Winter powszechnie uważany jest za pioniera world music i artystę, który jako jeden z pierwszych muzyków na świecie w swej twórczości łączył elementy muzyki jazzowej i klasycznej z naturalnymi odgłosami przyrody. W ciągu 40 lat z ogromnym powodzeniem wraz z Paulem McCandlessem prowadził formację Paul Winter Consort. Zespół był wyjątkowym zjawiskiem muzycznym przełomu XX i XXI wieku, jednak jego działalność ciągle pozostawała w cieniu równolegle współtworzonej przez McCandlessa formacji Oregon.
W rozmaitych składach Paul Winter Consort obok Wintera i McCandlessa grali tacy muzycy jak m.in. gitarzysta Ralph Towner, pianista Dave Grusin czy perkusiści Colin Walcott i Steve Gadd. W roku 2017 ukazała się przekrojowa płyta będąca swego rodzaju antologią zespołu: "A Retrospective: Morning Sun".
Rok 2020 przynosi kameralny solowy album Paula Wintera: "Light of the Sun", będący bardzo osobistą płytą w ponad 60-letnim dorobku fonograficznym artysty. Jak mówi sam artysta:
"Tytułowe "Światło Słońca" ma wiele znaczeń, które przypisujemy światłu: światło jako duch, miłość, świadomość, ludzka dobroć, spokój, serce, uniesienie, ogień, światło które jest integralną częścią piękna i uśmiech, który odbija słońce w naszym sercu".
Nagrania powstały w tak niezwykłych miejscach jak: Muzeum Miho, Katedra św. Jana Bożego w Nowym Jorku, oraz ...Wielki Kanion w Kolorado.
W poszczególnych utworach Winterowi towarzyszą: Paul Halley (fortepian i organy piszczałkowe), pianiści Jeff Holmes, Denny Zeitlin i Don Grusin, brazylijski gitarzysta Oscar Castro-Neves i wiolonczelista Eugene Friesen.
Planowana premiera albumu (16 października) przesunięta została na 13 listopada, a płyta ukaże się nakładem wytwórni Living Music.
Robert Ratajczak
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Paul Winter: Light of the Sun
CD 2020, Living Music LMU 56
program:
1. Sun Singer
2. My Father's Smile
3. Dolphin Morning
4. Hymn
5. Primavera (Spring)
6. The Well-Tempered Wood Thrush
7. Quiet Now
8. Turning
9. Wolf Eyes
10. Canto Triste (Sad Song)
11. Sweet Home
12. Canyon Chaconne
13. Wintersong
14. Winter's Dream
15. Inner Peace
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materiały prasowe:
LIGHT OF THE SUN
A HORN OF PLENTY
FROM SAXOPHONIST PAUL WINTER
Litchfield, CT – Seven-time Grammy® Award winner Paul Winter's new album, Light of the Sun, will be released on November 13, 2020. Showcasing his signature sax voice for the first time, Winter has produced the most personal musical offering of his 60-year recording career.
"Light of the Sun" is a milestone in Paul Winter’s long musical journey; the first album he has made in which he is the featured soloist throughout.
“Since I organized my first little band in Altoona at age 12, I have always worn two musical hats: as player and bandleader”, Winter says. “But my love for playing sax has most often been overshadowed by my fascination with bands and ensembles of all kinds”.
With his early jazz sextet and with the Paul Winter Consort, which has been his forum since 1968, Winter has usually been content to play as a member of the ensemble. The premise of his bands has always been that of a musical democracy: everybody is featured, but the overall ensemble sound is primary. However, he has long harbored the dream of creating an entire album featuring his beloved soprano sax.
“This year, having recently turned 80, I figured it was as good a time as any to do it”, Winter says.
Winter knew early on that he wanted this album to be a celebration of light. “With the title Light of the Sun, I intended to embrace the many meanings we attribute to light: light as spirit, love, consciousness, human kindness, serenity, heart, exaltation, fire, the light that is integral to beauty, and the smile that reflects the sunshine in our heart”, continues Winter. “Music is the common medium that can embody both the spiritual and physical aspects of light”.
The 15 pieces of the album include a series of new compositions, along with unique reinterpretations of iconic chestnuts from Winter’s odyssey. Included is a trilogy of pieces featuring voices from what he calls “the greater symphony of the Earth”, saluting our three realms of ocean (Dolphin), air (Wood Thrush), and land (Wolf).
“I have had the great privilege of recording in my three favorite sonic temples on the planet: the ‘Kiva’ of the Miho Museum; the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, where the Consort and I have been artists-in-residence since 1980; and the Grand Canyon, which has been a place of pilgrimage for me for many years”, explains Winter. “These are places where I feel my horn realizes its true voice, acoustic spaces where its spirit-song comes alive”.
Masterful keyboardists accompany Winter’s saxophone, including Paul Halley on piano and the pipe organ of New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and pianists Jeff Holmes, Denny Zeitlin, and Don Grusin. Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves plays on three tracks, and cellist Eugene Friesen on two.
The album is structured as a journey with the Sun through the morning, afternoon, evening, and night of a day, and also through the seasons of the year.
“Light of the Sun is my testament as a sax player,”, says Paul Winter. “And in saying this, I don’t mean to imply it is my last. Actually, I’m intending it to be my first. When you arrive at 80, you need to be ready for something new”.
From the early days of his college jazz sextet, which toured 23 countries of Latin America for the State Department and performed the first-ever jazz concert at the White House for the Kennedys in 1962, to his later ensemble, the Paul Winter Consort, Paul Winter’s concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to 52 countries and to wilderness areas on six continents, where he has traveled on rafts, dog sleds, mules, kayaks, tug-boats and Land Rovers. He has recorded over 60 albums, of which seven have been honored with Grammy® Awards.
