David Bowie, opera star Dawn Upshaw and jazz harmonica legend Toots Thielemans were each delighted to work with acclaimed composer, arranger and orchestra leader Maria Schneider, whose seven Grammy Award wins have come in four different musical categories.Over nearly 50 years, the hugely influential artist impacted the worlds of music, theater, film and more. Our appreciation includes Bowie’s quotes on his work from his five Union-Tribune interviews.
“David said a great thing to me, which was super helpful, because I was really nervous doing the project with him,” she recalled, speaking from her New York City home. Her 2005 album “Concert in the Garden,” released by the innovative ArtistShare label, became the first crowd-funded recording in history to win a Grammy for a release that was not available in stores.
“So, to pay for my records I need to charge a decent price. When streaming companies charge $9.99 a month forthe music in the world, are you kidding me? That will never scale. Musicians are going into massive debt to get their recorded work out, with very little chance of earning any revenue back.”On Tuesday, after this interview took place, it was announced that Schneider is one of the 2023 inductees into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Asked if their performance will include her 2022 composition, “The Great Potoo” — one of several works by Schneider that reflect her passion for birding — she responded by asking detailed questions of her own about the acoustics in the Baker-Baum. “I have a great sound-man for this tour. Sometimes I make the decision at the sound-check that day about what we’ll play at the concert that night. I keep things malleable.to know what they are playing every night and to have the concert feel a little improvisatory for them. Sometimes, it’s a matter of what’s feeling good that day.”Maria Schneider is shown conducting her orchestra at a 2008 London concert.
“I love that my music becomes something a little different than what I conceived because of the musicians playing it,” she said. “And if I go someplace else with different musicians, the music can go somewhere else. That is so wonderful and that is the joy of my life.”“The thing I love in these musicians so much is that they are risk-takers and they thrive on playing different things,” she replied.
Her music at a New York concert so impressed David Bowie that in 2014 — just two years before his death — he invited Schneider to write and record together.