Tag Archives: ambient
Steve Rivera – New Album ‘Dividing The Darkness’ and QnA
New Album ‘Dividing The Darkness’ available NOW on iTunes
itunes.apple.com/album/dividing-the-darkness
At this point in his ever evolving career, pianist and composer, Steve has taken it to the next level with the release of his stunning new album, “Dividing The Darkness,” To fulfill his creative vision for this project, Steve chose to work with one of the premier new age and contemporary instrumental producers in the world; the Grammy winning founder of the legendary Windham Hill Records, Mr. Will Ackerman. Along with Will’s roster of world-class studio musicians at Imaginary Road Studios, Steve has created an album that has garnered critical acclaim from highly regarded reviewers in the genre, who have described it as having “an astonishing level of sophistication, intensity, and heartfelt emotional expressivity,” In fact, the maestro Ackerman himself refers to the emotional range heard in Steve’s recording as: “a testament to the resilience of the human soul and the power of hope,” And in Steve’s own words: “When one’s talent is realized and pursued in a positive way, its limits may be nonexistent,”
QnA with Foghorn Media
Foghorn Media: What inspired you to become a pianist/composer? Who are your early influences?
Steve Rivera: I have always had a passion for music. I grew up with music in the home. My musical interests comes from several places. My family was and is very musical. My dad plays piano and sings, my older brother Robert (who passed away 6 years ago) was active playing piano, and one of my younger brothers plays piano and is a proficient guitar player. I first started playing music at a very young age. My dad often tells of a story that when I was about 5 years old he came home from work and I was really excited to show him a new song that I wrote.
FM: Tell us a little about how you write. How do the songs come? What gets you going creatively?
SR: Well in regards to how I write songs, it all depends on why I sit down and what I am trying to write. Other times I will just have a tune rattling around in my head and then I will sit down and work on it. I may just be moved by some emotion (happiness, peacefulness, anger or disappointment) and sit down and want to express those emotions through music.
FM: Your bio mentions “you took a break from music to work for a professional ice hockey team” us what went on there and more?
SR: Well back in the mid 90’s I had went to my first ice hockey game and fell in love with it. Growing up in Southern California I surfed and skated my whole life, but I had never ice skated before, let alone play ice-hockey. I started playing ice-hockey and shortly after that I had the opportunity to work for the Los Angeles Kings Hockey team as one of the assistant equipment managers. It was during the Wayne Gretzky years.
FM: What is the first record you bought and why?
SR: Oh wow. If my memory serves me correctly it was Iron Maiden’s ‘Number of the Beast,’ I really liked the album cover.
FM: What current Australian acts inspire you?
SR: Well obviously my current favorite Oz artist has to be Fiona Joy.
FM: Tell us a little about your music and what a crowd can expect at a live show ?
SR: I describe ‘Dividing The Darkness’ as “retrained simplicity that is emotionally moving,” Being that I was classically trained I can easily move up and down the piano to “show off” how good I am. But with ‘Dividing The Darkness’ I wanted to create music that was moving, flowing, and open. Knowing that I was going to have award winning musicians included on the album, I really wanted to leave them room too. So while my album is definitely piano driven, I have always thought of ‘Dividing The Darkness’ as a musical whole, so much more than just piano.
FM: Favourite artists of all time?
SR: Mozart.
FM: Favourite film?
SR: Wow. There are so many. A wide variety from, ‘The Usual Suspects’ to ‘Blazzing Saddles’ and ‘The Princess Bride’ to ‘Awakenings’ and ‘As Good As it Gets,’
FM: Favourite book?
SR: Les Miserable by Victor Hugo
FM: What are your future plans for 2016/2017?
SR: That is a really hard question that I don’t think I can give a knowledgeable answer too. I would really like to see my music move forward, but I realize that while I will do everything in my power to be present and do what I can to move things forward at the end of the day it is really not up to me. There are so many things that happen in life that I have learned no matter how much I plan or prepare life can and does take turns of its own. I am just really excited about finding out what the future has in store.
Website: steveriveramusic.com
FB: facebook.com/Steve-Rivera-Music
Chris Boscole – QnA with Foghorn Media
Get Christopher Boscole’s new album Skipping On Daisies now available!
Find it here:
iTunes – itunes.apple.com/Skipping-on-daisies
CDbaby – cdbaby.com/SkippingOnDaisies
Spotify – open.spotify.com/SkippingOnDaisies
QnA with Foghorn Media
Foghorn Media: What inspired you to become a pianist? Who are your early influences?
Chris Boscole: I actually started as a violinist and then switched to viola. While I had played around in the meantime on the piano in the house, I didn’t start studying piano seriously until my teenage years. My mother, who was a classically trained pianist, was a big early influence. I was also influenced by jazz artists, such as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Keith Jarrett. I was lucky to be able to study at that time with the bassist/pianist Gary Peacock (of the Keith Jarrett trio). Later I found my own natural piano style was similar to David Lanz, Liz Story, and George Winston. I met David Lanz and filled in occasionally at David’s piano bar gig in Seattle. I started doing my own shows around town, playing cover tunes, while working on my originals, and things progressed from there to my first album in 1986. Recently I performed at the Whisperings All Star Concert in Costa Mesa and got to meet Liz after all these years! Lately I listen to a lot of mellow classical piano and other contemporary pianists that come up on my Christopher Boscole Radio pandora channel.
FM: Tell us a little about how you write. How do the songs come? What gets you going creatively?
CB: While everything worth doing takes a measure of work and effort, I find that creativity comes when one stops trying and just relaxes into the music. This being said, one must set aside time everyday to practice, hone and refine their craft, and not rush the art, just let it be natural. The sound of an excellent piano is very important for me to be inspired, and I feel fortunate that life has rewarded me at this time with a 9’ Steinway model D Concert Grand to practice and record on at home.
FM: Your bio mentions a fun quiz, tell us about that.
CB: I took a “what musician are you in another life” quiz once and it came back as “rock guitarist -Jimi Hendrix,”
FM: What is the first record you bought and why?
CB: I was the last child of three and inherited most of the music in the house from my older siblings. I remember listening to a lot of heavy rock in the 70s and 80s with my friends, and going to big rock concerts. When I started buying music, it was every jazz pianist I could find for cheap at the used record store. We also had a great library and I listened to a lot of the music available there.
FM: What current Australian acts inspire you? International acts?
CB: I’m not familiar with much music in Australia, as I have never been there. Although I am aware of Fiona Joy’s music, which I really enjoy. As I live in Kauai, I follow most of music on the internet, and am inspired by good pianists like Rubinstein and music of impressionist composers, easily available on youtube.
FM: Tell us a little about your music and what a crowd can expect at a live show.
CB: Another of my loves is photography and recently video production, which I have combined with my music in some Youtube videos under my name. When the venue has the facilities, I like to do my multimedia show combining my photography and music live.
FM: Favourite artists of all time?
CB: Keith Jarret, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, George Winston, David Lanz, Michael Jones, Liz Story, David Nevue, Jim Brickman, David Benoit, Dave Grusin, Ralph Towner, John McLaughlin, Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, J.S. Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven
FM: Favourite food or drink, and a story associated with it if there is one.
CB: Big salad for dinner! Not much into drinking at my age over 50…been there done that! After one beer I am a couch potato.
FM: What are your future plans for 2016/2017?
CB: I worked hard recently during the first part of the year to get out Skipping on Daisies. Now just got the piano tuned and currently working slowly on a new recording project, kind of a best of/favorites album for 2017. Later this summer, traveling on the mainland, doing some hiking/camping and seeing some old friends. It’s good to find that balance. Some more sheet music is in the works for release this fall.
facebook.com/Christopher-Boscole-Pianist-Composer
youtube.com/ChristopherBoscole