Greetings
gracious viewers,
and welcome to
Enlightening Entertainment.
In today’s program,
we are honored to present
the Grammy-nominated
pianist, composer and
New Age music pioneer,
David Lanz.
His platinum album
“Cristofori’s Dream”
topped Billboard’s
first New Age/Adult
Alternative chart in 1988
and remained #1
for 27 weeks.
David Lanz’s music,
embraced by
worldwide fans since,
is permeated with
tranquility, deep feelings,
and a celestial feel
of spirituality.
Born in 1950 in Seattle,
USA, David Lanz has
shown his musical talent
since a very young age.
I was about four and half
years old, and I have to
credit my mother
who was a piano player.
And my grandmother
played the piano as well.
So I had a lot of music
in my life as a boy,
and of course,
I took piano lessons
and did the kind of
usual things that kids do.
But by the time I was 10,
I was already starting to
compose my own music.
At age 12, young David
decided to develop
his talent on his own.
He derived his inspiration
from various kinds of
music and great masters.
He came into
the limelight by playing
with in his rock band,
“The Towne Cryers.”
His exceptional piano
skills also gave him
the opportunity to play
in Terry Jacks’
1974 worldwide hit,
“Seasons in the Sun,”
and other albums.
I was really excited
like many musicians
in my age group
when The Beatles
came around.
And they kind of changed
the way popular music
was viewed, and so really
I always felt like
I was being mentored
by John Lennon
and Paul McCartney.
In fact, I have to really
thank George Martin,
who was
The Beatles’ producer.
He would bring in
classical musicians and
add touches to their music
that wasn’t typical.
So I started to really
listen a little more intently
to the great masters
of the Classical era,
and so they’ve also had
a big influence of my life
as well.
Mr. Lanz’s spiritual
awareness further raises
his music to a new level.
I studied yoga for a while
and learned basic
transcendental
meditation techniques,
I studied Paramahansa
Yogananda.
I found his work
really, really wonderful.
I feel Jesus and
Saint Germaine
around me a lot.
And I love Buddha.
Over the years,
I’ve studied various
spiritual masters and
put myself in a position
where I opened myself up
to letting more light
into my body
and into my mind.
As a spiritually oriented
person, Mr. Lanz
was not contented with
the existing music only.
He hoped that his music
could bring more healing
and peace to the world.
That’s how he evolved
the unique style of music
that came to be known as
“New Age.”
I got to a point where
I was asked the question,
“What does the world
need from me?”
And this different style of
music started to
kind of evolve.
I’ve always had
a very kind of
simple melodic approach
to my music.
And so I kept this,
some of my own
musical personality,
and it blended with
my spiritual nature and
my desire to create
something beautiful
and something that
the world needed.
The answer to my question
was the world needed
to be healed.
And I knew I wasn’t
going to go to school
and be a doctor, so
the next best thing for me
was to allow that intent
to charge the music
that I play.
If people are open and
they need some sort of,
even if it’s just
a stress relief,
I think they can find it and there
is lots of beautiful music
that has that feeling in it,
and that’s what I tried to
do with my own music.
Over the years, Mr. Lanz
has created more than
30 albums, including
his Grammy-nominated
“East of the Moon.”
The world’s largest
music print publisher,
Hal Leonard,
also published
over a dozen songbooks
of his piano music.
Recently, Mr. Lanz
created his new album
“Liverpool Re-Imagining
the Beatles,”
collaborating with
his friends, the world
flutist Gary Stroutsos
and cellist Walter Gray.
My latest album is called
“Liverpool Re-Imagining
the Beatles.”
And in the process of
doing this recording,
I got to take an amazing
trip to Liverpool,
and got a chance to
spend some time both
in Paul McCartney
and John Lennon’s
childhood homes.
Most of what we do is
the music either
from Liverpool or
music that’s inspired by
Lennon and McCartney
and other English
composers of that era.
And I guess if we wanted
to call us anything,
you could say
we’re smooth-Classical.
We have kind of
a Classical approach,
but there is improvisation
within the group
which is nice.
This is called Liverpool.
It’s a song I wrote,
as kind of
an emotional overview of
the Liverpool record.
Finally, Mr. Lanz shares
his insights about how
music can affect people’s
emotions and lives.
I’m not a scientist, so
I can’t really speak from
a scientific point of view,
but I know that
certain repetitions –
and you know this
in meditation –
if you use a mantra,
that is a repetition.
The human mind
loves repetitiveness.
So certain rhythms and
certain phrases that are
repeated will help create
kind of a light trance
in the listener.
Music will take on
whatever charge that
the performer
or the songwriter,
or the singer puts to it.
We can create music
for people that want to
dance and celebrate.
You can make music
really sad,
people will cry.
You can make them laugh.
I mean it all takes on
whatever charge,
like you were saying,
this vibrational energy.
And I think that starts
with the performer,
it starts with
the initial compositions.
I want to bring a music
that has the intent
for healing, relaxation.
I don’t feel like the music
has to always be mellow;
it can still be exciting.
But it needs to
take people some place.
I like to create little
movies in people’s minds,
kind of like
they’re flying there, or
having an experience that
they won’t normally have.
I want to bring
a positive entertainment,
to the world.
(Wonderful.)
This is the song
I’d like to dedicate
to Mother Earth.
It was a song originally
written as a celebration
of Earth Day.
And it’s entitled
“Madre de La Tierra,”
Mother of the Land.
Our appreciation,
Mr. David Lanz,
for sharing your talent
in creating such
soul-soothing music.
With best wishes,
may your music continue
to touch the hearts
of many and help
bring evermore peace
to the Earth.
Be Veg,
Go Green
2 Save our Planet!
For more
on David Lanz
and his music CDs,
please visit
Melodious viewers,
it was a pleasure
having you with us on
Enlightening Entertainment.
May you and
your loved ones
be blessed and happy.