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The Story |
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Filmmaker Jan Nickman and I met in the early 1980’s and came together as part of a successful Seattle based video and record company. Along with our friend, music producer and musician, Paul Speer, we helped forge a body of work as a creative team for this young, innovative company and collaborated on several landmark video music albums. These included Natural States, a study of our lush Pacific Northwest, and the contrasting Southwestern visual and musical odyssey, Desert Vision. With those days well behind us, and after much success in our respective fields, we fast-forward nearly twenty years. Jan approached me to create the music for his concept of capturing the American Southwest in a more meaningful and intimate way; a “visual music” project to be filmed in the High Definition Video format. And we agreed it would be great to work together again! In the early stages of the production, Jan and I seemed to anticipate each other’s flow and rhythm; the visuals and music developing and growing together gracefully. This is not to say that a tremendous amount of time and energy wasn’t expended to make this vision come to life. However, in the end the artistic goal was accomplished. The music and pictures had fused into a cohesive and satisfying statement. We are honored to have been part of this production and very grateful for all the talented musicians, technicians, and cast and crew who contributed to its creation. Our hope is we may now share with you this vision of the Great American Southwest; this mysterious and cherished land that is surely one of our Earth’s Living Temples. In Peace…
Clear light across the vastness of the red and white earth; canyon walls rising up towards a searing blue sky; sunsets rich and bursting in deep purples, as the “sun father dresses himself to go out.” The images we experienced through the eyes of director and filmmaker Jan Nickman, who truly was “weaving the strands,” made it easy for us, as the Navajo saying goes, to “walk in beauty”; giving balance and harmony to the film. I was honored to work with Jan and with brothers David and Gary Lanz, adding my earthly woodwinds to music both delicate and powerful. I must also acknowledge my teacher and dear Navajo friend, Paul Thompson, who first took me deep inside the spirit and place of Canyon de Chelly. Here my eyes, ears, and heart were opened, where his mother was raised as a child, in this place he calls home. I am reminded of ancient pueblo inhabitants who lived within this enchanted landscape; when the land and the people were one. These thoughts and cherished memories visited me time and again during the making of Living Temples. Many Blessings, |
This music marks a reunion of two friends and collaborators picking up where they left off…
