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Whole Earth Chant

from Consorting with David by Paul Winter Consort

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Jazz was my first passport to a larger world: from the welcoming spirit of the big-band music I loved as a kid; through my correspondence, during college, with jazz fans from other countries; to my tour with our Sextet through 23 countries of Latin America, in 1962.

The Whole Earth Catalogue, which first appeared in 1968, was another passport. It seemed to embrace everything, everywhere. The cover featured the historic photo by the astronauts, of the Earth from space, the first view we humans ever got of our planet home.

This was the most inspiring publication I’d ever seen. I thought then that if I had known of it when I was 17, I wouldn’t have needed to go to college.

The suite, “Whole Earth Chant,” is a kind of odyssey that incorporates a number of musical elements I had come to love:

- the dynamic ensemble-percussion of Ghana, with its organic interweave of instruments, in this rolling 12/8 rhythm (my all-time favorite)
- fuzz-bass melody
- David’s funky playing (through an electric pick-up on his cello), along with Billy Cobham’s drums
- the melody of “Minuit,” a beguiling village song from Guinea which we then sang on the last track of the album
- the petulant sound of the “regal,” our double-reed mini-organ
- playing my horn over the stupendous rhythm section of percussionists Milt Holland and Collin Walcott; drummer Billy Cobham; and bassist Herb Bushler
- a large Wuhan tam-tam from China
- an amadinda xylophone, from Uganda, with three of us playing it
- David’s angelic high voice, singing this beautiful Gregorian chant
- and ending with my beloved set of surdo’s -- samba drums I brought home from Brazil in 1965

credits

from Consorting with David, released February 26, 2021
Written by Paul Winter
(Umpawaug Music, ASCAP)

Paul Winter / soprano sax
Paul McCandless / oboe, contrabass sarrusophone
David Darling / cello, voice
Ralph Towner / bush organ, regal
Herb Bushler / Fender bass
Collin Walcott / timpani, surdos
Milt Holland / Ghanian percussion
Billy Cobham / drums

From the album Icarus
Produced by George Martin
Recorded at Seaweed Studio, Marblehead, Massachusetts, and Electric Ladyland, New York
August/September, 1971

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Paul Winter Litchfield

Paul Winter is a seven-time Grammy-winning saxophonist, whose sextet was the first jazz group to perform at the White House in 1962. His second group, the Paul Winter Consort, interweaves sounds from the natural world with classical and ethnic traditions, and the spontaneous spirit of jazz. Their annual Winter Solstice Celebrations and Earth Mass are among the most popular events in New York. ... more

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