Glen Neff wins New Mexico Music Awards-New Age Contemporary,finalist,World Music SPOTLIGHT Santa Fe Reporter Glen Neff Chains to the Moon Santa Fe/Madrid musician and painter Glen Neff fuses his love of instrumental improvisation with a steady hand in the digital studio on his new 11-track album of globally influenced electronic music. For once-devout followers of the ambient/chill movement that nearly dominated local radio airwaves in Santa Fe a few years ago, Neff’s work will tickle that perhaps-dormant spot in your ear canal in some pretty intriguing ways. While there is a heft of traditional African, Punjabi-Bhangra, Eastern European and Middle Eastern influence running through the album’s rhythmic and vocal-sample veins, Neff deftly adds more contemporary meat to the musical muscle, with layers upon layers of synth, live instruments, effects, drum programming and out-of-left-field genre inclusions. It takes a careful listen to sift the latter out, but it’s worth the ride if you want a mellow escape. Trivia time: In March, some of Neff’s music was added to the workable library of the Omnicom Group, one of the largest advertising conglomerates in the world. Some of his work is also featured on the roster of LA imprint Jamboe Entertainment. Both do a sturdy business in atmospheric-music sales. So the next time you open an app or walk through the lobby of a spa, hotel, mall or restaurant, you may be listening to Neff’s music on the PA. It beats Kenny G. (RDW) New Mexico Music Commission & Zane Bennett Contemporary Art present: Sunday, February 9 @ 2:00 PM Zane Bennett Contemporary Art 435 S. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe A special performance and meeting of the minds between musical and visual art featuring musical artist Glen Neff and visual artist Brandee Caoba, moderated by David Schwartz, Chairman of the NM Music Commission Musical Artist: Glen Neff Santa Fe-based Glen Neff is a composer, musician, artist, designer & builder whose style in all of his art forms is both organic and romantic. Described by the San Diego Reader as “head and shoulders above the Eno clones in his sophisticated use of harmonics, rhythms and synth voicings. His music is adventurous and lively ...Neff is a true improvisor and a reflexive expert at reacting to himself on tape. This one-man interactivity is compelling.”  Moderator: David Schwartz An acknowledged leader in music and audio publishing, David is perhaps best known as the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of Mix Magazine, the recording industry's leading trade magazine. David is currently Chairman of the New Mexico Music Commission. Glen Neff Explores a Full Range of Hybrid Sounds, Harmonies and Rhythms on “BAMAKO” Posted By: Rick JammPosted date: March 04, 2014: Reviews Glen Neff – composer, musician, artist, designer, and builder…organic and romantic was born in New Jersey into a family of artists and musicians. Furman Finck, Glen’s grandfather was 1st violinist in the Philadelphia Philharmonic; Grandpa Neff was an Ol’ Time Fiddle judge in T or C New Mexico and a mean fiddle player. Neff grew up in Kansas, Colorado and California, performing in bands and composing & writing music from the beginning. Neff earned a BA degree from San Diego State University, and was the producer and performed in the Carlsbad Library Concert Series in the 1970’s, giving concerts at Carlsbad Performing Arts Center for local TV. Glen Neff’s music has been featured as sound tracks for films: Mean as Hell, Qi Gong-work out video, Confessions, Heart & Soil, Mesa by Moonlight, Sugarite Canyon N.M. State Park theme music, Slow Down, Terpsichore and others. Neff’s music has regular airplay at OutBound Music and other online stations and KUNM’s Freeform show. His music is also available on ITunes and other online stores, including his own website. www.glenneff.com JamSphere Review A couple of months back Glen released the World Dance Electronica Cd, BAMAKO. There is so much going on in this album. There’s more than just a hint of World Music and Nu Jazz. Glen Neff’s composing is extraordinary, and a source of inspiration for anyone worried that their creativity might dry up after their early-youth years. Neff’s playing is fantastic — utterly dependable whenever he needs to swing or groove spontaneously, yet rich in emotion when required to improvise a solo or the melody of each track. What is never in doubt from the moment you start getting into Neff’s music is that you have before you many years of listening pleasure. The music will take you to places you have never been before and you’ll always return with a refreshed point of view. Glen Neff explores the full range of hybrid sounds, harmonies and rhythms on BAMAKO. From a soft and tender relaxing vibe to a full blown controlled frenzy, this music parallels the experiences of planetary life with all its’ ups and downs and ebbs and flows. It is something to experience often. The long and winding 9-track suite starts out slow, builds to a boil, explodes, and then mellows out from what can only be described as an emotional storm. From the title track, Bamako, through Walls of Darbari, Veenapersia, All or Nothing to Bolly Stop Spot and Time Machine Dreams, when the music finally ends, you have been through an emotional roller-coaster. BAMAKO is a riveting, hypnotic, exotic, and majestic piece of music from Glen Neff. MuzicNotez Interview: Name: Glen Neff Genre: World Fusion URL: http://www.glenneff.com/ MuzicNotez Crew: First off, it’s an honor to be doing this interview with you, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us. Question: What motivated you to start creating music? What age did you begin? Answer: Thanks Nick for the interview.I grew up in a family that was always playing music.Dad,Granddad Neff,brother,sisters,uncles,cousins-I thought everyone grew up like that.The music they played was Ol’ timey fiddle tunes,Bluegrass,the Standards,Dixieland,even elements of Blues and Texas Swing.Pretty diverse.Granddad Finck was the 1st violinist in the Philadelphia Philharmonic. I played piano,banjo,guitar,cornet. But I left it all behind early on for synthesizers,and a Fender Rhodes heavily effected.I wrote music with unusual chords,Jazz Funk and Rock & Roll.Also Introspective piano ballads that I sang.And I enjoyed experimenting with other players doing abstract jams-Music Concrete.I love to improvise,and I love melody.This,and my interest for strange chords and unusual sounds has linked me to jazz,but I don’t play standards and prefer to create my own compositions. So what motivated me to start creating music,I've been a watercolorist all my life and painting & music went hand in hand.I actually create music much like painting a watercolor,loose & free improvising.But the benefit with the digital technology is you can dial in and edit the music after the creation. I love it! I grew up playing and experimenting,still am.I felt compelled to do my own thing after the Ol’ timey music didn’t infuse my spirit.David Schwartz(founder of Mix Magazine and chairman of the New Mexico Music Commission) had this to say; Santa Fe-based Glen Neff is a composer, musician, artist, designer & builder whose style in all of his art forms is both organic and romantic. Born in New Jersey into a family ofartists and musicians, Neff earned a BA degree from San Diego State University, and was raved about in the San Diego Reader as “head and shoulders above the Eno clones in his sophisticated use of harmonics, rhythms and synth voicing. His music is adventurous and lively ...Neff is a true improvisor and a reflexive expert at reacting to himself on tape. This one-man interactivity is compelling.” Question: Who were your musical influences, idols, or bands growing up that have helped mold you into the musician you are today? Or helped mold the music that you create? Answer: I have the mind and soul of an artist and being an artist you assimilate your environment and hope to find your own voice. This takes time,so I’m fortunate I found my way earliy on. I’m appreciative that I’m an original and not a replicant! I have to say,after being exposed to the music of my family, I first discovered on San Diego radio the likes of Miles Davis,Weather Report,Carlos Jobim and Music From the Hearts of Space (out of San Francisco). I saw The Grateful Dead, John McLaughlin,Tangerine Dream,Ornette Coleman,Brain Eno,The Tubes and the Iron Butter Fly live! That ought-a do it! My music and painting life was inspired and stimulated by this great movement taking place in music at that time.I still have my record collection.I was reassured that my strange chords,unusual sonic textures,effects and sound fusions were justified.If Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock can do it! Right!.Almost everything I have created has a melody.I love harmonically rich.Of course there is the other side.I think we all have the other side; the heavy metal dude that likes New Age Music! My other side was to jam with all kinds of people and create non melodic music.Dissent even,like abstract expressionist sound paintings.I guess I’m part of the original Electronica scene in California. I’m Part of the first group of synthesizer composers. Been do’in this for awhile.I had people tell me I remind them of Jamiroquai and Goldfish,it’s all a matter of perspective! Question: What’s the ultimate goal you want your music to achieve, or for you to achieve in your career as a musician? Any particular message you wish to send? Answer:Well,with 80,000 albums released each year and only about 200 getting a spotlight from Billboard and other associated charts revolving the top 200,I would recommend gettin a music publisher. I currently have two,Perpetual Music Group & Musicofthesea, so maybe some more opportunities will open up.Licensing is a key component of possible music royalities.It would be nice.I want to write some more film scores, music in commercials is cool.Music for a play or dance performance I’m not a pop star,let the music speak for itself,it’s more timeless then a human life. Music is a most powerful means to reach our humanity,a great mediator.Music permeates into us,we understand.The universal language of music can perhaps help bring World Peace someday to our struggling planet. My ultimate goal is to keep creating and fusing my music with cultures of our planet,and cosmic influences. Get it out there through licsencing and digital downloads. Question: What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever been to or performed? I’ve preformed some pretty cool shows.Mendocino Arts Center,Carlsbad Library Concert Series,a TV show concert.Santa Rosa,Sebastopol,San Diego,Santa Fe.I was the promoter of a couple music festivals,but it’s to much work! I did a few concerts at Blue Door Studio, my loft when I lived in downtown San Diego.A pretty groovy scene.Artists and Lawyers on the top floor,(I was on the bottom).Know the universe is expanding and music styles and tastes as well. Your latest album is ‘Bamako’, how would you describe this album, and what was the production like? Bamako was created out of a batch of songs I wrote in January & February I sent my music publisher Musicofthesea for consideration for Bollywood. I had the songs so I create the album almost as an after thought. All songs are created in Logic with my vast sound pallet of software instruments. BAMAKO is a riveting, hypnotic, exotic, and majestic piece of music from Glen Neff. Santa Fe Reporter review: by Alex De Vore “...after several listens and the most intense attention I’ve ever paid anything in my life, I have to say that I’m blown away. At its core, Bamako can be unfairly classified as world music, but it is so much more. This is emotional music that touches upon mankind’s almost primal rhythmic need or the soundtrack to potential enlightenment. Breathe deep, dear listener,and relax. Neff brings the intensity to his soundscapes with a noticeable international flair; it’s almost as if no corner of the globe escaped his musical mind’s eye..... stellar tracks like “Veenapersia” get your head bobbing and keep it that way.Closer “Time Machine Dreams” may just be one of the most beautiful ambient experiences around and sort of speaks to the album as a whole- experiments in New Age music needn’t be hokey or lame and sometimes beauty is just plain beauty.dependable whenever he needs to swing or groove spontaneously, yet rich in emotion when required to improvise a solo or the melody of each track. What is never in doubt from the moment you start getting into Neff’s music is that you have before you many years of listening pleasure. The music will take you to places you have never been before and you’ll always return with a refreshed point of view. Glen Neff explores the full range of hybrid sounds, harmonies and rhythms on BAMAKO. From a soft and tender relaxing vibe to a full blown controlled frenzy, this music parallels the experiences of planetary life with all its’ up and downs and ebbs and flows. It is something to experience often. The long and winding 9-track suite starts out slow, builds to a boil, explodes, and then mellows out from what can only be described as an emotional storm. From the title track, Bamako,through Walls of Darbari, Veenapersia, All or Nothing to Bolly Stop Spot and Time Machine Dreams, when the music finally ends, you have been through an emotional roller-coaster. BAMAKO is a riveting, hypnotic, exotic, and majestic piece of music from Glen Neff. Question: You fuse elements of music from all over the world with improvisation. When did you start this style, and why? Answer: I have traveled somewhat extensively around the world.In fact I visited Bamako Mali in 1971 just after College.The album is named after the memory of that place. I felt like I was on another planet,like a scene out of Star Wars. So the infusion of world music elements started back then.My Rock n’Roll interests subsided to a degree,I was no longer pursuing popular music culture! The “style” of music I’m interested in now is a fusion of our planet’s cultures that I mix with rhythm,melody and improvisation. I feel I’m painting with sound. I create music like painting a watercolor. A blank paper in front of me, lay down a brush stroke of an inspiring sound/rhythm,add details. Don’t over work it,come back later and dial it in. Like all paintings,some just sit in a pile and sort of get forgotten.I’ve got hundreds of songs. I come back to and finish the better one’s with an intuitive sense they are “done”. I’d rather create a series,finish the better ones and move on. I don’t fuss over a song for months and I don’t listen to any of my songs much after the focused editing period. Move on to something new. I write my music in Logic with a great pallet of software instruments. The days of OBX,Memory Moog etc. are past for me. I know many devotees exist,but I’ve been there done that and happy with where technology has taken us now.I hope to keep creating music till I croak! Question: You grew up with a wide array of musical influences, do you have any interest in working in more genres in the future? Answer: Yes I work in other genres and mediums. I designed and built and live in a round straw bale house,so I do think outside the box!There are some photos at my website www.glenneff.com. I host an Open Mic Night at the Mineshaft Tavern in Madrid, New Mexico each month and jam my funky Rock n’ Roll with friends. It’s a blast to commune with musicians and I record some of these groove jams,you can hear them at my website under “Nu Neff.” The future is wide open,I’ll create more fusions and other worldly music! I’m the most free when it’s just me,but enjoy limited collaborations with others.I have an ongoing project with guys that play: theremin, blues harp,sax,guitar etc.Still experimenting. Question: You have all of your music featured up on your website, what else can your fans expect to find there? Answer: You will find at my website all my music available to download. You get a glimpse into my life through photos, and some of my paintings can be viewed.It would be great to have you join my mailing list! Just sign up. Question: What else are you working on? What can we expect to see and hear from you in the future? Answer: I’m going to continue to explore the World Fusion Music. I like bringing the elements of different cultures together.It is refreshing for me to integrate cultures of our World into my own style. Question: Anything else you wish to say about yourself or your music? Any message for your fans? .Join my website www.glenneff.com mailing list,friend me on Facebook,visit me at Reverberation- Glen Neff-The Sound Poet,check out my Sound-cloud and youTube channels, and send me an email if you like a song,thanks,Glen