Winter 2024

150 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 star record, Band Aid’s “Do They Know it’s Christmas” for NBC Radio Network to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. He’s deeply proud of these and many more accomplish- ments, but most importantly of the good he has done. “My work has done a lot for the enrichment of musicians to open up the ears of the world to cultural issues that would otherwise get lost in the world.” He’s not exactly retired these days. Gordon was on the Board of Directors of the Monterey Jazz Festival for many years and continues to keep his hand in his company’s activities. But he’s also recently returned to his first love: making music. As a highly intelligent and philosophical thinker, Gordon has explored the nature and limitations of music and how artists communi- cate with it. “The English language embraces somewhere around one million words,” he says, “but Western music contains only 12 tones. Well, you could argue that there are a million ways to play those notes. And there are. But there’s a gazillion ways to use a million words as well.” He adds that the last time an acoustic musical instrument was added to the form was nearly 200 years ago, when Adolphe Sax invent- ed the saxophone. On a visit to Tecate, Mexico, Gordon experi- enced a “sound bath” in which he heard music “implied but not stated” by crystal bowls. He cou- pled this inspiration with some technology devel- oped at Harvard to record Lifting the Sky’s debut album“Dawn to Dreams,” in collab- oration with Esalen bowl practitioner Deva Munay of Big Sur. Created in the Apple Spatial Audio format that affords 14 different focal points (as opposed to two for traditional stereo) the music is ephemeral, engaging and all-encompassing. “Lifting the Sky reached number two on Apple Music’s worldwide yoga playlist,” Gordon says. “In today’s music climate that sees 90,000 uploads each day and 100 million tracks available for listeners to choose from, I think this is a remarkable achievement.” And he is correct. But no one who knows Peter Gordon would be surprised to hear that he stepped outside the box and created some- thing new and unique that might not be on the mainstream music industry’s radar. It’s a gamble, but as he says, “I’d rather fail spectacularly than succeed poorly.” For more information about Peter Gordon, visit www.thirstyear.com. Gordon collaborated with Esalen faculty member and well-respected bowl practitioner Deva Munay on this unique and ephemeral suite of music. Here they are seen recording in Big Sur. The album (above) is available on Apple Music. Photo: Patrice Ward