Journey

Music has always deeply moved me. I remember being in church as an 8-year-old and being swept away by the massive organ in our church and the music of J.S. Bach. Later I got deep into the Beatles and at 13 got deep into the blues. I loved the earthiness of the blues and used to carry around with me a set of blues harp harmonicas. John Mayall was a hero here.

It was here I first felt the joy of improvisation. It was magical to freely make music by just diving into a feeling. I felt I could “float” on sound. Back when I grew up there was a special record store in Westport Connecticut and there was a lady there (I think her name was Sally) and she would talk to you and then suggest records to buy. I told her I wanted to understand jazz and she recommended “Milestones” by Miles Davis. Now I was hooked on jazz.

From Miles, I discovered Coltrane and then many younger musicians such as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Weather Report, Yusef Lateef and many more. With jazz, I felt freedom and also a lot more sophistication. I started to study jazz and understand scale/chord relationships. Around this same time I started flute, it just made sense because I could play it while I was standing up playing the harmonica.

I now had a flute teacher and started to play J.S. Bach, Mozart, Debussy, and Hindemith. I also explored Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and others along with world music such as Chinese music and flamenco. I felt I was jet setting around the world and experiencing the highest this planet had to offer. I was a world ambassador and was tasting delicious dishes from everywhere.

Then I met Indian music. My High School had one Indian music record “Ravi Shankar Live at the Monterey Pop Festival 1967”. Every day I went into the library and listened to the complete record. It became a daily meditation and I felt such a spiritual force to this music. It was also very free, the musicians were obviously improvising and I could not figure out how anyone could improvise for seemingly endless amounts of time (one track on the record was 27 minutes) with that beauty of development.

Also, I noticed some western musicians integrating Indian music. I purchased John McLaughlin’s recordings “My Goals Beyond”, “The Inner Mounting Flame” and “Birds of Fire”. I obtained many recordings of the group “Oregon” and Paul Horn. Once I was finished with Ravi Shankar at school, I came home and listened to “The Inner Mounting Flame”.

It now seemed obvious to me that these musicians were touching on a higher reality, a state of ecstasy. It also occurred to me that this temporary state felt in music was pointing to a permanent ecstatic state that was possible. There must be some people who were permanently in a free state it seemed to me.

I read “Be Here Now” and “Autobiography of a Yogi” and met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in person (I was now 14 years old) and learned Transcendental Meditation and started doing yoga (as taught by Maharishi). I felt my life’s course was set, to blissfully play music and seek the company of great saints and yogis.