‘Lose your mind and come to your senses’

Grammy award winner joins harpist on stage

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Whether on a street corner in Europe, a ferry crossing Puget Sound or in the Port Townsend Post Office, harpist David Michael lives to serenade strangers with his angelic melodies.

“I occasionally bring it to the post office and play there by the main entrance and there are marble floors,” Michael said. “People on the third floor on the far end of the building can hear every note. It is like a castle in there.”

Some passersby tend to lose themselves in the music, Michael said.

“The last time I was in the post office, two people left their stuff behind. One person had just picked up a package and then walked out the door without it. Another person had set their wallet down. It does sort of transport people.”

And transporting people to a realm of peacefulness is something Michael said drives him to busk.

“It is a centuries-old time-honored tradition and nobody conflates it with panhandling.”

However, the term “busker” is not well known in America, Michael said.

“In Europe, it doesn’t matter if you are French, German, Italian, Danish or Swedish. Everyone knows the word ‘busker.’”

Also understood is that busking is an auditory gift, Michael said.

“I always thought of myself as a busker, a cultural ambassador and not a beggar. I always dress nice and when I played a street in Europe I put a rug down. I have a gift for everybody right here.”

Michael’s music has been featured on syndicated radio shows, network television and in nature films. A producer and multi-instrumentalist, he has run his independent record label Purnima Productions from Port Townsend for 30 years and has released 25 albums of original music.

Now, Michael is bringing his gift to the stage.

Performance in Port Townsend

David Michael will be joined by Grammy Award-winner Nancy Rumbel (best 2002 New Age Album) and musician Benjy Wertheimer for a concert Sunday in Port Townsend. The concert will celebrate their debut CD release as a trio, CONFLUENCE, a collection of World Fusion featuring oboe, Celtic harp, tablas and other instruments.

“Nancy and Benjy, with their other groups, are usually touring around the world,” Michael said. “It was almost a miracle the three of us could find the time to get to together to make the album. Now, finally some months after we made the album, we will perform together live.”

This trio was brought together by Michael, well known to regional residents in the early aughts for his impromptu ferryboat concerts.

A composer and producer, he thought his recording artist days were over several years ago when sales of his 24th CD of original music didn’t cover the cost of production.

“It was certainly not my worst album but few people actually purchase music nowadays and streaming has wiped out most record companies,” Michael noted.

But in 2017, he met and performed with Rumbel, and a benefactor who attended the concert offered him a generous grant to create a CD with her. The benefactor also wanted it to include Wertheimer, one of Michael’s long-time collaborators. Werthheimer plays tablas and other instruments from around the world.

Together, the trio recorded CONFLUENCE, which will be available at the concert.

Best known for her work with guitarist Eric Tingstad, Rumbel honed her world music, improvisational and recording skills as a member of the Paul Winter Consort in the ‘70s and ‘80s and has also worked with Jami Sieber, David Lanz, Susan Osborn, Cris Williamson and Danny O’Keefe, Michael said.

She has performed widely, from Carnegie Hall, to the FengYa Ocarina Festival in China. Rumbel also composed the theme song for “Bird Note,” a two-minute public radio show hatched by the Seattle Audubon Society and Seattle pubcaster KNKX and now syndicated to 200 stations nationwide.

Wertheimer plays World Fusion music, specializing in tabla and assorted percussion, esraj, guitar and keyboards, Michael said. Werthheimer has long worked with tabla master Zakir Hussain, opened for Carlos Santana and scored music for network TV. He was a founding member of the World-Fusion ensemble, Ancient Future, and currently tours internationally with the kirtan band Shantala.

“Bengy and I go back 40 years,” Michael said. “He is a very close friend from way back and a great sound engineer.”

The album also includes guest artists Michael Mandrell on guitar, Richard Russell on sarode and Grammy Award winner Steve Gorn on bansuri flute.

All original music

The music on the new album was created during various jam sessions by the trio, Michael said.

“On this album, eight out of 12 pieces were made up on the spot. What we did is we recorded in Benjy’s studio in Portland, Oregon. Nancy, Bengy and I played live together in the room.”

Before each session, the trio picked a scale, a rhythm, or even no rhythm, Michael said.

“We spent a few days just basically jamming and then we sifted through all this stuff we recorded and found the things that really worked.”

The simple act of jamming can lead to gorgeous music, Michael said.

“Any combination of instruments can make beautiful music together if the musicians listen well to each other. It is about the ‘group mind.’ That is what Paul Winter called it.”

When a musician is in the group mind, there is no sense of self, Michael said.

“You are just tuned in listening. Sometimes the best contribution you can make is to sit in silence for a minute and then play one note in the perfect spot rather than just noodling away.”

That philosophy was pioneered by the Paul Winter Consort, which also featured improvisations including a piece called “Lose Your Mind and Come to Your Senses.” According to saxophonist Paul McCandless, a former member of the Consort, the group would turn off the lights when performing the song to encourage people to listen without visual references.

“It was a very potent form of communication,” McCandless said.

“When you are thinking about it you are not there,” Michael said. “You can’t really be thinking, you are just in that flow and contribute whatever the music calls for at that moment.”

Jamming on the spot is not standard procedure for many contemporary acts when recording an album, Michael said.

“I do things a little textbook wrong. The textbook would say you have to have everything note for note perfectly rehearsed and ready to go,” he said. “But, there is a thing when you are in a recording studio. You don’t have an audience. It is a little bit sterile and sometimes it is hard to get that life into it.”

To avoid such a lifeless canned sound, Michael prefers spontaneity.

“Most people comment that music always sounds better live,” he said. “Well, that is generally true, but how I have managed to keep a lot of life in the recordings is to go and record them when they are still fresh and not 100% finished yet. Then, all that excitement and inspiration and energy is in the music.”

It seems, Michael believes, improvisation is best.

“All my pieces start with basically fooling around. Usually there is some theme I am kicking around. In the beginning, it has about 100 variations.”

After playing a new piece over and over again, Michael whittles it down to its final form.

“After I have played it dozens and dozens of times, now I am down to 10 or 12 variations. Sometimes I will work in a piece for months and then it eventually settles into a more or less finished piece.”

From guitar to Celtic harp

Michael has been performing on a harp for more than three decades. Before that, he was drawn to guitar.

“My dad came back from Mexico with a cheap guitar when I was about 12,” he said. “I used to go to summer camp and sitting around the campfire singing Bob Dylan and (Tom) Paxton songs with the counselors. I kind of taught myself to play guitar.”

Michael graduated from high school in 1969, and enjoyed the rock ‘n’ roll of the day, but preferred to play folk music due to its acoustic nature, he said.

“I think there will always be a desire to pick up an instrument that doesn’t have to plug in.”

Michael first met a harp maker in the early 1980s. It was love at first sight, he said.

“What I pay is a Celtic harp and these go back about 1,000 years. It is hard to imagine so many years ago they were making harps with wire strings that sound more like the pealing of bells. This has nylon strings. It is a neo-Celtic harp.”

It is the sweet sound of the harp which draws Michael to the instrument, he said.

“I liked the sound of as many strings as possible ringing all at the same time.”