The Color of Sunshine: Eclectic, Modern, Colorful Compositions for the Acoustic Guitar All Compositions Written by Lawrence Blatt Produced by William Ackerman, Grammy Winner and Founder of Windham Hill Records Recorded at Imaginary Road Studies, Brattleboro, Vermont and Knob and Tube Studios, San Francisco, California Digital Recording, Mixing and Mastering by Corin Nelsen (Imaginary Road) and Digital Recording by Gary Mankin (Knob & Tube) Original Artwork by Joan élan Davis “Passion and intellect merge in Lawrence Blatt's compositions and performance. His musical instincts amaze me. He can move through a very broad landscape of musical influence and never seem imitative or insincere,” states Ackerman. Prologue: Electromagnetic radiation that can seen by our eyes is called light and is characterized as simultaneously existing as both particles (photons) and vibrating waves of energy. The amplitude of the light wave determines brightness while the wavelength determines the color. In the year 1665, Francesco Maria Grimaldi conducted an experiment examining a beam of light entering a dark room through a small opening. Grimaldi was astonished by his findings as not only was the beam of light bigger than he expected, it also changed from a beam of white light to three rays of different colored light. At about the same time, Isaac Newton allowed sunlight to pass through a glass prism and split the light beam into many different colors. Newton realized that white light separated into a predictable order that he called the “light spectrum” that was arranged in a specific sequence of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. In a similar fashion, sound is produced when the air around us vibrates and reaches our eardrum activating a neurological pathway that allows us to "hear". The wavelength and the speed of the vibrating air determine the pitch of the sound. It is easy to see that color and sound are related in that they are both a function of vibrating waves. It is therefore not surprising that musical notes of different frequency evoke the metaphor of color, which in turn, has been linked to strong emotional feelings. Examples of this phenomenon include “The Blues”, music that evokes feelings of sadness and melancholy and “Red Hot” which is often used to describe Latin or Jazz music. Newton also saw a relationship between color and music and in his book “Opticks” he published a linkage between musical scales and the seven colors of the spectrum he called “The Musical Color Wheel”. It is interesting that a musical scale consists of seven notes ascending in wave frequency and the light spectrum consists of seven colors also ascending in wave frequency. More than one hundred years after Newton, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, a German philosopher proposed a link between the visualization of color and mood. In his research, Goethe developed a color wheel linking psychological effects to the seven colors of the spectrum. Given the natural relationship between color, sound and moods I began to think about using individual colors as inspiration for musical compositions. While on the island of Maui, I wrote the first song for this album entitled “Reach for the Rainbow” and over a period of about a year, I wrote the remaining songs that were all inspired by a different color and corresponding mood. Like Newton, I have arranged the songs in the order of the light spectrum so please try to listen to this album, at least once, in its entirety. I hope you enjoy my music…and the colors. Compositions: 1. Look to the Sun, Time: 1:34: Guitar Tuning: DADGAD EVD Custom Steel-String Guitar and Hand-bell: Lawrence Blatt 2. The Color of Sunshine, Time: 4:13: Guitar Tuning: DADGAD Froggy Bottom Baritone Guitar, Piano and Hopi Drum: Lawrence Blatt Flugelhorn: Jeff Oster Klein M43 Guitar: William Ackerman Gibson Ripper L9-S Bass: T-Bone Wolk Various Percussion: Derrik Jordan 3. Gray Salt Marsh, Time: 4:33: Guitar Tuning: DADGAD EVD Custom Steel-String Guitar: Lawrence Blatt Gibson Ripper L9-S Bass: T-Bone Wolk 4. Infrared: The Abyss, Time: 3:18: Guitar Tuning: Standard Furch Stanford Acoustic Guitar and Vocals: Lawrence Blatt Various Percussion: Derrik Jordan Vocals: Noah Wilding and William Ackerman 5. Alhambra (The Red), Time: 3:41: Guitar Tuning: CFCFCF Furch Stanford Acoustic Guitar: Lawrence Blatt Violin: Steve Schuch Various Percussion: Derrik Jordan Tingsha Bell: Corin Nelsen Wind Chimes: William Ackerman 6. Orange Blossom Honey, Time: 3:32: Ukulele Tuning: Hawaiian Ukulele Raymond Rapozo, Island Concert Koa Ukulele: Lawrence Blatt (solo) 7. Jaune (Yellow), Time: 5:09: Guitar Tuning: Standard EVD Custom Steel-String Guitar, Baritone Guitar, Acoustic Bass and Percussion: Lawrence Blatt Violin: Steve Schuch Accordion: T-Bone Wolk Drums: Patrick Gorman Shaker: Derrik Jordan 8. Green Corn and Spring, Time: 3:23: Guitar Tuning: BEADF#B Instrument: Tacoma Thunderhawk Baritone Guitar: Lawrence Blatt (solo) 9. Mar Azul, Time: 3:39: Guitar Tuning: Standard EVD Nylon-String Guitar, Gomez Charango and Handclaps: Lawrence Blatt Violin: Steve Schuch Accordion and Gibson Ripper L9-S Bass: T-Bone Wolk Drums: Patrick Gorman Handclaps: Derrik Jordan 10. Violet Blue, Time: 3:56: Charango Tuning: GCEAE Gomez Charango, Acoustic Bass, EVD Nylon Guitar, Keyboard, and Handclaps: Lawrence Blatt Piano: Kori Linae Carothers Piano: Corin Nelsen Cello: Renata Bratt Handclaps: William Ackerman Shaker: Derrik Jordan 11. UV Radiations, Time: 4:26: Guitar Tuning: DADGAD Furch Stanford Acoustic Guitar: Lawrence Blatt Gibson Ripper L9-S Bass: T-Bone Wolk Various Percussion: Derrik Jordan 12. Black Rock Beach, Time: 2:28: Guitar Tuning: Hawaiian Taro Patch Wingert Parlor Guitar, Acoustic Bass, And Various Percussion: Lawrence Blatt Beat Box: Zack Blatt Drums: Patrick Gorman Martin D-18 (Slide Guitar): T-Bone Wolk 13. White Light Time: 2:45: Guitar Tuning: Drop-D Furch Stanford Acoustic Guitar and Synthesizer: Lawrence Blatt 14. Reach For The Rainbow, Time: 3:11: Ukulele Tuning: DGBE Kamaka Baritone Ukulele: Lawrence Blatt Klein M43 Guitar: William Ackerman Shaker, Hopi Drum: Derrik Jordan Acknowledgements and other stuff Thanks to Elyse, Zack and Zoe for allowing me the time away for recording sessions. Thanks to William Ackerman for producing this album and for pushing me further than I thought I could go. Thanks to Corin Nelsen for the “Corination” of my music. Thanks to Gary Mankin of Knob & Tube. Thanks to Joan élan Davis (www.joandavisart.com) for her beautiful painting that she allowed me to use as artwork for the cover of this album. A special thanks to all the wonderful artists who played on this album. There is a special bond between musicians who collaborate together on an original album. The artists who played on this album include: Renata Bratt (www.renatabratt.com), Patrick Gorman (www.myspace.com/patgormancom), Derrik Jordan (www.derrikjordan.com), Kori Linae Carothers (www.koritunes.com), Jeff Oster (www.jeffoster.com), Steve Schuch (www.nightheron.com), Noah Wilding, T-Bone Wolk (www.tbonewolk.com), Corin Nelsen (www. corinnelsen.com) and William Ackerman (www.williamackerman.com). If you would like to learn more about me please visit my website at www.lawrenceblatt.com or send me an email at lawrence@lawrenceblatt.com Lawrence Blatt © LMB Music 2009 All Rights Reserved