KGNU, Jazz and Beyond, 6.3.09
Just did an interview and live performance with Sara Dee at KGNU during her set on Jazz and Beyond. My close friend and bassist, Robin Abeles, was here visiting from NM and it was prosperous timing for the interview. I've not done much live work on the radio. I played at KTAO on a few occasions with Robin, and I've done short interviews before but never something like this. It was a great pleasure. KGNU occupies a really nice space and Sara Dee has this incredible smoky wonderfulness about her and she's such a warm spirit. Robin and I performed 2 of my tunes and 2 standards. We had a renewed joy about us, we haven't played together in a few years and coming back to performing jazz again was very satisfying. Check out the whole interview here. We started playing 8 minutes, 50 seconds into the show.
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Fowler’s childhood was occupied with performance, either on musical stages throughout Wisconsin or in skateboard competitions around the Midwest region. Before beginning college he had toured Europe with a professional choir, won an NFAA Arts Recognition Award in musical theater, and had photos in Thrasher magazine. At Ithaca College, Fowler performed leads in operas, was a soloist with the Syracuse Symphony, composed music for film and dance, and played jazz piano in venues around town. After completing his masters in composition at the University of Michigan, Fowler ended up in Taos, New Mexico, where he played jazz, conducted the community chorus, composed, and began studying contemporary recording techniques and computer based production.
By the spring of 2007, Fowler put this newfound knowledge into use, associate producing “In the Blood” for Native American artist and Grammy winner, Robert Mirabal. Presently the Mirabal band is touring with Fowler playing keyboards, singing, and improvising loops on his laptop. On the other side of the musical spectrum, in 2008, Fowler performed with the Des Moines Symphony and SymphoNYC under conductor Paul Haas, using his laptop to sample the orchestras and audiences, creating soundscapes in real time.
As a concert composer, Fowler is dedicated to seeking out subject matter that is as resonant with the audience as it is with the artists performing it. His orchestral work, “Tapu’at,” takes an ancient Hopi labyrinth as inspiration, describing the emergence of one world - or life - into the next. The work was commissioned by a collection of young, emerging artists, bringing about the next world of music - the New York Youth Symphony. In 2002, Young Concert Artist Naoko Takada commissioned “Michiyuki” for her Kennedy Center debut. The piece is a “narration” of the final scene from the famous puppet-play by Chikamatsu, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. For Taiwan’s Ju jPercussion Group, Fowler created a film from four Charlie Chaplin shorts and asks the ensemble to act as the traditional silent film narrator, or benzi, of early 1900s Taiwan. Recent commissions include a new work or SymphoNYC, a choral work for the Milwaukee Choral Artists, and music for San Francisco-based Hope Mohr Dance Company.
Fowler’s music has been heard in Japan’s Suntory Hall, the National Concert Hall of Taiwan, the Belgium International Marimba Festival, the Borealis Festival of Norway, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall, among others. He’s received the First Music Award, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Louis Smadbeck Composition Award, and an Honorable Mention in the Swan Composer Award.
New York Times
"The piece [Tapu’at] began with whirling woodwind figures, pulsing percussion and flickering strings. A second section had a slow, gentle flow, with liquid solo lines played beautifully by Laura Lutzke, the concertmaster. A stately passage for brass and rumbling percussion was followed by sections that were radiant, ghostly and shimmering by turns. The conclusion returned to the sounds of the introduction, restated more boldly. The colorful, attractive music was an ideal showcase for these accomplished players."
-Steve Smith, February 27, 2007.
Des Moines Register
"One of the soloists at the Des Moines Symphony's concert Saturday night looked more like a member of Best Buy's Geek Squad than a musician. He sat at a table near the foot of the Civic Center stage, fussing with a laptop and an array of high-tech gadgetry. As the audience filed in, the DJ - identified in the program as "live electronica artist" Paul Fowler - pieced together an audio collage of bits of sound: coughing, chatter, chimes and airy gusts of noise. It was clear from the get-go that this concert didn't intend to play by the rules."
-Michael Morain, March 9, 2008.
Taos News
"Paul Fowler...offers up tasteful and at times, heartbreaking, keyboards."
-Deonne Kahler, May 24, 2007.
Fuse Ezine
"When Paul Fowler ’01 answered his phone one day in the spring of 2006, he was notified that his entry had been selected as the winner of a composition contest for the New York Youth Symphony." read further
-Michael Berlin, October 4, 2007.
Taos Hum
"'Jetpack is our dream project, which means we're sacrificing money for art,' Fowler joked." read further
-Deonne Kahler, October 12, 2006.
The Alibi
"If you really want to understand what it's like talking with the members of Jetpack Rental, just find the nearest 10 year old and give him a Red Bull, a candy bar and a twisted appreciation for music that borders on insanity." read further
-Neelam Mehta, December 1, 2005.
Music Modern (Japan)
"When I saw the program, I was thrilled to imagine how a popular Japanese puppet theater classic might become a marimba solo piece. It was so dramatic that the audience really felt the story. The sound was contemporary, which gave the audience some tenseness in portraying how two lovers walked on the road to death. In addition, the acting part was extremely effective; the mallets (sticks) represented the two lovers. Fowler is a composer and also a dancer. Only Takada and Fowler together could have made this music so fascinating to everyone."
-Yukiko Hagiya, vol.10, 2003.
New York Times
"Among the more conventional but equally colorful offerings was Paul Fowler's harp work, "From Basho,'' played by Bridget Kibbey, which combined angular lines and brash timbres with the sweeping arpeggiation associated with the harp."
-Allan Koznin, May 14, 2003.
Taos Horsefly
"Fowler's tropes on musical styles pushed the envelope of chamber music well beyond this layperson's expectations or experience. If there was a star in the concert, apart from the ensemble and the music, it was composer and keyboardist Paul Fowler. He played the synthesizer, rattles, drums, and strummed the strings on the piano not unlike a Harpo Marx liberated from conventional expectations... Fowler manhandled that baby grand piano, running his fingers or a hand across the strings, slapping the grand from below, above, and on its sides to get the percussive sounds, while also tending to the ivories for their sweet sounds. As he turned that baby upside down and inside out, I was reminded of one of those street musicians, who use their hands on body parts and beat garbage cans while creating compositions with their urban licks."
-Bill Whaley, October 21, 2007.
Taos Hum
"The band (The B-Section) can twist and tweak old standards into something half restrained and part wild. It's a modern feel influenced by popular music with back beat, funk and crafted improvs." read further
-Brandt Legg, July 29, 2004.
The Ithacan
"Another McGregor piece, “Currents,” accompanied by some poignant modern interpretive work from...[composer,] Paul Fowler...evinced the power of nature."
-Jason Rugg, April 6, 2000.
Vocal
Choral
Chamber
Large Ensemble
Film, Dance, Incidental
Recording & Production
for high voice and piano [25 minutes]
Commissioned by Dean Fowler.
The Pouring of Light (2007)
for mezzo soprano, flute, and piano [17 minutes]
Commissioned by Trio Angelico.
Remembrance (2006)
for medium high voice and piano [8 minutes]
Commissioned by Georges Calteux for the opening of the Roots & Leaves Museum, Wisconsin.
Three Meditations (2006)
for soprano, marimba, and tibetan singing bowl [7 minutes]
Mercutio’s Queen Mab (2002)
for soprano and string quartet [3 minutes]
How Sweet and Musical (2001)
for soprano, tenor, and optional A major wind chimes [3 minutes]
Shanti (2000)
for soprano, amplified piano, violoncello, 6 women’s voices, and djembe [11 minutes]
ASCAP Young Composer Award, 2001. Commissioned by Natasha Zajac.
[available for soprano and 6 part women’s choir]
Stagefright (2000)
for soprano, conductor, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, and piano [8 minutes]
for SSAATTBB choir
I. How Sweet and Musical (2001) [3 minutes] Swan Composer Award, Honorable Mention, 2002 II.Love is a Smoke (2003) [3 minutes] III. How Silver Sweet (2005) [3 minutes]
Pied Beauty (2007)
for SATB choir [3 minutes]
Commissioned by Anna Mae Patterson in thanksgiving for choral singing friends and her parents, Barbara E and George W Patterson.
Potter’s Clay (2007)
for SSA choir [4 minutes]
Commissioned for their 10th Anniversary Season by the Milwaukee Choral Artists, Sharon A. Hansen, Conductor. Published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing.
Psalm 95 (2006)
for SATB choir [5 minutes]
Commissioned to the glory of God in honor of the 80th year of ministry of Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church, Martha Dodds Stoner, Director of Music.
Make We Merry (2003)
for SATB choir [4 minutes]
Commissioned by Mount Mary College.
Psalm XCI (1999)
for SSAATTBB choir, soprano and tenor soloists [15 minutes]
Louis Smadbeck Composition Award, 1999
for piano [6 minutes]
On Taos (2007)
for improvised native flute, flute, cello, and piano [15 minutes]
Commissioned and given its premiere by the Taos Chamber Music Group.
Benzi: Chaplin (2007)
for 8 percussionists and video playback [15 minutes]
Commissioned by the Ju Percussion Group, premiered at the National Concert Hall of Taipei, Taiwan.
La Vie Zazou (2005)
for violoncello [11 minutes]
Commissioned by Sally Guenther, premiered at the Borealis Festival, Bergen, Norway.
Balal (2004)
for percussion quartet [8 minutes]
Written for the Original Skin Project.
For Peace (2004)
for marimba [4 minutes]
Commissioned by Naoko Takada.
Michiyuki: from Chikamatsu’s “Love Suicides at Sonezaki” (2002)
for marimba [12 minutes]
Commissioned by Naoko Takada and given its premiere at the Kennedy Center. Published by Mostly Marimba.
From Basho (2002)
for harp [7 minutes]
Commissioned by Chilali Hugo.
for chamber orchestra and laptop [10 minutes]
Commissioned by Paul Haas and Sympho, premiere on May 6, 2009 by SymphoNYC, Paul Haas, Conductor.
Tapu’at (2006)
for orchestra [8 minutes]
First Music Award. Commissioned and given its premiere by the New York Youth Symphony.
Spectre Scenes (2003)
for orchestra [10 minutes]
Improvised solo piano music for the film "Bird," by Michael Hawkins-Burgos, Aboysintent. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Paul Fowler.
The Force that Drives the Flower (2009)
Electronic music for the dance "The Force that Drives the Flower." Commissioned by Hope Mohr Dance, premiered at Theatre Artaud, San Francisco. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Paul Fowler.
Life's Blood (2009)
Native flutes, fender rhodes, and percussion. Music by Paul Fowler and Robert Mirabal for the film "Life's Blood," by Karen Criswell, Koncept Films. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Paul Fowler.
Coming to Troy (2002)
Electronic music for the dance "Coming to Troy," MoreDances Dance Company, choreographed by Jessica Fogel.
Elizabeth Rex (2002)
Alto flute, harp, violoncello, tenor solo. Incidental music for the play "Elizabeth Rex," at the Performance Network, Ann Arbor, MI.
January First (2001)
Multilayered voice, violin, viola, electric cello, and drum kit. Music for the film "January First," by Michael Hawkins-Burgos, Aboysintent.
8 (2001)
String quartet. Music for the film "8" by Maureen Darosa. [5 minutes]
Currents (1999)
Clarinet, marimba, and violoncello. Music for the dance "Currents," commissioned by Jean McGregor, Ithaca College.
Breaking Dawn (1998)
Film orchestra.Music for the film "Breaking Dawn," by Heinrich Hadding. Runner-up for Best Student Film at the Kino Film Festival, 1999.
Paul Fowler, "Photograph" (2003)
Solo album, produced by Robbie Parrish.
Sugar Hill Recording Studios. TX.
James Thorpe, "Untitled" (2009, in progress)
Producer, keyboards, vocals, programming.
6 Line Studio, CO.
Cara Baker, "Rosie" (2008)
Co-writer on “Rosie” and “Shine”. Additional vocals
on “Shine” recorded at 6 Line Studio, CO.
Heather Marie Philipp, "Under the Apple" (2008)
Producer, keyboards, programming.
6 Line Studio, CO.
Robert Mirabal, "In the Blood" (2007)
Associate producer, keyboards, vocals, programming.
Produced by Grammy winner, Andy Byrd at Dead Horse Studios, NM.
Tommy Gearhart, "Autumn Serenade," (2006)
Arranger, keyboards, mixed and mastered.
6 Line Studio, NM.
Michael Laughlin, "Another January" (2004)
Keyboards on 2 tracks. Produced by Omar Rane
at The Tone Palace, NM.