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Lawrence Blatt
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4/28/2009 11:53:17 PM
New Release "The Color of Sunshine" From Lawrence Blatt
Here is an update on my newest cd called ”The Color of Sunshine”. The basic concept for the album is that both light/color and sound/pitch are a function of vibrating waves that are similar and related. Music and moods are often described using the metaphor of color, as in the passion and intensity of being ‘red hot,’ or the melancholy feeling of ‘the blues.’ Given this natural relationship, I used colors as the inspiration for different moods and emotions on an entire album. I composed one piece after another working sequentially through the colors represented in the light spectrum which include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. I then ordered the music on the CD in the sequence imposed by the light spectrum. Since white light, including sunlight, naturally contains all of the colors of the spectrum, I begin and end the album with two pairs of compositions that are reflective of blended light and color.
After two self-produced solo guitar albums I decided to branch out to include other musicians as well as production by legendary guitarist William Ackerman (Grammy winner and founder of Windham Hill Records). In addition to being a solo artist, Ackerman also is one of the most respected producers of contemporary instrumental music. According to Will, “Passion and intellect merge in Lawrence Blatt's compositions and performance. His musical instincts amaze me. He can move through a very broad landscape of musical influence and never seem imitative or insincere,”
It was an honor and a pleasure working with Will on the new album, especially since he is an accomplished guitarist himself. He instinctively knows what works on the instrument and was able to introduce additional instruments and textures played by other musicians without taking away my voice or vision.
My guitar style bridges many genres ion the new cd including new age, neo-classical, folk and world music with subtle, hinted-at elements including Latin, Mid-Eastern, jazz, bluegrass, Hawaiian and pop-rock. I play a variety of steel-string and nylon-string acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, two different Hawaiian ukuleles, a small South American 10-string charango, the occasional keyboard and a variety of percussion on the album. I am also joined by top musicians such as T-Bone Wolk(who has worked extensively with Hall & Oates) on bass, accordian and slide-guitar; Derrik Jordan on percussion; Jeff Oster on flugelhorn; Steve Schuch on violin; Patrick Gorman on drums; and others.
The new tunes “Look to the Sun” and “The Color of Sunshine” join “Under the Sun” from my first album and “A Little More Sunshine” from my second CD as part of an on-going “Sun Suite” featuring related musical themes. The next two compositions on the new album, “Gray Salt Marsh” and “Infrared: The Abyss,” depict the edge of the color spectrum."Gray Salt Marsh" was inspired by a foggy, overcast day exploring the protected wetlands near where I live; and ‘Infrared’ covers light we can not normally see which represents the unknown, that area beyond perception.
The color spectrum songs start with song “Alhambra (The Red)” which was inspired by the red sands of the Moorish desert and the pink-tinged fortress of that name in Spain, and continues with “Orange Blossom Honey” (a solo ukulele piece) and “Jaune (Yellow)” influenced by seeing people sick with jaundice or chronic Hepatitis C, watching their skin turn yellow, and following their difficult therapy procedures. Next is the solo guitar “Green Corn and Spring” a no-overdub tribute to my growing up in Indiana, “Mar Azul” is inspired by the Pacific Ocean, from where I live in San Francisco and all the way to South America, and “Violet Blue” has a bit of sadness in it. Following are two more edge-of-spectrum pieces another unseen-light number “UV Radiations” and one representing the absence of light “‘Black Rock Beach’ whixh is a place I go snorkeling with my son, Zack, in Hawaii, so he contributes on beat box and I use a Hawaiian taro-patch tuning on a tiny parlor guitar.
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Bob Elliott
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4/29/2009 4:45:04 AM
Wow. You have great tone. Beautiful touch, really. Would love to jam with you when I'm in San Fran some time. I go there fairly often. My daughter lives there.
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