The
night sky and the planets within are so inspirational to so many artists
of all different stripes and colors. Add to that list Native American
flute player Joanne Lazzaro who released Under The Stars
in 2015. Recorded live at the Mount Wilson Observatory in
California, the twelve track album is just solo flute playing and
the sound is quite expressive and magical. Joanne claims the CD was
created for everyone who has ever gazed into the night sky
and dreamed. Its amazing to also note that the music
on Under The Stars is improvised and comes across as very buoyant
and kinetic sounding. Regarding the method of operations here, Joanne
was influenced early on by her husband who encouraged her to play
her music by the camp fire while he viewed the night sky with his
telescope and the concept took off from there. Speaking to mwe3.com
about Under The Stars, Joanne Lazzaro explains, "The
comparison to Paul Horns playing flute inside the Taj Mahal
came up often, and that was the beginning of the idea to record my
own album, improvising live, and using the natural acoustics of the
observatory dome. Everything fell together pretty quickly. In the
meantime, the director and staff of the Mount Wilson Observatory made
the facility available for me to record, reserved a date, and prepped
the dome to be used for recordingswapping
out lights and turning off anything that made noise. We recorded the
whole thing in about 3 hours, playing only one take per track, no
listen-back. When people think of space and the cosmos, some hear
synthesizers, and some hear sweeping orchestral scores, but I hear
the sound of a solo flute, singing out in the darkness."
Ancient
sounding Native American flute music and the cosmos makes for a rather
metaphysical pairing, though clearly Joanne Lazzaro fulfills her musical
mission on Under The Stars. www.facebook.com
/ www.kokopelli.la
mwe3.com presents an interview
with
JOANNE LAZZARO
mwe3:
Tell us where youre from originally and where you live now.
What other cities, towns and even other countries do you like to visit
and perform in and do certain geographic regions influence you more
than others?
Joanne Lazzaro: I grew up in New York state, in the Hudson
Valley, and went to college in Pennsylvania. I moved to Los Angeles
after graduation, and have been here ever since. Ive performed
in Europe, Australia, a bit in South America, and of course all over
the US. I enjoy traveling, and really each region or city has its
own unique character and music scene, which can be really exciting.
For Native American flute playing, there are a large percentage of
excellent players and venues in the Southwest, and Ive been
influenced the most by traveling there and listening to players from
that part of the country. I also enjoy traveling in the South Pacific.
Ive been to Hawaii, Australia, Tahiti, and Easter Island. I
try to bring a flute and play wherever I travel. Sometimes a classical
flute is just too heavy to pack, or too much work to take through
airport security, so now I often travel with a small Native American
flute. People seem to find the sound of that type of flute both soothing
and haunting, so I can play it pretty much anywhere. Often, if Im
in a place that speaks to me, Ill play whatever comes into my
head at that moment, and if I remember to hit record on
my phone, Ill have that musical idea to work on later.
mwe3: What were your early music studies like and when did
you embark on your flute playing career? Do you play other instruments
and do you practice your instruments every day? What is involved in
flute practice and how do you stay in shape as a performer and flutist?
Joanne Lazzaro: I started playing classical flute when I was
10 years old. I had public school lessons at first, and then private
lessons in high school when I decided that I would be a music major.
I was always interested in exotic flutes made of wood, bamboo, ceramic,
etc... even as a child, so friends and relatives would bring me unique
instruments they picked up while traveling. As a music education major
in college, I had to learn the basics of all the other woodwind, brass,
string, keyboard and percussion instruments, which is how I discovered
that flute was an excellent first choice! For a while I also took
guitar lessons, classical and flamenco, but ultimately I decided that
flute was really my calling. Flute is definitely one of those instruments
that you have to practice every day to stay in shape. My practice
routine varies according to what instruments Ill be playing
for upcoming concerts. For classical flute, Ill work on tone
studies, scale exercises, and cleaning up any technically tricky spots
in the music. For Native American flute, Ill often need to get
myself reoriented to the specific flutes I plan to be playing, since
different makers and styles of flutes require different finger patterns.
I do most of my improvisational practicing on Native American flute,
since so many of the performances require it. If Im playing
a gig that calls for shakuhachi or Baroque recorder, Ill focus
on those instruments for a period of time, so Im more comfortable
getting around on them. I also stay in shape physically, since flute
playing takes a lot of air and physical energy. Lots of flutists love
to swim, and so do I!
mwe3:
In the CD liner notes for Under The Stars you speak about playing
your flute under the night sky while your husband Nik viewed the stars
through his telescope. Is that the story behind how the album came
together? Do you feel the ancient sounds of the flute and the never-ending
depth cosmos are connected in metaphysical ways?
Joanne Lazzaro: I acquired my first Native American flute while
Nik and I were on a cross country road trip. In a souvenir shop in
Boulder, Colorado, I saw an unfamiliar kind of flute hanging on the
wall. I had never seen or heard a Native American flute before, but
as soon as I played a few notes, I was hooked. This flute became my
camping flute, and I would play by the campfire at night,
while Nik was doing astronomy. Most of our camping at that time was
in the desert southwest; California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico,
Utah and the sound of the Native American flute in the desert
seemed fitting. Sometimes we would be at astronomy parties, Id
play for a while, and people would come up to me and say how much
they enjoyed my playing, and how well it suited the moment. Eventually
this lead to my playing a bit during astronomy sessions at the Mount
Wilson Observatory. I was hesitant at first, because theres
a big difference in sound between playing off in the distance, on
a ridge in the desert, and playing in a confined dome with a huge
resonant echo. At first I was concerned about being too loud, or interfering
with the actual astronomy. But everyone who heard the flutes loved
the sound, and once again felt that the music was perfectly suited
to astronomy.
The comparison to Paul Horns playing flute inside the Taj Mahal
came up often, and that was the beginning of the idea to record my
own album, improvising live, and using the natural acoustics
of the observatory dome. Everything fell together pretty quickly...
I met Phil Mantione, my producer, at a housewarming party. He became
interested in the project, got the support of the Art Institute Inland
Empire, and put together a truly wonderful recording crew. In the
meantime, the director & staff of the Mount Wilson Observatory
made the facility available for me to record, reserved a date, and
prepped the dome to be used for recording; swapping out lights &
turning off anything that made noise. We set a date, and set up a
temporary control room in the observatory visitor gallery. I had made
a set list to organize which flutes to use, in order, and what the
working names of the tracks would be, so I could focus on the actual
improvisations. We recorded the whole thing in about 3 hours, playing
only one take per track, no listen-back. I was pretty nervous about
how it was going to turn out, and it took me almost three days to
get up the nerve to listen to the whole session. When people think
of space and the cosmos, some hear synthesizers, and some hear sweeping
orchestral scores, but I hear the sound of a solo flute, singing out
in the darkness.
mwe3: How many flutes do you play on your solo album Under
The Stars and what are the differences between your silver flutes
and your Native American flutes? Do you have a preference or favorite
among your various flutes?
Joanne
Lazzaro: Although I brought practically every flute I owned to
the recording session, there are ten different flutes on the final
version of the album. Some of the tracks wound up as out-takes, and
includes four additional flutes. There are quite a few differences
between playing classical flute, and simple-system flutes like the
Native American flute. The NAF has a more limited range, just a little
over one octave, and is tuned to play diatonically in one minor key
and its related major key - although you can get other notes using
special fingerings. Since its one solid piece of wood, you cant
retune it to accommodate the temperature, or other players. The NAF
is also keyless, so that means you can take advantage of special techniques
like slides and pitch-bending. Otherwise, a lot of flute-playing techniques,
like flutter-tonguing, transfer nicely between most types of flutes.
Wood and bamboo flutes each have their own very distinctive sound
due to the type of wood used and the techniques of the flute-maker,
so Ive acquired quite a collection as Ive found instruments
that speak to me. I cant really choose a favorite, but like
many players, I find that certain flutes are suited to particular
keys, modes, tunes or styles of music. Ultimately, Ill choose
flutes according to what Im planning to play or think I might
be asked to play... that means Im often carrying around a lot
of flutes!
mwe3: Who are some of your favorite flute players? Are you
influenced by all the different ethnic flutes say from India, Japan,
China, and South America? What about Western flute legends like Jean
Pierre Rampal and even Ian Anderson, who was the first rock music
flutist how have they influenced your playing? I also feel
Ron Korb made a great album of Asian influenced music featuring his
flute.
Joanne Lazzaro: Its really hard to pick a favorite
flute player... there are so many people doing such a wide variety
of music! Growing up, my flute teachers of course had me listen to
recordings by Rampal, since he recorded so much of the repertoire.
But in terms of developing musically, the person I was encouraged
to listen to was Paula Robison. She has a way of presenting and developing
a musical line that is exceptionally expressive. I eventually wound
up studying with one of her teachers Roger Stevens, who was
retired from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and teaching at USC at the
time I moved to LA. Once I started really getting into world flutes,
I spent a lot of time listening to other players, and watching YouTube
videos, to pick up some of the playing techniques. I like the way
Ian Anderson has gotten into playing world flutes recently. He does
a great job on Roots To Branches.
Greg
Patillo has made beat-boxing incredibly popular for both classical
and jazz flute players and composers... getting better at beat-boxing
is on my to-do list! The duet Flutetronix is doing really interesting
urban music that features flute, which is great to see happening.
I do like Ron Korbs track The Reed Cave from Asia
Beauty. Its a great example of improvising on a dadi (Chinese
bamboo low flute), in a cave using the natural acoustics. Regarding
influences on my own world flute playing, I think Ive been the
most influenced by Hindustani bansuri (bamboo flute) playing, in terms
of being able to create a musical mood, establish a theme, and then
jam on it for a very long time. Hariprasad Chaurasia was just an amazing
performer. I was amazed at how he could develop a tune for close to
an hour without stopping! And of course, there are even more types
of flutes that are on my list to learn to play; pan-flute, dizi, and
ney, just to name a few.
mwe3: You also speak about Carlos Nakai. Is Carlos the most
famous Native American flute player and what albums of his are the
most influential? Why do you think that the flute, and Native American
style flute in particular, has become so popular in New Age music?
Joanne
Lazzaro: Carlos Nakai was really instrumental in making the Native
American flute more well-known, written about, and recorded. His iconic
album Canyon Trilogy was the first example I had ever heard
of anyone else playing the NAF. I was in a gift shop in a national
park, probably Death Valley, and as soon as I heard it, I knew it
was something special. That album also inspired me to become a much
better NAF player. I listened to it many, many times. Interestingly,
I once asked him which of his albums was his own personal favorite,
and he said that it was his first one, Changes.
His style is a little more intimate and personal on Changes,
but its Canyon Trilogy thats gone platinum, and
is the one most people are familiar with. I think there are several
reasons that the NAF has become so popular in New Age music. The sound
is very earthy, and natural. The tuning, especially the pentatonic
scale, has a universal appeal. Its a user-friendly instrument
to learn to play, with a fairly short learning curve. Both musicians
and formerly non-musicians can learn to play it, and become quite
good at it. Some of the amateur players who have woodworking skills,
have gone on to become excellent flute-makers, too. And audiences
seem to just love the sound.
mwe3:
In addition to your solo career and releasing Under The Stars,
what other groups or orchestras do you currently record or perform
with and what have some of your recent live shows been like? I saw
the youtube video for the Shakulute. Is that an ongoing ensemble of
yours? Is the Shakulute a Japanese instrument?
Joanne Lazzaro: Right now I play with the Beach Cities Symphony
Orchestra (principal flute), the Los Angeles Flute Orchestra, which
is a professional ensemble made up entirely of flutes, from Sub-Contrabass
flute to piccolo, playing new music written especially for flutes,
another ensemble called Pipe Dreams, the Arroyo Trio, and am starting
a new collaboration with a percussionist and a dancer, but I still
need to come up with an original name for that group!. I also play
with a lot of pickup orchestras and groups.
The example of me playing shakulute is one of those groups. Its
a core group of players who do the shows at the Multi-Cultural Music
& Arts Foundation of Northridge, which focuses on the music and
culture of indigenous peoples. The shakulute Im playing was
developed by a shakuhachi maker here in California Monty Levinson.
He came up with a way to attach a bamboo shaukuhachi-style mouthpiece
to a traditional concert flute, using a silver tenon. It makes a silver
flute sound just like a shakuhachi, with the advantage of a fully-chromatic
three-octave range. It took a little while to learn, but its
a lot easier to play than traditional shakuhachi, especially for someone
like me with very small hands.
mwe3: What kind of album would you like to record next? Under
The Stars II or something completely different? What other plans
do you have for 2016 as far as new music writing, recording, teaching
flute and live shows?
Joanne Lazzaro: I was actually working, slowly, on a neo-classical
album when I had the opportunity to record Under The Stars,
so Ill be getting back to finishing that one. Its a collection
of previously unpublished chamber music for flute, including a wonderful
piece by the New York-based composer Katherine Hoover, called Canyon
Shadows for classical flute, Native American flute and percussion.
After that, Id like to do another album of my own music, mostly
featuring bamboo flutes, and based on themes from
poetry. Im still hosting the Los Angeles World Flute Circle,
assisting other NAF players find concert opportunities in the Los
Angeles area, and hoping to expand my teaching schedule. There are
a few more orchestra concerts lined up for the spring, too. Im
presenting a workshop on Improvisation for Beginners at the
World Flute Society conference in July in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Then
in August Ill be attending the National Flute Associate Convention
in San Diego, giving a workshop on how to facilitate a Flute Circle,
performing with the Los Angeles Flute Orchestra, and probably playing
both classical flute and NAF in a showcase or two. It will be a very
busy summer!