Music, Jazz, Creativity and the Art of Expression

The Rite of Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:35:00 +0000

It's springtime once again in the land of blue skies, green palm trees and white beaches (aka Miami). Being a transplanted New Yorker, the arrival of spring doesn't have quite the same impact for me in Miami as it did in the Big Apple. However, universally springtime is celebrated as a time of bloom. Since I'm a musician, I'll refer to this bloom as The Rite of Spring in honor of the timeless ballet by Igor Stravinsky.

Since the release of Origins last November, my world has been action packed with introducing and sharing my musical creation to the world. Being an independent artist, I've learned that marketing your creation is a never ending, very time consuming, but limitlessly rewarding job. The payoff for me has been the love and support I've received from so many friends and fans of my music, across the U.S. and around the world in over 50 countries. Much of the exposure was possible due to so many great social networks and traditional and internet radio stations such as Jango.com.

Now I'm prepping for round two. Bloom is defined by Webster as "a state or time of beauty, freshness and vigor," and this is exactly the creative state I'm in this season. Shifting now from marketing mode to creating mode; I've been updating my instruments and sound pallets, cleaning up software and operating systems, and reviewing notes and ideas I’ve been jotting down. I've placed some older instruments on eBay and have incorporated new instruments into the mix. Since my new pallet has evolved from the days of recording Origins, I'm now calling it... Sound Pallet 2.0.

Most artists and creative people know that every once in a while you have to go through some level of creative spring cleaning to help inspire artistic growth and bloom. This often requires the resurging of all your creative energy and the polishing of tools in your shed to ease the ebb and flow of creating. I say it’s the Rite of Spring, but this season is ripe for me to create music and prepare to live again in a new state of reverie.

Inspired By Love

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Inspired By Love - My Tribute to Valentine's Day

Inspired By Love is a photo collage piece I created some years ago as a tribute to Valentine's Day. I was awakened early one Valentine's Day morning from a dream of which the muse was speaking to me of love, art and life. She whispered that a saint who was watching over me would point me the way to complete my circle of love.

At that moment images began floating around in my mind. I remembered a photograph I took in Antigua, Guatemala of the statue of San Pedro (Saint Peter). I went outside and grabbed a copy of the New Times which is a local Miami paper and I began to cut out sections including Art, Music and Film. I stopped by the local flower shop and purchased a red hibiscus, then went back home and assembled the different parts. I took a photo of the work and titled it Inspired By Love.

Incidentally, later that year that I met a beautiful woman who is now my loving wife. My muse is never wrong. Happy Valentine's Day!

COMMENTS:

Take Five with Stephan Earl

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:14:00 +0000

Recently the popular jazz website All About Jazz published an interview with me talking about my debut album "Origins", my approach to music and the state of Jazz.

Teachers and/or influences?

I've been so fortunate to have great teachers such as Justin DiCoccio at LaGuardia H.S. in New York and Barry Weaver in my younger years who taught more than music notes on a page. They taught about feel and connecting emotionally with the music. My musical influences today compose and perform with the same emotional content. Artists such as Keiko Matsui, The Yellowjackets, Michael Brecker and Oystein Sevag just to name a few.

Your sound and approach to music:

I approach music melodically. To me I love a melody that stays in your head. So if you hear one of my tunes and you can't get the melody out of your head, then I'm happy. I also love harmony, but I take a very improvised approach to harmony. So for example my melodies are mostly scored and transcribed by the time I record it and the harmonies and supporting chords are mostly improvised as I'm recording. I like structure in the tune, but need freedom and this is how I find balance.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?

I just love "Le Cirque Enchante." This is a song I've had in my mind for over 20 years. Finally one day while I was driving the melody came to me and I pulled out my portable recorder and composed the entire song while driving. Its inspiration came from when I was a kid and went to see the Cirque Du Soleil for the first time. The images and sounds were enchanting and stayed with me ever since. The song is a tribute to that experience.

The first Jazz album I bought was:

The first Jazz album I bought was Politics by the Yellowjackets. It's still one of the most played albums in my library. Actually, Yellowjackets is the most played group in my library hands down. It really doesn't matter which album as they've all got something that I would consider classic. Around that time though I was also buying many of the classics by John Coltrane, Miles Davis and was discovering Michael Brecker.

How would you describe the state of jazz today?

Jazz is such an important part of our American history, yet jazz is becoming more popular globally than here in the US. Now in order to attract big crowds at a local jazz festival many acts are included that I believe to be stretching the scope of jazz. You go to a jazz festival now and hear more of what I would call soul, or R&B than jazz. But that's OK if this is what it takes to bring in a younger audience.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?

Radio stations that play jazz are slowly disappearing from major cities. It's unbelievable to me. Now there is limited access to the music outside of internet and satellite. There is some jazz that is very academic and not as accessible to the average listener, however there is plenty of jazz and nu-jazz out there that is more accessible to the average listener and it needs more exposure.

What is in the near future?

I'm currently working on two more albums that are different in concept. One will step away slightly from what I started with Origins and the other will hopefully take Origins to the next level. I am also working on publishing a book in 2010. I'm being selective with performance dates currently until I've released the second or third albums.

If I weren't a jazz musician, I would be a:

If I weren't a jazz musician I'd be a painter. I love art, photography and paintings... creativity in general. I took some years off from playing and composing music and during this time I got into photography, and photographic art. It was a great time of discovery for me as I realized that my creativity wasn't only with sound. I would see images in my head and was able to realize those images and create art. Now I would love to do a project that incorporates both my images and music. Time... there's so much to do and so little time.

Photographs by Ebony Ruzic.

INDEPENDENCE - A Call To Action

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:41:00 +0000

Five Ways to Support Your Favorite Indie Artist

Oh how times have changed. Eighteen years ago I walked away from the music industry because I thought membership was clearly not based on artistic talent, but rather who you rub noses with or whether you happen to be the lucky 1% to get "discovered". Back in my old days in New York, I produced many talented artists who I watched struggle, scrap and scrape to be seen or heard by the right person - people who had bad attitudes and no time for someone who wasn't a protegé of an already famous act.

Oh how times have changed. Now-a-days musicians have the ability to share their music with music-lovers all around the world. This has been made possible with the advent of many new technologies, but most notably being the internet and social networking which has allowed potential fans access to the music and the musicians access to potential fans. Gone is the necessity for that snobby A&R guru or the business-only minded major label executive.

Welcome to the rise of the Independent Artist! But the definition of being an "Indie Artist" has also changed. It used to be that an Indie artist was an artist signed to an independent record label and that simply meant a label not part of a major record label conglomerate. Now being an Indie artist mostly means that the ARTIST has paid out of pocket for recording, mixing, mastering, duplication, distribution, promotion, equipment, tours & travel expenses. Whew... that was a mouthful! In other words these days the Indie artist is doing more than just sharing their gems with the world, they're financing the entire project mostly for the love of their craft.

So you're asking... "how can I help?" Well I'm happy you asked, so here are five easy ways you can help an Independent Recording Artist whose music you enjoy:

1. Buy their music. OK $0.99 cents is not a lot of money. $9 bucks, $15 bucks... you spend this on a danish and coffee at Starbucks. Remember producing the music wasn't free. The artist paid for the recording production and duplication. If you like the work... buy it! This helps the artist recoup costs and record another great album of music.

2. Comment on their Website or Social Network. This takes no time to do but means the world to the artist and here's why. Word of mouth is the biggest form of marketing to an Indie artist. Also this artist is probably trying to get the attention of magazine editors, venue owners, radio programmers and entertainment bloggers. When these folks visit an artist website or social site and see great comments, they get excited about the artist as well. This means more promotion which gets your Indie artist off the block and into more homes and MP3 players.

3. Join their street team. OK so you know the Indie artist personally and like the person, but you're not into their particular brand of music... I get it! However, you probably know five people who are into it. Spread the word. Send an email blast to those music lovers or ask the artist for promo cards to hand out to these potential fans. You never know... the music you share with folks you know may change their life. They would be forever grateful to you.

4. See them perform. If you know your favorite Indie artist or band is performing at the neighborhood hot spot, go and enjoy the night out. Bring a friend.

5. Don't just do nothing. So you're a fan or a friend or a follower, but what does that mean to you? I can tell you it means the world to the artist. However a pat on the back is great, but if you really enjoy the music or the artist, take any of the extra four steps above and you would be the Rock Star to your Indie artist!

The Friday Night Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:29:00 +0000

Happenings at Stephan Earl Music this week:

This week was an exciting first week out of the gate in terms of radio exposure. I spent some time during the Christmas and New Year Holidays farming out ORIGINS and almost immediately the efforts began to bear fruit. Here are a few of the highlights:

Rhythm and Jazz Radio
This is San Antonio's Hotspot for Jazz and R&B 24/7.

This week four songs from ORIGINS were featured including Origins, Le Cirque Enchante, Summer Rain and Sunflower.

This hot Jazz station features National artists along with Regional and Independent ones according to Station Owner and Program director Mike Fernandez.

"I have a diverse playlist... you may hear Everette Harp one minute then the smooth straight-ahead jazz of local singer Ken Slavin then you may hear Sade's and Alicia Keys' latest then Eric Darius the next followed by crooner Slim Man to Houston's spectacularly talented Kyle Turner", said Fernandez.

This was a great presence boost for ORIGINS right out the gate into the new year. Each of the four songs will continue to get about 1 - 2 plays each on this station over the coming week.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Jango.com Radio

What a ride Jango has been this past week! Three songs from ORIGINS including: Le Cirque Enchante, Sunflower and Summer Rain hit the Jango airwaves with great reception.

Within the week the three songs amassed a Jango pop score of 94 out of a 100 and attracted 55 new fans and growing as of this writing. These new fans of ORIGINS hail from across the US, Canada, India, Venezuela, Indonesia, Ecuador, Riga Latvia (Baltic), Italy, Ireland, Kenya, Australia, Sweden and Spain.

To say that the music of ORIGINS has gone global is an understatement. I'll continue to list happenings on Jango.com as the weeks progress.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Somojo.net Radio
Plays Independent and unsigned music live 24/7.

It was great to hear this week that Somojo.net liked the music of ORIGINS and decided to pick up Summer Rain to add to its playlist rotation. It was even more exciting to see that by Wednesday, Summer Rain had risen to #3 on the Somojo.net Jazz charts. By Thursday, it jumped again to #2 on its Jazz charts.

This is a great and diverse station that plays not only Jazz, but R&B, Rock, Pop, Indie, Acoustic, Metal and other stations of music.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Jazz.Radio

Jazz.Radio (live365.com/stations/50666) plays a unique mix of traditional, modern, contemporary, new age, cool and easy listening jazz ... Some of the best new and unsigned artists added weekly.

Jazz.Radio took a liking to the music of ORIGINS and added both In My Time and Le Cirque Enchante to its playlist. Both have been getting very good rotation on this station and in fact as I write this Le Cirque Enchante is currently playing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Please visit and support each of these radio stations as they are supporting Indie artists, and its your support that keeps them going. While you're there, request more of the music from ORIGINS so they know who sent you.

Well Music Lovers it's time for me to sign off for now, but it's been a blast this first week of the new year hearing the music of ORGINS get so much rotation. I'll continue to share the latest happenings of the music on future Friday Night Roundups.

Labor of Love

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:24:00 +0000

Ahhhhh. That feeling of satisfaction when something you've worked on for a very long time is finally complete. It's that feeling of joy coupled with a sort empty-nest feeling knowing the bundle of joy you spent so much time cultivating now has a life of its own.

I've reached that point today with Origins my first recorded album release. I began working on the album about three years ago with only the title of the album and an idea for how I wanted it to sound. That changed of course as I struggled in the beginning to find my voice. Not that I didn't have a stylistic idea of how I wanted the music to sound, but I struggled with having so many influences and directions of musical interest that I needed to reel things in to have some consistancy throughout the album. So I took a democratic approach and let the music decide. I just kept writing tracks and they eventually began to take shape as a collection and created a voice for themselves - rather than me trying to create the voice and push the music into it.

Now Origins is born into the world and what a joy it's been so far. For me the joy is two-fold. During the three year period that Origins was in the works, I beleive I've composed about 50 or so songs. Some of these are completed and some aren't. Some sound like a film score, some like an Opera, others like World music and some like urban music or urban Jazz. The temptation while creating music in other various styles is to get side-tracked from what you're working on and begin working on something else. This could mean a different song, or a different album altogether. So during that three years, months were spent writing and recording music that had nothing to do with the album I was trying to finish. Combine this with being gainfully employed and spending time with the family, and you begin to see how the months... years slip by. So one joy is the satisfaction of completing the work and the other is the satisfaction that it's finally complete so I can officially move on the my other projects.

With that said, today is a great day for me with plenty of cause for celebration. In addition, tomorrow is my birthday (no coincidence in the timing) and my wife just gave me a birthday present a day early. She got for me a much needed pair of recording headphones to replace my current ones. While my old ones are only four years old and sound perfectly fine, you can clearly see the wear and tear that a tireless composer can put on a pair of recording headphones.

Anyhow, so I begin tomorrow with a new age, a fresh start and a brand new pair of headphones.

NuJazz Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:57:00 +0000

What is NuJazz? According to Wikipedia Nu Jazz is an umbrella term coined in the late 1990s to refer to music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, electronic dance music, and free improvisation. Also written nü-jazz or NuJazz, it is sometimes called electronic jazz, electro-jazz, e-jazz, jazztronica, jazz house, phusion, "neo-jazz" or future jazz.

Tony Brewer adds "The songs are the focus, not the individual prowess of the musicians. Nu Jazz instrumentation ranges from the traditional to the experimental, the melodies are fresh, and the rhythms new and alive. It makes Jazz fun again."

Often when asked of the style of music that I compose, I have to give pause for a moment and think of a term that describes what I do primarily without pigeon-holing the music too much. Jazz is much more than a style of music, it's a culture much like Hip Hop. But Jazz means so many things to so many different people. To some Jazz traditionalists, Jazz music was only created during the 1940's through 1960's with the advent of Bebop and Hard bop. Go to a "Jazz in the Gardens" concert in your local town and you're likely to hear the likes of Common, Jill Scott, Amel Larrieux and Musiq Soulchild. When hearing my music some have said it sounds like New Age or Film music.

So enter the shades of grey that we all live in as nothing is ever really just black and white. NuJazz music blends many elements of traditional Jazz, while embracing electronic music elements from Downtempo, Ambient, New Age and groove elements from its cousin Acid Jazz.

Nu jazz emerged from the use of electronic instruments in production in the 1970s work of such luminaries as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Ornette Coleman. Hancock's early 1980s work with Bill Laswell, in particular, such as the album Future Shock, anticipated the style in its incorporation of electro and hip-hop rhythms. Beginning in the late '80s, many hip-hop musicians worked in the jazz rap style -- among them, Gang Starr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, and Nas. Also in the 1980s, many house musicians took inspiration from jazz, particularly post-bopand jazz funk. In the mid-'90s and early 2000s, musicians from the downtempo scene, St Germain, DJ takemura, Perry Hemus and Jazzanova among them, began to delve more deeply into jazz. In the same period, intelligent dance music producers -- most famously Squarepusher and Spring Heel Jack, and later London Elektricity and Landslide -- took a similar interest. Techno musicians, such as Laurent Garnier, Carl Craigand his Innerzone Orchestra project, have also touched on nu jazz. Some figures from the digital hardcore and breakcore scenes, notably Alec Empire, Nic Endo, and Venetian Snares, have explored a harder, noiser variant on the style. A decade later, some dubstep producers, such as Boxcutter, also explored electronic jazz. - Wikipedia

Recently I created a new online community for artists and fans of NuJazz music called the NuJazz Network. NJN was born out of an attempt by me to find artists in the Jazz and Electronic genres to collaborate with for a compilation CD. I searched various places and communities online and realized that music descriptions were all over the place. The Jazz online communities either fell into the Smooth Jazz or Traditional Jazz styles, and electronic genres were kind of sandwiched in between. Also because of the stigma that the name "Smooth Jazz" has to musicians in the traditional Jazz community, most Smooth Jazz artists labeled their music NuJazz.

This brought me to Wikipedia to get better clarity on some of the music style descriptions that were being tossed around. After reading the entries for NuJazz, I felt compelled to create a community and champion this style of music. I am an electronic musician and have been since I first picked up the clarinet in grade school and hammered out new tunes on my Casio keyboard. If electronic music is your thing and you have a passion for Jazz, feel free to mingle with friends whom are also part of the NuJazz revolution.

Visit NuJazz Network

Feel the Music... Happy Life

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:55:00 +0000

How does a person communicate emotion in music? And if music is simply the collective sounding of pitches, motifs and phrases; what differentiates music that instantly grabs your insides and pulls at you, from music that simply doesn’t?

I’ll always remember the teachings my Jazz instructor in high school who is a world renowned drummer and percussionist. In Jazz Band rehearsals he didn’t teach us to play the notes on the page or any specific fingerings or strokes on our instruments. He taught us about life and mostly about feeling the music. Whenever we would play a piece of music by simply reading the notes on the page he would stop us and tell us if we’re not going to feel the music we might as well just stop playing. He had no shortage of illustrative analogies to share with us, but one in particular I absolutely loved and always remembered.

He would say, “if you don’t play right and with feeling, you’re not going to feel good about the music. If you don’t feel good about the music, you’ll be miserable. Then you’ll go home and make your girlfriend miserable, and then you’ll make your family miserable. Then your household will be miserable and your life will be depressed and miserable. So focus on the feeling and play this music right or you’ll have a miserable life.” There were never any shortage of responses from the band members from that one. He would also say, “Feel the music. It’s not on the page… it’s in your heart.”

These words have reverberated with me ever since. Feeling the music and communicating emotion, either in the composing of the music or in the performance and interpretation of the music, is necessary to connect to the hearts and minds of the listener. But how do you achieve this? How you take a string of notes and pitches and create something memorable? Possibly this is what separates mere technique from art. If technique is the facility one has gained on an instrument or craft through years of practice and dedication, then artful delivery is taking that experience and using it as a tool to aid in the expression of an idea. Also in this mix is passion and the desire to want to express the idea in a connective and intimate fashion.

I’m certainly not a scholar on the subject, but I believe if my Jazz teacher was on the bandstand with me now he’d certainly want me to feel the music, and I certainly want a happy life.

Finding Precious Metal: Discovering My Guitar Heroes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:05:00 +0000

Despite the mention of "Jazz" on the subtitle of this site, there are many musical styles that I've studied or simply appreciate that have influenced my music composition and instrumental playing. Two of these styles of music that I enjoy are Heavy Metal and Neo-Classical Metal

I can recall the first time I ever really heard a rock guitar finesse a song and it was Prince's solo on Purple Rain. While I eventually began to love all of Prince's solos (and music), it was that solo which first caught my ear and awakened the rock guitar spirit in me. Within a couple of years (1986) every recording of Prince known to me was in heavy rotation on my cassette player. During this time, I also learned of Jimi Hendrix and added much of his music to my purple collection.

As my ears and taste loosened for the music, I hungered for more and my cousin delivered. My cousin, who plays guitar, introduced me to some of his guitar heroes and this style of music called Neo-Classical Metal. Two of the masters leading the charge in this genre at that time were Yngwie Malmsteen with his Trilogy album, and Tony MacAlpine with his Maximum Security album. These two incredible recordings captivated me and brought me into a world that I never knew existed.

Previously, my only exposure to Heavy Metal was going to Performance Arts High School in New York and seeing students walking around with AC/DC shirts blasting this screeching music from their Sony Walkmans at deafening levels. It all sounded like noise to me at that time, but Yngwie and MacAlpine were anything but noise. They bridged the gap between J.S. Bach and the Baroque music that I studied and truly loved and the virtuosity of the Jazz cats that I also studied and loved. The music was energetic, lighting fast, full of time changes, key changes and chock full of melodic passages that were incredibly memorable. Although the music of Yngwie an MacAlpine were inspired by classical music, the two artists were very much different. MacAlpine's music although based on classical themes, followed more of the piano music from the classical period, while Yngwie's music was based more from the harpsichord music of the Baroque period and also inspired by the music and virtuosity of Paganini. I also considered MacAlpine's music more classically styled from the American perspective, and Yngwie's music to be styled more from the European perspective.

My cousin also introduced me to other virtuosos playing and composing instrumental metal guitar music such as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. My introduction to "Satch" was the Surfing with the Alien album, and Steve Vai on the Passion and Warfare album. Again these great artists were expanding my taste and opening up my palette and love for the metal guitar. Around this time Van Halen with Sammy Hager in the lineup took on a more commercial sound and was all over pop radio. While many die hard Van Halen fans say this was not true Van Halen music, it was to me, and was my introduction to Eddie. Once I discoverd Eddie Van Halen I was able to go back and appreciate the many Van Halen recordings I had missed to that point. I now love all of Van Halen's music, but am still partial to the recordings during the Hagar period.

Another of my favorite metal bands, I discovered while watching PBS television around 2:00 am in the morning. I couldn't sleep one night and turned on the public station and heard this powerful metal band playing alongside of a symphony orchestra. The music was solid, the guitars were larger than life and the orchestral arrangement was in the pocket. It was my introduction to Metallica who was performing music from the S&M album with the San Francisco Symphony. I've since become a big fan of Metallica's music and musicianship.

Being a fan of music for so long there are many genres of music that I enjoy and listen to both for pleasure and study. I'm just happy to have found this music and look forward to some day creating an instrumental rock album featuring my Akai EWI.

She Speaks to Me, and I Listen: Thoughts from the Muse

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:46:00 +0000

"Good morning", she said to me hours before the light of day when the night sky is still dark and only silence fills the air. "I'd like for us to talk, because right now I have so many things I need to say to you, if you're ready to listen".

"Ready?" I thought to myself. "How can I possibly be ready it's 4:30am in the morning, can this wait?"

"No", she whispered.

I rolled myself out of bed, being careful not to awaken my wife who's peacefully sleeping, and managed to stumble over to the bathroom sink to splash cold water on my face. I wasn't a stranger to this routine. It was a regular occurrence for me to receive these types of visits on Saturday mornings. But this morning she appeared even more spirited. I made it over to my piano and began turning on the many switches that comprise my music recording workstation.

"Okay I'm here, so what would you like to discuss", I said curiously.

"While you were sleeping, I was dreaming of a melody," she whispered. "It's a beautiful melody and I need for you to realize the thoughts from my dream before they slip away."

"Okay, tell me of your dream," I said while placing my fingers on the piano keys.

She placed her hand on the back of my head and began to speak. "I'm dreaming of a color... sort of a pastel haze of sun-burnt orange and crimson. I'm feeling a mood... melancholy on the brink of dark with a touch of hope. I'm hearing a sound... progressively falling and in a minor key, yet it finds its way back to the root. It has the hammer attack of a piano with a grace that of a choir of Angels."

As she spoke to me I could hear and see as her thoughts described. I feverishly moved my hands across the pallet of ivory keys and realized her vision. Note after note, motif after motif, chorus after chorus, I transcribed the melodies and harmonies coloring what was a blank canvas with sound. She continued to tell me of her thoughts in this manner, and I continued to listen and transcribe.

For hours this went on until I felt a soft tapping on my shoulder. It was my wife informing that it was getting late and I needed my rest to prepare for work the next morning. It was already 11:30pm Sunday and I'm dumbfounded at how the time had passed so quickly. As my wife walked into the bedroom I paused for a moment reflecting of the conversations I just had. I slowly switched off the workstation and followed her to the bedroom. Resting in my bed and slipping into a slumber, the melodies replayed in my mind over and over again. I smiled to myself and thought, "sweet sorrow, 'til it be morrow"... until my Muse speaks to me again.

Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:40:00 +0000

This week a college student majoring in graphic design wrote to me asking if I would assist with a project for her Rastor Image class. She was researching "artists that inspire something in us" and came across my photographic art website searlstudio.com. She mentioned that she was inspired by my work and asked If I would answer some questions for her project. This is certainly one of the biggest compliments that any artist could receive. Here are the questions and answers from this interview:

1. On your website you specify that you got into photography through photojournalism. A lot of your work, however, is far from photojournalism. How did you get into the more digital art aspect?

[Stephan] Photojournalism was my introduction to the camera and taught me the craft of photography. From the beginning I used the camera as a tool to express my creativity. Working in Bosnia on NATOs public affairs team, I was introduced to Photoshop 4 (I'm dating myself here). I thought it was the coolest thing and much better and easier than working in the darkroom. When I got home from Bosnia, I immediately purchased Photoshop and began to play around with it and read books about it.

2. What is your creation process like? Where do you begin (sketches, computer and photography)? How do you work? etc. (please give as much detail as possible)

[Stephan] I have two or three approaches. Most of my photographic art work is conceived in my head. I'll have an idea or a vision of what I want. Mostly I’ll have an idea of which images from my archived photographs I'll use to create the final piece. Sometimes I don't have a particular image I need and I'll try to go out and photograph it (like a person or natural element), or find a plug-in that could create it synthetically (like a moon or celestial object). As time went on I would travel and photograph my own "stock" images that I knew I may want to use. I catalogued them and this made it easier when I needed additional water or sky elements for example.

Other works were inspired by images that I've photographed. I'd see the photograph and imagine it a certain way. Then I'd play around with it until it's like I imagined it to be.

Lastly, a few were the product of me learning new software like Corel Painter. I was intrigued by Painter and I added a drawing tablet to my arsenal. I can't paint naturally so being able to repaint my photographs was nice.

3. As an artist it is sometimes hard to feel that a work of art is ever "complete". How do you know when a particular work is finished?

[Stephan] I'm also a musician and experience that more with my music compositions than with my photographic work. I'll sit on unfinished music for years and build a vault worth of uncompleted songs. With my photographic art I naturally want to put in the time to make sure the edits are neat and perfect, but once the image looks pleasing and neat... it's done. A few times I was simply unable to achieve what I envisioned and those projects would get scrapped. If I ever get frustrated with something not coming together correctly I put it down and move on. I'll revisit it another day and if it's still not happening it gets scrapped. With my music nothing ever gets scrapped. Even the simplest idea will be saved. Sometimes it only takes a single phrase or motif to inspire a complete work.

4. What is your biggest inspiration to create such gorgeous works of art? (General)

[Stephan] Thank you for the compliment. I love to admire the work of other artists. Some of my inspirations use similar computer techniques as I do, but most use traditional media. I'm a huge Dali and Picasso fan. I also love the work of Van Gogh and Michelangelo. It’s interesting that the periods those artists are from also generated some of my favorite composers such as Bach and John Coltrane and Debussy.

5. Of your work, what is a particular piece that captures you (your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, etc) best?

[Stephan] “The Muse”. I carried that image in my head for a while and wanted to create a piece that embodied how I felt during my early years as a single man and a musician. On my site I have a description which sums it up. It reads:

"The lonely musician is inspired by the muse whom he sees clearly, but cannot touch imprisoned by his own encapsulation. The muse, covered in the notes of his composition, listens to the musician and breathes new inspiration into the air. With her breath filling the air, the artist continues to be inspired and create."

I wrote that five years ago and reading it now, it still embodies what I feel for the piece.

6. Talk to me about "Sunflower". . .

Why, more specifically, did you replace the sunflower with a butterfly? How did you begin this process in particular? Did you start from a photo and then move to the computer? What was your inspiration here? I LOVE this piece and this is going to be a big focus on my project.

[Stephan] “Sunflower” the image (I also have a song named Sunflower which was inspired by the image) was inspired by its subject. She is bi-racial and has a beige and sometimes golden complexion. She loves the color yellow and would always make me think of a Sunflower. One hot Miami Sunday morning I decided I was going to create this image. I invited her over and took the photo outside on my patio to get the golden morning sunlight. I originally thought of using a sunflower, but thought the butterfly better reflected her feminine essence and flighty spirit.

7. Anything else you would like to add. . .

[Stephan] I love art, music and anything creative. Inspiration is one of those things that you wish you could bottle and package either for mass distribution, or for that rainy day when the well is dry. I try to create and maintain an environment of peace around me as I’ve learned that my inspiration often hides during times of duress and chaos. But inspiration must be accompanied by discipline, because an artist can’t always wait for inspiration as a catalyst to honing one’s craft.

Chez le Photographe du Motel - Miles Davis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:28:00 +0000

In the air is the scent of Cennelle Orange and Cinnamon scented incense by L'Occitane, and in rotation is the smooth and sometimes pained sounds of Miles Davis. The tune is Chez Le Photographe Du Motel from the Ascenseur pour l'echafaud Jazz in Paris collection.

I remember the first time I heard this tune playing in my wife's Pandora while sifting through a Charlie Parker mix. I was doing five other things and heard a screeching from across the room of what sounded like the most pained trumpet voice I'd ever heard. I'm no stranger to Miles, but I'd never heard the tune before, and yet knew instantly there could only be one master behind the voice. Miles. Who else can speak such a language.

He starts the tune without the instantly recognizable Harmon mute as if provide his own introduction while incognito. Like a near cousin speaking with the same dialect, the non-muted trumpet kicks off the first chorus. Once unmasked Miles then takes over with the Harmon mute and continues to tell the story. The great thing of this instrumental work is that the tune becomes a soundtrack to all the love, pain, sorrow and joy, you've ever felt or feel at the moment. For me the emotion is peace. This is a theme that resonates deeply with me, and Miles masterfully sings it in this music. I hear each note and inhale a deep breath... exhaling with a divine connection to myself and the universe around me. Miles is shaping that universe for me at this moment with his sound and this tune.

I have to play the tune a few more times in this sitting, as 3 minutes and 54 seconds just isn't enough time for me to fully comprehend the gamut of emotions I'm feeling. This is serious stuff and about as deep a piece of music as it gets. Not settling for a conventional ending, Miles rides out the final chorus like he had more things to say, but the pain just made him stop. He's said all he can say... for now.

Soul... Music's Best Ingredient

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:16:00 +0000

How interesting is it that some music can touch you deeply and stay with you for a lifetime, while others can sway past you with no emotional attachment whatsoever. And that's not to mention the ones that may sound repulsive to you. Why is this?

Great musicians, composers, instrumentalists pour their souls into every note. Just listen to Michael Brecker blow his tenor sax on "Common Grounds" by The Brecker Brothers off the Live 1992 recording. You can here all the passion and soul that went into this music. Or listen to Miles blowing on the Jazz in Paris recordings. It's like he's speaking directly to you.

These artists put their soul into the music. They take a simple note and add things like vibrato, staccato, diminuendo and other terms that basically mean that multiple inflections are added per note, per phrase, per chorus. They use their instruments as extensions of their heart and emotions. The years of training and practice on the instrument, simply provide the technical chops needed to get from point A to B in the most finessed way possible.

Technical ability however doesn't guarantee greatness. This is evident when you hear a musician play a million notes per minute without any of them connecting with the audience. Been to a jazz concert lately? The crowd gets riled up not when the cat on stage is playing a million notes, but when he stops to hit that one high note. Folks connect to that high note because it's an emotional climax. That note reaches deep and touches you.

Without soul music is boring and uninteresting. There's no question that when present, the soul that the artist puts into their music connects with us when we're really listening and reaching out to feel it. It makes us fall in love, or relive a memory, or inspires us to do great things. For this musician, that soul I hear in music usually inspires me to create more music.

Origins

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:12:00 +0000

First there was light, air... then food and water. After that there was Prince. He was my introduction to music. I'm not sure what I was listening to before I discovered Prince, but I remember the day it happened. My father took a group of us to see this "Purple Rain", which I didn't want to see thinking it was the sequel to "Color Purple" (oh come on, I was 12 y/o at the time). Things wouldn't be the same. I began to approach my instrument and music more seriously and discovered John Coltrane and Miles Davis followed by David Sanborn, Spyro Gyra, Steps Ahead with Michael Brecker and the Yellow Jackets. Soon after this initial entry into Jazz I discovered Yanni, Kitaro, Hiroshima and Vince DiCola... and my New Age began. Not long after my cousin introduced me to Van Halen, Tony MacAlpine, Yngwie Malmsteen, Metallica, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and the guitar virtuosos of Neo-Classical Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal music. All the while I was studying composition and being intrigued by the four-part melody and counterpoint of Bach and his Chorales. My circle of music was quickly forming and became the birth of my passion for Art. Many things have changed since those days, and it's been many years since my first love and I spent countless hours learning and discovering every intricate detail of each other. But now my Muse kindles the flame that guides my inspirations, and finally after half my lifetime... I return to my "Origins" once more. - Stephan Earl

Letting Your Creativity Go

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Well this is it. I've been writing music for my Origins CD for over two years. I'm not sure when you ever feel a particular body of creative work is good enough or ready for mass consumption, but at some point you just have to let go of it.

I'm at that point with Origins. It took a bet with my wife and a couple of our close friends for each of us to set dates to complete our projects. I originally set October, but realized that my birthday was the next month and this would be a great time.

So now it's set and here I go down the stretch. I'm re-recording and tracking each of the selected music choices for the Origins CD and preparing the tracks to send to the mixing house. I'm both excited and apprehensive. Once the project is mastered there's no going back. Like it or not it will be released and I will just have to live with that.

Welcome to Music, Jazz Creativity and the Art of Expression

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:44:00 +0000

The above blog posts from my website's weblog. They consist of various thoughts, ramblings, stories and my descriptions of music that I've got in rotation in my jukebox. I hope you enjoy these thoughts.

Visit my website http://www.stephanearlmusic.com/ to hear some of my music compositions and to learn more of my world of music.

Stephan