Whales Alive

Paul Winter
Paul Halley
 
with voices of
humpback whales
recorded by
Dr. Roger Payne

Narrated by
Leonard Nimoy

Improvisations on soprano sax and pipe organ with recorded voices of the humpback whale.


Catalogue No. LM81518  $16.98 



 

To listen to sound clips, see track list below.

"'Whales Alive' actually creates an astounding integration of musical voices,
which serves to emphasize the raw, primal, and intensely musical quality
of the whales as they sing. These pristine, unadulterated voices of nature,
subtly shaded by human instruments, have an eerie,
haunting, irresistible quality."

Dallas Times Herald
 

Catalogue No. LM81518  $16.98 



 

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DESCRIPTION

A celebration of whales in poetry, prose and music, with musical compositions created by Winter and Halley on sax and pipe organ, based on the song melodies of humpback whales.

Improvising in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in response to recordings of the whale songs, Paul Winter and Paul Halley extend the whale melodies in a manner similar to that in which the whales themselves gradually change and grow their long, complex songs. Readings from the prose and poetry of D. H. Lawrence, Herman Melville, Gary Snyder and Roger Payne, Leonard Nimoy expresses the same awe for whales which inspired the film STAR TREK IV: The Voyage Home".

from Amazon.com - Excerpts from Bob Zeidler's Listmania

"Paul Winter is that rarity among musicians, one who can successfully reinvent himself repeatedly, not so much as a concession to changing tastes among listeners as it is his fascination with how - and by whom (and for that matter, by what) - music is made.

This album, one of Winter's most imaginative, is the collaborative effort of four people, each uniquely qualified for the contributions he makes. Dr. Roger Payne, famous for his whale tapings ("Songs of the Humpback Whale"), first interested Winter in "the musics of cetaceans." Payne also inspired Leonard Nimoy, who provides the dramatic readings here, in his screenplay and direction for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" , which in turn provided inspiration to Paul Halley for the wonderfully moving and affirmative final track on the album. Paul Halley, long-time Winter collaborator, provides the perfect compositional and instrumental underpinnings seated at his organ console bench at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

The album juxtaposes readings by Nimoy of the prose and poetry of Herman Melville, D. H. Lawrence, Gary Snyder, Payne and others with whale songs and the improvisational work of Winter and Halley. The integration of these seemingly distinct entities is a marvel that few can pull off at all, and none as well as Winter and Halley. The majestic opening track ("Whales Weep Not") immediately lets us know that this is no ordinary "spoken word" album. And it gets better, with the utterly imaginative "Concerto for Whale and Organ," the bluesy "Humphrey's Blues" and the exciting "Queequeg and I" (with Ted Moore providing thrilling percussion support to Winter's sax).

In saying that Halley's "The Voyage Home" is a revelation in its simple, noble majesty and uplifting spirituality, I know that I fail utterly in attempting to capture its essence. The prologue to this final track, narrated by Nimoy to words written by Payne, linger as an aural memory much as the music itself does; the final six words of Dr. Payne's, prior to the start of the music, truly say it all. As an "album closer",  "The Voyage Home" is among the finest and most unforgettable.

Among works which are absolutely timeless in terms of their appeal, "Whales Alive" is at the same time both the most imaginative and the most stirring of all."

- Bob Zeidler
 

- Zachary from Kentucky



 

CREDITS

Artists
Paul Winter
Paul Halley

Leonard Nimoy

Humpback whales



Ensemble
Paul Winter - soprano sax
Paul Halley - piano and pipe organ
Voices of humpback whales - recorded by Dr. Roger Payne
Leonard Nimoy - narration
Ted Moore - percussion


Production
Produced by Paul Winter and Dr. Roger Payne

Chris Brown - Recording Engineer

Recorded at the Cathedral of St. John The Divine, New York, NY



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