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With more than twenty recordings to his credit since his 1983 debut, “Heartsounds,” David Lanz has become one of the most loved and influential contemporary pianists out there. Lanz had the first new age single with “Behind the Waterfall” and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2000 for “East of the Moon.” His gold record, "Cristofori's Dream," became the world's first #1 Billboard New Age/Adult Alternative album (#1 for 27 consecutive weeks). When we chatted by phone the end of January, we talked about many of the aspects of Lanz’s very impressive career and his then-upcoming tour of Korea with his collaborator on “Spirit Romance,” Gary Stroutsos, and the duo of Tingstad and Rumbel. They did a couple of Korean television shows and three concerts over the period of a week. I think you’ll enjoy this look at where Lanz has been and where he’s going!
KP: How many times have you toured Asia?
DL: This is my sixth trip to Korea. I made a couple of trips to Japan when Narada and Nipon Columbia had a relationship, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a relationship anymore with Narada and Asia other than Korea. Koreans seem to be really supportive of new age piano music. I was told that it’s a tradition for one of the children in a Korean family to play the piano, so the piano is always a part of the family. In Japan, they like the piano, but they tend to go more for the electronic side of music. Of course, that’s where most of the world’s electronics come from, and it’s worked its way into the culture. I get a lot of performance royalties from radio and television in Japan, so they still use the music, but it’s usually background, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re looking to have the artists come and play concerts. Travelling’s great, but I kind of like hanging out at home. Been there, done that. Moving out of Seattle was sort of an attempt at semi-retirement. It hasn’t really worked, but I’m trying to slow down a little bit. Unfortunately, the imagination never slows down. I have fifty or sixty new songs started. I’m not going to use all of them, but I could easily do a couple of records.
KP: Are you going to continue with Narada?
DL: I really don’t know. We still have a pretty good relationship, but the record industry is changing dramatically. One example is that they don’t sign anybody anymore unless they really have a presence. Narada hasn’t signed any new artists, really, for years. They dropped their whole new age thing, and world music is waning. Smooth jazz is ever-present, so they lined up a bunch of well-known smooth jazz artists. They just aren’t taking any chances. Narada gave Stroutsos and I a nice advance for doing “Spirit Romance,” but they don’t want to spend any money once it’s released if the record doesn’t explode on its own. It just doesn’t happen that way.
KP: How can it if people don’t know about it?
DL: Exactly. The good part is the longevity of the music. Over time, it does find its way. Part of the problem is that people aren’t going into record stores. There’s nothing for labels to support, except in isolated cases. If you’ve got a record in Starbuck’s, then you’re in good shape.
KP: Isn’t it weird how that’s evolved?
DL: I think it started with the alternative markets. When new age music first came out, you’d go into a book store, a gift shop, or a store that sold things like incense and massage supplies, and new age music would be playing. It became kind of a phenomenon. From there, it branched into the mainstream for awhile, and it’s still fairly alive in the alternative markets. People who are looking for something relaxing would rather go into a relaxing environment to purchase it or just sit at home and download it at iTunes. The last three weeks, I’ve been in the top ten at iTunes with my “Best Of” collection, which was also a Narada release - another attempt on their part to create something out of the old.
KP: They’ve done a lot of that.
DL: Yeah. I think when people see “Best Of,”they decide to just get that album and be done with it. “Spirit Romance” was really high on the chart when it first came out, and then it disappeared completely. It’s back up now, so that’s the state of things.
KP: The “Spirit Romance” CD is quite different from your other albums. What inspired it?
DL: It was working with my friend, flautist Gary Stroutsos. We had talked about doing a full-blown recording project for about ten years. We did a few smaller projects together, and I arranged a couple of Native American songs on a record Narada put out called “I Am Walking.” Native American music was having its day, and this was a collection of mostly Native American artists. Gary is pretty well-known in that area because he helped start a Native American record company called Makoche. He’s kind of an
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