Biography

To understand how David Lanz (pronounced LAH-NZ) evolved into one of America's best-loved contemporary new age recording artists, one needs only to take a few steps back to the early years.

TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED is how Seattle-born pianist David Lanz found his way from traditional jazz and rock 'n' roll to an unexpected career twist over two decades ago.

Born on June 28, 1950, Lanz started his performing career in his early teens back in the mid 1960s playing keyboards with local rock bands and then years later as a solo act, deftly playing blues and jazz songs in small smoky clubs, until he "stumbled" onto a different path in the early 1980s.

"A friend of mine was leading a seminar on the energy centers of the body and wanted music to illustrate the flow of energy through these areas sometimes referred to as chakras," Lanz says. "I was also interested in the healing qualities of music and it's effect on body and soul, so I made a little tape of piano music for the seminar and just about everyone who heard it, to my utter surprise, wanted a copy!"

"There was no musical style quite like it in those days," he says. "And it certainly wasn't called New Age. I used the music I composed for this seminar as the basis for my first solo piano album for Narada, HEARTSOUNDS."

HEARTSOUNDS helped launch Narada Records into the mainstream in the 1980s and led Lanz into a chart-topping career which has featured nine bestselling solo albums and three popular collaborations with new age rock guitarist Paul Speer--NATURAL STATES (featuring the smooth jazz staple "Behind the Waterfall"), DESERT VISION and BRIDGE OF DREAMS.

Lanz's solo recordings include the landmark CRISTOFORI'S DREAM (which was Number One on Billboard's first adult alternative/new age chart for 27 weeks and eventually sold platinum); NIGHTFALL; SKYLINE FIREDANCE (a two disc collection featuring the same songs done as piano solos and with orchestra); RETURN TO THE HEART; CHRISTMAS EVE; BELOVED; SACRED ROAD; the live recording AN EVENING WITH DAVID LANZ; and a variety of "Best of" collections including The Ultimate David Lanz Narada Collection; ROMANTIC.

David also created an instructional piano video, THROUGH THE HANDS OF DAVID LANZ (1997) In this video, he reveals his versatile style through discussions, demonstrations and performances of his beloved melodies. The video includes complete performances of some of his most popular songs.

FOLLOWING A DISTINCTLY UNIQUE PATH came naturally to David Lanz, the son of two iconoclastic parents who also chose unique careers. David's father, Howard Lanz, started out running a beauty salon, "but taught himself to be a chemist," David says, "and would experiment at night in our garage inventing his own line of shampoos, conditioners and beauty products."

And candy, too. Vogue magazine calls the gourmet licorice David's father invented and sells from the Chateau d'Lanz company "some of the best licorice in America." http://www.chateaudlanz.com. My father is also very charming and funny," says David, "a natural comedian."

David's mother, Helen, a secretary by profession, was very active in Seattle choral groups, sang in big bands, and played piano. (she still does!) "Mom was my first musical influence," he says. "I heard a lot of Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole growing up, which I thought was great!"

Helen Lanz also loved and played the infectious jazzy boogie-woogie style piano which David was skillfully playing by age ten, composing his own boogie-woogie tune the same year.

By the time he was 14 years old, his musical tastes changed to the distinctive sounds that followed America's sudden invasion by The Beatles. "I went nuts!" David says, "I loved their energy and their sound."

On 1998's SONGS FROM AN ENGLISH GARDEN, Lanz paid homage to The Beatles and many of the classic 1960s British Invasion bands. From his young teens through his late 20s, the Seattle native was a rocker with groups steeped in both classic covers and what he terms "Northwest Instrumental Rock".

IN THE EARLY YEARS OF LANZ'S CAREER, he was asked to join a high school rock "combo," playing bass clarinet; David returned to the piano a few months later, putting his own group together, "The Towne Cryers" (Helen Lanz named the band). Several years later, after adding and replacing several members, The Towne Cryers http://pnwbands.com/towncryers.html placed third in a field of 300 bands at the 1965 Seattle Teen Fair. (See Downloads for mp3's from The Towne Cryers)

The talented young musician honed his skills working on an eclectic array of gigs and recording projects, including recording one album for Mercury Records with Canadian super-group BRAHMAN in 1971, and playing keyboards on Terry Jack's 1974 world wide smash hit "Seasons in the Sun."  (See Downloads for mp3's from Brahman)

As a nightclub artist, Lanz even sang the pop tunes he was writing. "I used to sing a lot in those days," Lanz says. "It was part of my thing...I was a singer-songwriter." And although Lanz included a pair of vocal tracks on his 1993 BRIDGE OF DREAMS album ("Only because the vocals came out of the story and theme of that record," he says), David isn't interested in pursuing a singing career.

"Just let me play the piano," he says.

PLAYING THE PIANO, Lanz says, is his greatest form of self-expression, especially at his concert performances where he effortlessly blends his emotionally affecting music ("a gift to the soul" wrote a recent reviewer) with audience involvement and his own charming comic take on what it's like to be a SNAG.

A SNAG? "My acronym for a Sensitive New Age Guy," Lanz says, grinning. "It was a comfortable and funny way of breaking through misconceptions of the 'New Age' label in a way similar to Victor Borge's unique talent for making classical music more accessible by including his own witty personality as part of his concerts."

"When I was a kid," Lanz adds, "I thought Victor Borge was cool. Years later, I noticed that, with a few exceptions, most solo pianists didn't seem to be reaching out to the audience."

"The chance to play the music is great," says Lanz, whose solo concerts have won critical raves. "But concerts are also opportunities to show the audience a bit more of myself than just playing the piano."

The year 2000 brought David his first Grammy nomination for the new age-orchestral rock event EAST OF THE MOON, produced by legendary rock producer Hugh Padgham. (Sting, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge).

In 2002-2004, close to twenty years after the classic solo piano recording HEARTSOUNDS launched David Lanz's career as a veritable icon of new age music, he set about FINDING PARADISE and THE GOOD LIFE in the realm of smooth jazz, working on his first full-fledged genre albums with popular instrumental stars like Dave Koz and Gregg Karukas (who both co-produced), Peter White, David Benoit, Paul Jackson, Jr., saxmen Michael Paulo and Eric Marienthal, and keyboardist Jeff Lorber.

An instant hit with new audiences as well as fans who remembered the pianist's mid-80's radio hit (with Paul Speer) "Behind The Waterfall", FINDING PARADISE hit the Top 15 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Chart and spawned the radio hits "That Smile" and "Romantica".

THE GOOD LIFE (David's 2004 Decca/Universal release) was also a hit at radio with the tracks "Big Sur" and "Kal-e-fornia." The always spiritual minded Lanz delved even deeper into the physical on THE GOOD LIFE, surrounding his compelling melodies with deep pocket, R&B-influenced grooves.

"All the years I was playing rock while getting into jazz and classical music, I had a feeling I might be destined for some success, and the fact that it came in Contemporary New Age music was a wonderful surprise," he says. "At first, I had to get away from the idea that it was just a diversion from my rock aspirations, but then I came to embrace it. The most fulfilling thing by far is meeting young musicians who get excited about making music by hearing my own. I think back to how important my influences were as a kid, and I feel blessed to play that role for others."

 

See also David's Profile