Lenny Mac Dowell - Lenny Goes India '2019

Tracks list

Lenny Mac Dowell’s music career began in 1978 with his album “Flute
Power”, when he recorded an instrumental rock version of Jethro
Tull’s „Locomotive Breath“. With this track, he reached a
successful week-long direct entry in the charts. 1979 Mac Dowell released
„Flexible“, two years later, a live record (1981). His breakthrough
came with the album „Magic Flute“, produced in 1983 as the first
rock-instantaneous disk ever. The music magazines „Audio“ and
„Stereo Play“ titled Lenny Mac Dowell as „rock flutist number
one in Germany.“ After countless tours with musicians from the Band
„Birth Control“ – Manni von Bohr, Horst Stachelhaus or Zeus
B. Held and repeated major productions with musicians such as Pete York (Spencer
Davis Group) and Wolfgang Schmid (Passport), Mac Dowell decided to start his own
label „Blue Flame Records“.

An era of musical experimentation continued – under his own production.
After „Flying Torso“ came „Balance of Power“, which went
more into the esoteric realms – finest meditation music with new age
elements. The album „The Farthest Shore“ also reflected the more
meditative and esoteric sounds. In 1987 Lenny Mac Dowell released „Autumn
Breath“ in a collaborative project with Christoph Spendel and during the
90’s he re-released past productions again under his own flag.

With the project „Blue Planet“, Lenny Mac Dowell creates a musical
ethnic experiment. Flute combined with arabic and percussion elements. Together
with the musicians Hakim Ludin and Dhafer Youssef, „Peace for Kabul“
was released – an Oriental trip; with „Masala“, Mac Dowell
tripped around India. As a producer, Lenny Mac Dowell made himself a name with
the Uzbek superstar Yulduz Usmanova, Nasiba and Mokhira; also with countless
compilations.

During Lenny Mac Dowell’s music studies in Freiburg, Germany and before
the first production in 1978 was released, he often played with gypsy musicians
such as Daniel Patay and Zipflo Rheinhardt and many other formations at home in
funk, soul and jazz. With the album “Launch Control” Lenny Mac
Dowell goes back to those roots when he began to experiment with flute and jazz.
Mac Dowell felt primarily inspired by artists such as Jeremy Steig or Roland
Kirk. Even Herbie Man’s „Memphis Underground“ got a new
“sound coat” on „Launch Control“ and also belongs to
artists that influence him a lot. Covers, such as „Summertime“ and
„Ain’t it Sunshine“, performed with the formation Jazzamor,
belong to his extended repertoire. The jazzy interplay with pianist Christoph
Spendel is always so in chime, that Mac Dowell works with him over and over.
Flute and piano is a focal point in the music of Lenny Mac Dowell.

With the production „Get Ready“ Lenny Mac Dowell once again explores
other ways of how to embed flute as a classical instrument into the Pop
environment. Soul, funk, jazz and jazz-rock elements are found in such titles as
the cover of Donny Hathaway’s song „The Ghetto”. How to
connect flute with African-American styles, such as funk and soul, if one does
not have any African-American roots, but a sophisticated understanding of music?
How does your own culture best blend into such a musical environment and still
sound harmonious? To discover this musically, Lenny Mac Dowell never tires of
new opportunities.

„Retrospective“ is the latest double album reflecting the times Mac
Dowell spends discovering the musical diversity of his classical instrument, the
flute in popular music. Orchestral recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra and live recordings from the 80′, plus the legendary
„direct cut“ recordings, where bands played live in the Studio
directly onto the matrix of the vinyl – back then a novelty – all
this are essential components of this double album. This recording technology
promised an extraordinary dynamism and was also regarded as so-called
“speaker killer” in the audiophile scene, because of the high
dynamic. The studio recordings of the 70’s to the present time represents
the spectrum of Lenny Mac Dowell’s music from past to present. A
“Retrospective” is the result.
A connection of electronic possibilities ranging from the classical flute, alto,
bass or Bamboo all the way to his owndeveloped Synth Flute equipment, Lenny Mac
Dowell has a further infinite creative field for his music. In live and studio
recordings, he shows how to conjure extraordinary sounds with the „Magic
Flute“.

01. Lenny Mac Dowell, Bahramji, Dubdiver - Jaisalmer
02. Lenny Mac Dowell - India Dub.
03. Lenny Mac Dowell - Vastapurish
04. Lenny Mac Dowell - Salem Singh
05. Lenny Mac Dowell - Blue Mandala
06. Lenny Mac Dowell - Rainbow Sari
07. Lenny Mac Dowell - Kabir
08. Lenny Mac Dowell - Peace
09. Lenny Mac Dowell - Deep Breath
10. Lenny Mac Dowell - Mumbai Secrets
11. Lenny Mac Dowell, Bahramji Pourmand - Desert Wind

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