1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew
they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed
Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
Although the piano was my first love and friend, I think I became enamored with the idea of being a singer somewhere between two childhood obsessions: Jackson 5 and Ed McMahon's Start Search. If you were to fast forward a few years to the middle school me, the obsession became Anita Baker and Bobby McFerrin, and the attention shifted from being interested in "entertaining" to being mesmerized by the magic of voices. That's something I never outgrew.they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed
Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
2 . When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of
your favorites?
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record
or live?
I'm not sure there's anything I love more than making music on a stage with a bunch of people I love and admire, and over the years, there have just been too many glorious moments to pick a highlight. I can say that my favorite recording to date is my first a cappella album "Out From Yonder" (http://goo.gl/hTRC4) because it truly was a spontaneous and surprising endeavor. I was living at a Buddhist retreat center in Colorado where music didn't have much of a place in the community culture, so I was feeling kind of lonely and lost in that department. Then I finally asked my boss if they could arrange my schedule so that I could have one day a week to make music. Tuesday became my sacred day, and since I didn't really have any instruments with me, I ended up going back to the method I used as a kid (probably inspired by Bobby McFerrin by the way), overdubbing my own vocals to create layers of harmony and rhythm. My personal favorite track on the album was a cover of John Coltrane's "Alabama" which I ended up calling "incantation: flame." Another serendipitous story involving a 19 year old mystic named Bobby Elbers brought this rendering together. Bobby played the role McCoy Tyner in the recording, performing Zen Buddhist chants in the Tuvan throat singing style where Tyner's piano tremolos would have been. It was magic to me me.
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?
How much can music influence current events?
How much can music influence current events?
I'm afraid I fall into the category of those who not only believe music *can* change the world, but it's actually the responsibility of those called to music to go about generating the change they wish to see in the world. Here's where I can easily slip into hippie talk meets quantum physics, yadda yadda. But the power of music to heal, to transform, to awaken, to enlighten! has been revealed over and over again, so I feel it should be self-evident at this point.
The Greeks had an interesting approach when talked about music in terms of various levels of harmony: harmony of the heavens, of the world, of the body, music of the instruments, etc. The idea that anything that exists must do so because it is in harmony with the systems related to it. That's a pretty metaphysical observation that is mirrored in Eastern philosophy and religion as well, and I truly believe when it comes to the harmony or balance that we experience as human beings, that which we call "music" can very much assist in bring things that have fallen out of balance back in to "harmony."
I think that changes from season to season. Sometimes that can be accomplished through the endeavors of "art for art's sake." But sometimes that means being a little more direct, and perhaps little more confrontational, whether you're Beethoven feverishly scratching Napoleon's name out of your heroic score, or Bob Marley standing up for the rights of the people.
I'm completely with Jimi Hendrix who I'm told believed the vibrations of music could literally change the chemistry of the mind/body mechanism, and that the intention placed in the music is of utmost importance. Music can be used to make us stronger, more aware, more present, and can just as easily be used to distract and make us more complacent. For those who experience music as a "practiced" pursuit, and by that I'm referring to the hours upon hours musicians spend honing their craft, discovering possibilities, new layers of awareness, inflection, themselves and their own humanity, etc., it seems more often than not, the intention is for music to serve as an ennobling vehicle for liberation and progress.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected
your career as a musician?
I think it's safe to say technology has had a "double-edged" affect on musicians and the industry in which we work. It has certainly required that new business models be explored and employed, which ultimately I think will be a good thing. We're in transition now, and a lot of paradigms we used to take for granted have dissolved, leaving some coddled business people disillusioned, and a lot of artists struggling. I do believe the dust will settle on this within the decade, and we'll find a new equilibrium in which to settle ourselves.
For myself, technology has been wildly empowering. The fact that $2k can give me access to that which would have costed $20k only two decades ago means that I am allowed to be largely self-sufficient when it comes to creating music and presenting to the public. Given the current musical climate, I think I would have gone crazy without my iMac and MBox interface!
But here's where I turn a little hypo/hypercritical. The democratization brought on by the technology has changed the culture of music making and I'm not sure it's for the better. I don't know why, but I'm still holding on to music as a "practiced pursuit. I still expect the music makers to have studied, to understand basic principles of music from various traditions, to have put immeasurable amounts of blood, sweat, tears, and time into the study of their instruments, and to have done some soul-searching about their role in the world as a generator of musical content. I think the ease brought on by some of the current tools has diminished the time it takes to make "marketable" sounding music, and therefore has diminished the amount of time the music generator spends thinking about his or her intention. It in turn creates an industry that is more about cranking out new tracks to feed an insatiable consumer base than discovering something good that might actually "feed" the *people* they should be serving. Plus, innovations in data reporting structures and communications has made the executive's analysis of its "bottom line" more exacting and dehumanizing in a way that is negatively affecting musicians, venues, and media outlets alike. At the end of the day, it feels like the current climate callously and unapologetically cuts artistry out of the large-scale picture, which I think is unfortunate and dangerous for us all.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of
shoes would you be?
shoes would you be?
I'd be some kind of expensive hippie shoe, that may not look all that attractive at first, but you know I'm good for you, so you buy me anyway, and I grow on you, 'cause I take on your shape, and I make you feel awesome when you're out climbing mountains in the the wilderness.
