-Interviewed June 24th
2014
Swiss native Patrick Moraz is the
extraordinary keyboardist and composer for no less than two legendary rock
groups … ‘YES’ (1974-76)
and ‘The Moody Blues’ (1978-1991).
His first solo album entitled ‘The Story of i’ was hailed by
many critics as a musical masterpiece.
Patrick
Moraz is busier than
ever these days. He was recently featured on the new CD ‘Light My Fire-A Classic Rock
Salute to The Doors,’ Moraz performed on
the opening track … “L.A. Woman” with
the late Jimi Jamison (Survivor)
and Ted Turner (Wishbone
Ash).
Moraz was also one of the performers on the recent ‘Cruise to the Edge’ which
also featured … ‘YES,’ Steve Hackett, UK, Queensryche, Tangerine Dream,
Renaissance, Strawbs, Tony Levin and a host of other progressive rockers.
Patrick
Moraz has several
upcoming and surprising releases to watch out for including...“The M.A.P.” ("The Moraz - Alban Project”)which will feature
Lenny Castro on percussion and John Avila from ‘Oingo Boingo’ on bass, Patrick
Perrier, and Matt Malley. A CD entitled… ‘A way to Freedom’ due
in the very near future, and a Cantata in the
final works for SATB Choirs in 7 movements, paying homage to ‘Our Planet.’
PATRICK
MORAZ: began his fascination with the keyboards at a
very young age. He attentively watched and listened to Romanian concert pianist Clara
Haskil while
living at the same house in Vevey, Switzerland. Moraz attended the Conservatory
of Lausanne and studied Harmony and Counterpoint (the Art of the fugue).
Patrick’s father managed restaurants which included theaters and stages, and
Patrick was able to meet such music luminaries as … Louis Armstrong, Maurice
Chevalier, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington.
In 1964, Moraz was
contracted to be a scuba diving instructor and an organizer of shows and
concerts at Cadaqués, and the village of Port Lligat in Spain, which was where
surrealist painterSalvador Dali was living at
the time. Moraz was able to go on the property of Salvador Dali and organize
parties. Patrick became friends with Dali and his wife Gala. He also had the
rare opportunity to be in Dali’s studios to watch him work.
At the age of 16,
Patrick Moraz became the youngest person to win the prestigious “Best Soloist
Award” at The Zurich Jazz Festival. A few years later he opened concerts for
jazz legend John Coltrane in
Europe.
Over the years … Moraz
perfected his proficient musical skills and embarked on a longtime journey of
composing scores for Motion Pictures and Television including … (1969- Long
Live Death, 1971- The Salamander,1971- Supergirl - Das Mädchen von den
Sternen (TV Movie), 1973- The Awful Manners, 1973- The
Invitation, 1974- The Middle of the World, 1975- The Wonderful
Crook, 1980- The Lost Way, 1987- The Stepfather (music
composed by), 1990- In the Eye of the Snake ).
In 1973, Patrick moved
to London and formed the rock trio ‘Refugee’ with Lee Jackson (The Nice) and Brian Davison (The Nice). After releasing their
critically-acclaimed debut album and a successful tour of Europe, the band
split-up.
In 1974, Patrick Moraz was invited to join ‘YES’ as
their keyboardist. Moraz was an essential factor to the success of their
masterpiece release ‘Relayer’ which many
‘YES’ faithful consider to be their best album to date. The classic ‘YES’
lineup of …Jon Anderson (Vocals), Chris Squire(Bass), Steve Howe (Guitars), Patrick Moraz (Keyboards),
and Alan White (Drums)
toured extensively and worldwide for the ‘Relayer’ Tour while performing to
some of the largest audiences in the bands history… including 135,000 ‘YES’
fans at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on June 12th 1976. ‘YES’ members were
encouraged to release solo projects which led to Patrick’s debut solo album ‘The
Story of i’ (1976).
Keyboardist Rick Wakeman returned
to ‘YES’ while Patrick Moraz was asked to
depart the band prematurely. Moraz released his second solo album ‘Out in the Sun’ featuring
singer and songwriter John
McBurnie in
1977.
In 1978, Moraz was
hired by THE MOODY BLUES to
take part in a promotional world tour for their comeback album ‘Octave.’ After
contributing to ‘Octave,’ original keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and founder
of The Moody Blues, Michael Pinder,
left the group. Patrick Moraz officially became the new keyboardist and
full-time member of The Moody Blues in 1980.
During his stint with The Moody Blues, Moraz recorded two acclaimed solo
albums with original ‘YES’ drummer Bill Bruford …
(‘Music for Piano and Drums,’ and ‘Flags’).
Patrick Moraz left The
Moody Blues in 1991 to pursue a solo career.
The
Moody Blues releases w/ Patrick Moraz …
1980/81 Long Distance Voyager, 1982/83 The Present, 1985/86 The Other Side of Life,
1987/88 Sur la Mer,1990/ Keys of the Kingdom
‘Long Distance
Voyager’ spawned the Top 20 singles … “Gemini Dream” (#12
U.S. Hit in 1981) and “The Voice” (#15
U.S. Hit in 1981).
‘The Other Side of
Life’ spawned the Top 10 single …“Your Wildest Dreams” (#9
U.S. Hit on Billboard Hot 100 in 1986).
‘Sur La Mer’ spawned
the Top 30 single … “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” (#30 U.S. Hit on Billboard
Hot 100 in 1988).
Patrick
Moraz solo releases …1976 -
(The Story of I, 1977 - Out in
the Sun, 1978 - Patrick Moraz, 1979
- Future Memories Live On TV, 1980 – Coexistence, 1983 - Music for Piano and Drums (with Bill Bruford),
1984 –Timecode, 1984 - Future Memories II,
1985 - Future Memories I & II, 1985 - Flags (with Bill Bruford),1987 - Human Interface,1987 - Les
musiques de la Première,1989 - Libertate (re-issue
of Coexistence),1994 - Windows of Time,1995
- PM in Princeton, 2000 – Resonance, 2003 – ESP, 2009 - Change of Space, 2012 – PianissiMoraz (compilation from Windows Of Time,
Resonance and ESP), 2012 - Live At Abbey Road (1987
"live"), 2012 - Music for Piano and Drums: Live
in Maryland (11/9/1984 live with Bill Bruford))
I had the rare and
wonderful pleasure of chatting with Patrick Moraz on
his birthday. We talked about ….Patrick’s exciting new
music projects … ‘Light My Fire-A Classic Rock Salute to The Doors’… Being a
member of ‘YES’… The ‘Relayer’ album … Being a member of ‘The Moody
Blues’ … Predator’… ‘Cruise to the Edge’…‘The Story of i’ album …Salvador Dali
…And much-much more!
Here’s my interview
with legendary band member of ‘YES’ & ‘The Moody Blues,’ progressive rock
& classical keyboardist/pianist/composer/songwriter … PATRICK MORAZ
Ray
Shasho: Hello Patrick …Happy Birthday!
Patrick Moraz:
“Thank you so much!”
Ray
Shasho: Are you in Los Angeles today?
Patrick
Moraz: “Yes, my wife and I have been here in
California for the past month and a half working on several productions in a
very good studio. It’s a lot of work because I’ve just been asked to
potentially participate in the recording of a piece with The Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra in London. So everything is good!”
Ray
Shasho: Patrick, when do you expect to release these current productions
you’re talking about?
Patrick
Moraz: “The current production that I am finishing
should be released by the beginning of the fall. We’re finishing it this week
and putting on the finishing touches. It’s a project for a really-really good
friend of mine who is also an excellent drummer. I composed all of the music
and the arrangements. There are also some luminaries like Lenny Castro on percussion and
John Avila from ‘Oingo Boingo’ on bass, and of course I do all the keyboards and
music.”
“But today it’s the
release of the classic tribute to ‘The Doors’ for which I participated. I play
on “L.A. Woman” and the CD is entitled ‘Light My Fire-A Classic Rock Salute to
The Doors.’ It’s an extraordinary release with a fantastic lineup of legendary
musicians. Personally I think you will be in for a pleasant surprise … a
fantastic array of keyboard players, drummers, singers, guitarists, and so on…
to celebrate and pay a true musical homage to The Doors. The tune I was
associated with… “L.A. Woman,” was chosen by the record company to be the first
on the CD and that was a very good surprise for me. I performed on the track
with Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash and Jimi Jamison of Survivor (RIP 1951-2014). I
think he portrayed the best Jim Morrison voice on the whole album.”
Ray
Shasho: Patrick you’ve always been one of my favorite
keyboardists so I was naturally disappointed when you departed YES. I’ve always
believed that the YES lineup during ‘Relayer’ was magical … instrumentally and
lyrically at their very best.
Patrick
Moraz: “Probably
not as disappointed as me. (All laughing) I understand because it came as a
total surprise. We’re talking thirty eight years ago when that happened, but I
had two and half years with Yes which was absolutely fantastic. Would you
believe we connected again recently, not only when I saw them at Ruth Eckerd
Hall in April, and it was a great show, I was able to go backstage to say hello
to everybody and even Steve Howe came out and gave me a big hug. Then this year
with ‘Cruise to the Edge,’ it was fantastic to see them and collaborate on the
same ship for a week. I was also asked to do an extra concert on the ship
performing with acoustic piano and that went extremely well. I’ve never been on
a cruise ever so you can imagine my surprise when I saw this huge ship and the
thirty other bands that had signed up including … Renaissance , Marillion,
Queensryche, Tangerine Dream, even Tony Levin a good friend of mine who is the
bass player for Peter Gabriel …so it was really a fantastic journey.”
Ray
Shasho: I watched a You Tube
video of you and Annie Haslam (Renaissance) performing the ‘YES’ Relayer
classic “Soon” together on the cruise.
Patrick
Moraz: “Oh absolutely,
yes. That was an impromptu version of the song; we had planned to do it but
never had the possibility to rehearse it. Although I had gone to see her
concert with Renaissance in May, and the fact that we were able to do that was
just incredible. She has such a beautiful voice, so for an impromptu version of
“Soon” I think she did fantastic.”
Ray
Shasho: I was fortunate enough to see you in concert
with both ‘YES’ and ‘The Moody Blues.’ In 1976, I watched you perform with
headliners ‘YES’ at RFK stadium in Washington D.C. along with Peter Frampton,
Gary Wright, Ace, and The Pousette- Dart Band in front of over 45,000 people.
Patrick
Moraz: “That’s right and we had also just played JFK
Stadium. I remember the D.C. concert and an amazing thing was Steve Porcaro
(The Porcaro Brothers) was in Gary Wright’s band and later formed Toto. Our
management at the time had signed Peter Frampton one year before he was number
one on all the charts and that was a big edition to help fill all the stadiums.
To fill stadiums every other day and especially during a Bicentennial year with
all the celebrations going on was absolutely unbelievable. We were also in
Chicago that year and had 83,000 people. How was it for you in the crowd when
you were watching the band …was the sound good?
Ray
Shasho: I was standing on the floor and on top of
boards about 20 rows from the stage. The acoustics were remarkably good;
especially for the ‘Relayer’ album …it was an incredible show!
Patrick
Moraz: “I remember for those gigs we used Clair
Brothers Audio Systems based in Pennsylvania. We had 16 different PA systems
all added together. Onstage my monitoring system was made out of what we used
to call the F4 …just huge speakers, I had three of them man. So the sound
onstage was just unbelievable, sometimes almost deafening, but really-really
good.”
Ray
Shasho: When I chatted with Jon Anderson about ‘Relayer’ and its
inspiration from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Jon said … “It was a combination
of the war as we understand it and where would we be ... can we live beyond
war, and then I had to jump in the real chaos and savagery of war in order to
come out at the other end with ‘soon, oh soon the light’ to wake us
up emotionally and spiritually.”
Patrick
Moraz: “I think the title… ‘Gates of Delirium’ was
influenced by a book I was reading when I started to rehearse with him
and the rest of the band, especially the first weekend I got invited to join
the band, it was also the weekend that Nixon resigned, so I remember it very
well.
We were discussing
news happening and so on… Jon was telling me about that Tolstoy book ‘War
and Peace,’ and I was reading a comic book, “DELIRIUS” (by Philippe
Druillet) a very good cartoon but a very serious designer created from
France, and that guy was actually working for a magazine and he wrote a book.
The book had just been released and I was reading that to take my mind a little
bit away from all the rehearsals and the seven albums I was going to have to
learn before we went out on the road. Also all the things I was to contribute
to “The Gates of Delirium,” “Sound Chaser” and “To Be Over” in the next six weeks.
So I’m pretty sure that ‘Delirium’ came from those discussions I used to have
with Jon Anderson, and I showed him the book of course, he couldn’t understand
it because it was all in French. (All laughing)”
Ray
Shasho: I chatted with the current keyboardist of ‘YES’ Geoff Downes
recently as well… very nice guy with an incredible musical past as well with
The Buggles and Asia.
Patrick
Moraz: “I saw him on the cruise. Personally I think
he did a fantastic job helping to recreate the three albums that were featured
on the last couple of tours. With the new singer Jon Davison who is able to
reach those notes and has a very good spirituality in him. I think Jon Anderson
should be really happy and proud to have his music and songs re-performed the
way they are now. I think it’s an honor to him every day.”
Ray
Shasho: I was upset when Jon was let go from the band
and all that transpired, and I told Chris Squire that when I spoke with him… I
have to admit, I do miss Jon Anderson as the frontman of ‘YES.’
Patrick
Moraz: “Of course … he’s one of two creators of the
band at the time. I think his spirit will live forever because he was the
creator of so many songs and most of those lyrics and melodies. I understand
what you are saying but I think people will be absolutely happy and surprised
by their new album with Jon Davison …‘Heaven and Earth.’
Ray
Shasho: Patrick, you performed on Chris Squire’s ‘Fish Out of Water’ solo
album.
Patrick
Moraz: “That’s right; it was also my first playing
encounter with Bill Bruford.
I also did “Music for
piano & drums” (1983) and “Flags” (1985) (Moraz - Bruford Albums) when I
was still a member of The Moody Blues. I also contributed to Steve Howe’s
album. In 1975 … I think I was very busy because we all had decided to do solo
albums after ‘Relayer’ and the first tour. In the winter of 1975, I was
contributing to ‘Fish Out of Water’ and arranging the chamber orchestra for
Steve’s first solo album ‘Beginnings’ and preparing my recording as well, and I
even did a cameo in Alan Whites video for his ‘Ramshackled’ album.
Ray
Shasho: Your solo release… ‘The Story of i’ (1976) was
a magnificent album.
Patrick
Moraz: “I had a lot of fun doing it; it took about
four months to record. I was also able to give that first professional gig to
one of the greatest bass players the planet has ever known… Jeff Berlin. He
actually played on both sides of the album. The official name of ‘The Story of
i’ was actually just ‘i’ and that’s why I had that logo which was the ninth
letter of the Etruscan alphabet. It was actually by intention in the first
minute of the opening piece of ‘i’ …there’s a large vocal section that we sang
…John McBurnie and his girlfriend who was also in the backing vocals and all of
us in the studio sang… ‘i’! That was actually the personification of the title
of the album. But the record company told me … “Patrick, what do you want to do
with a title with just a letter and a logo like that? The album is great
and we love it but since you wrote the story call it ‘The Story of i.’” He said,
“With ‘i’ we’re not going to do any business.” Of course nowadays we’ve got
iPhone, iMusic, iPhoto …i everything! I should have trademarked it. (All
laughing)”
Ray
Shasho: ‘The Story of i’ album is an intriguing
concept and story.
Patrick
Moraz: “It’s actually the concept of life and the
afterlife and in a way an aspect of reincarnation that I was unveiling through
that story. I wrote all the liner notes and did the cartoon on the original
version of it when it was on vinyl. It really helped me as a plan to compose
and arrange everything; I wanted to make it a whole piece of music in fourteen
movements … or two pieces of music in seven movements each and I think that was
well translated on vinyl. Of course recently it has been remastered and
released, and I think it came out really well on the CD.”
Ray
Shasho: You also inherited a Brazilian influence which you shared on the
album?
Patrick
Moraz: “Exactly! After
the second tour with ‘YES’ in 1975 which finished in late August, I flew with
my engineer to Brazil and all over South America. Even on the plane journey I
was writing music and getting some ideas. When I arrived in Brazil I was able
to find sixteen Brazilian percussionists, and each one having a different
function. Later, I moved to Brazil and lived there for five years; even my
daughter was born in Brazil. I was also able to learn how to speak Portuguese.”
Ray
Shasho: “I watched you perform with ‘The Moody Blues’
for the ‘Long Distance Voyager’ Tour in 1981.
Patrick
Moraz: “After I
did my second solo album called ‘Out in the Sun,’ with that long piece at the
end of it called “Time for a Change, “which actually has some of the flavors of
what I had recorded and composed for “Awaken,” in ‘Going for the One’ from
‘YES,’ I was associated with them two years previous to the recording of
‘Going for the One’ and I had prepared with them all the material including
some of the biggest tunes. In early 1977, I was able to secure the record
contract for ‘Out in the Sun,’ which I wanted to be completely different and
more liberated. Then I moved to Brazil for a year and half and was preparing my
third album and was going to record it in Brazil and also Geneva, Switzerland.
Then some agent called me, actually in Miami, and asked if I wanted to join a
certain band, they didn’t say who it was.”
“When I arrived in
Rio, I was staying in a hotel at that point because of logistics, and then on
the telex machine I understood it was The Moody Blues. I immediately got their
album and already new some of their material, especially from ‘Days of Future
Past,’ which is actually the title that has been retrieved by X-Men nowadays in
the movie. So I was invited to come to London on the 17th of July in 1978, a
couple of days after the end of the Montreux Jazz Festival where I played. I
was able to secure a place to play at the festival so it would help me in my
travels and to meet The Moody Blues in London two days later. I was fortunate
enough all these years to keep my roadie in London with my equipment in top
shape. I used to always joke that I was probably one of the first musicians to
say… ‘Have Keyboards, Will Travel’ (All laughing).”
“I arrived in London
and met with The Moody Blues and they were very nice and within the next hour
we managed to play three or four tunes including “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Nights
in White Satin,” and “Legend of a Mind” the song written by Ray Thomas about
Timothy Leary who eventually became a very good friend in the late 80’s. The
first two years I was with The Moody Blues as a session man of course and I
learned all the material and so on. We had the idea of recording and they asked
me to join them in the studio at the very beginning of the 1980’s. From then
on, I was able to stay with them another ten and a half years and record five
studio albums including the first one with them…‘Long Distance Voyager’ and
‘The Present’ several years later, and ‘The Other Side of Life’ after that.
Those ten years as a member with The Moody Blues were absolutely fantastic and
I really enjoyed every note that I ever played with them in the studio and
onstage. I am very proud of having been a member and probably the only musician
who has been a member of both groups …’YES’ and ‘The Moody Blues.’”
Ray
Shasho: You played several mellotrons while onstage with both groups?
Patrick
Moraz: “Absolutely! When I was with ‘YES’ I had
in a way …designed for the mellotron makers to make me a double mellotron. I
was the first to have a double mellotron. I remember with ‘YES’ I had three
mellotrons and when I joined The Moody Blues I actually had four mellotrons
onstage. They call it the Ancient Sampler because it was all analog, each key
could produce three different sounds from A, B, and C, but since there was (35)
keys on each mellotron keyboard you could have up to (105) sounds, which was
extremely useful at the time. I’ve used the mellotrons not only with every
Moody Blues album that I’ve done but also with some of my solo albums, and even
the solo albums that I was able to play as instant composition in front of TV
cameras. I’m talking about ‘Future Memories I and II,’ these were extraordinary
for the time because there was no computers. When I joined The Moody Blues as
well there were no computers or programs as such, so the mellotrons were the
key instruments, also to be able to reintroduce and give the interpretation to
their best known hits. And to play all the parts that Michael Pinder had
played, who was a fantastic mellotron player, great musician, and remarkable
gentleman. Unfortunately I hadn’t had the time or pleasure to meet for a long
time, I only met him for a few minutes at the NAMM show in the 90’s. But the
Moody Blues recognized the fact that other instruments were as important, I had
an array of synthesizers, electric pianos, and moog synthesizers of the time …
I had so many instruments it was just unbelievable!”
Ray
Shasho: You must be embracing today’s technology in so
many ways while working in the studio … do you record from home nowadays?
Patrick
Moraz: “Yes I do, I’m
fortunate enough to be able to have somewhat of an expansion of my array of
keyboards and computers and what I call the ‘space station,’ because I use
Apple computers and have some Thunderbolts and screens …I use mainly Logic and
Pro tools.”
Ray
Shasho: Patrick, I understand you knew Salvador Dali,
what was he like?
Patrick
Moraz: “It was in 1964 and I was engaged by a company
in the north of Spain around Cadaqués which was the village or the town where
Port Lligat is situated, a few miles northeast, but on the sea, and that’s
exactly where Salvador Dali was living. So I was engaged for two reasons …to be
a scuba diving instructor and also to organize some shows and concerts. I was
playing piano, vibraphone and so on… and I was able to go on the property of
Salvador Dali and even organize some parties for several months. We became
friends and he was also speaking in French to me although in Spain. He would be
saying surrealistic phrases to me and that’s how I got immersed into his
creativity. I was fortunate enough as well to go and mingle with the people who
used to come around as well, but mostly with Salvador and his wife Gala. I was
probably one of the rare people to be allowed in one of his own painting
studios and watch him work. It was extraordinary!”
Ray
Shasho: I noticed a photo on your
website with you on the set for the first ‘Predator’ movie with Arnold
Schwarzenegger … that had to be awesome!
Patrick
Moraz: “It was absolutely phenomenal. That picture
was probably taken at the beginning of 1987. Joel Silver wanted me to fly to
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where they were filming in the jungle and that’s where
I met Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, and Carl Weathers, and I spent
about four days there. The day I arrived at Puerto Vallarta, Joel Silver was
exuberant and the first thing he said to me was, “Patrick, I heard your music
in New York and I was amazed,” and he said, “Guess what the good news is? The
budget for the movie has been increased from 17 -million to 30- million
dollars,” (Laughing) so it was a real celebration."
"There was about
300 people all positioned in the jungle which was pretty thick above the
mountains of Puerto Vallarta. Everybody was arriving by jeep or helicopter. The
next day they were filming a scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers
and there was also a scene including some parrots and chameleons. The parrots
worked out fine but the chameleons would not change, so they flew in three
chameleons in a helicopter from LA. Originally one of the assistant directors
to John McTiernan the director, wanted to spray the chameleons but the ASPCA
from Mexico said, “No-no Senor, you cannot do that.” We were laughing about it
at the dinner later that night. Remember the scene when they attacked the
guerrilla soldiers at their camp? I was almost a cameo appearing from the back,
so they asked me to put on army fatigues because I was so close to the
shooting.”
“I was supposed to be
finishing the score for ‘Predator’ but The Moody Blues were going to Australia
and having been with them for already nine years I didn’t want to let them
down. The Producer Joel Silver had asked me to finish the score for ‘Predator’
during that period and even fly to somewhere like Romania or Czechoslovakia and
finish the score with some aspect of a symphony orchestra. Eventually they
changed that because I was not able to complete the score, I had done the
temporary score for ‘Predator’ and I had just finished the full score for
another movie called ‘The Stepfather’ with Terry O’Quinn.”
Ray
Shasho: Patrick, here’s a question that I ask everyone that I interview.
If you had a ‘Field of Dreams’ wish like the movie, to perform or collaborate
with anyone from the past or present, who would that be?
Patrick
Moraz: “I would immediately say Beethoven, Bach, and
Mozart would be the most unbelievable in terms of the music. Also Stravinsky
because he actually used to live in the town where I was born and forty years
before that where he started to write ‘The Rite of Spring’ and had already
written ‘The Firebird’ which was one of the music that we used to come onstage with
‘YES.’ He was also one of the main influences for some of the music that I have
done. I would also have to include John Coltrane.”
“In terms of the
movies … I would say Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, and Spielberg … or somebody
of that imagination caliber, creativity, and genius …also some aspect of French
directors like François Truffaut who had a big influence on me when I was a
kid.”
“If there was only one
spiritual entity which has always guided me my whole life it’s God.”
Ray
Shasho: Patrick, anything else you’d like to promote?
Patrick
Moraz: “I’d like to
mention my ‘Windows of Time’ album recorded in 1993 at Full Sail University. I
recorded it over a period of 72 hours, but recorded over 14 hours of piano, and
nine months after that I was able to …with the help of a very good sound
engineer and programmer to extract the essence of that music and make it into a
one hour album. It’s the first CD at exactly 60 minutes or 3600 seconds …
My subsequent solo albums … ‘Resonance’ which is all piano and ‘ESP’ which is
more classically oriented.”
“I’m working on so
many new projects …“The M.A.P.” ("The Moraz - Alban Project”)is going to be a very big
surprise for the listeners and fans. I also have most of the music for my
upcoming CD entitled ‘A way to Freedom’ due in the very near future. I’ve also
got some very interesting poems presented in different languages, and a Cantata
in the final works for SATB Choirs in 7 movements which pay homage to ‘Our
Planet.’ So, I’m really-really enjoying what I’m doing.”
Ray
Shasho: Patrick, thank you so much for being on the call today, but more
importantly for all the incredible music with ‘YES,’ ‘The Moody Blues’ you’re
brilliant solo projects, and the sensational music you continue to bring.
Patrick
Moraz: “Having an interview like yours on the day of
my birthday is a gift from God. I’ve really enjoyed your questions so much and
I hope we can meet when I come to Sarasota in the not so distant future.”
Very special thanks to ‘the great’ Billy James of Glass Onyon PR
COMING
UP NEXT … Legendary keyboardist Keith Emerson (The Nice, Emerson, Lake &
Palmer) … Robin Trower (Legendary
guitarist and songwriter)… Don Wilson guitarist,
pioneer, and co-founder of ‘The Ventures.’ … Country Music’s shining new star
-19 year old Mary Sarah … And Folk/Rock
singer & songwriter Jonathan Edwards (“Sunshine”).
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SOON… Ray’s exciting new
book project entitled
‘SAVING ROCK AND ROLL’
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