{"id":7363,"title":"Dean Evenson","kind":"bio","url":"https://www.videohistoryproject.org/dean-evenson","version":"7b76b904a43d997bd4f7443170e259109538783c66cf7c4b5b361d5fbeb27617","modified":"2011-06-17T23:59:49+00:00","credits":[],"authorKeys":[],"subjects":["bio"],"metadata":[{"label":"First name","value":"Dean","url":null},{"label":"Last name","value":"Evenson","url":null}],"citations":{"page":"\u0022Dean Evenson.\u0022 Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/dean-evenson.","publication":null,"risUrl":"https://www.videohistoryproject.org/citation/7363.ris"},"links":[],"sections":[{"name":"body","source":"VHP record body","generated":false,"characters":7133}],"content":{"section":"body","source":"VHP record body","generated":false,"text":"Dean Evenson is one of the true visionaries of the Ambient/New Age musical genre--a prolific musician and composer, an entrepreneur, media pioneer and the co-founder of Billboard-charting independent music label, Soundings of the Planet. At every turn, Evenson\u0027s life has taken bold steps in new and exciting directions. The success and pioneering nature of his creative work attest to a dynamic personality and a life-long commitment to the positive evolution of life on this planet in relationship with the natural and spiritual world. Evenson\u0027s story is that of an artist, technological innovator, broad-minded thinker--a modern-day Renaissance man. A Childhood In Music and Nature Music, nature and spirituality were a part of Evenson\u0027s life from a very early age. Growing up in Staten Island, New York as part of a musical, church-going family, Dean learned to play flute and piano, and played and sang in all types of school, church and community orchestras, bands and choirs. His affinity for music also found expression in a deep, abiding love of nature. Borrowing his elder brother\u0027s recording equipment, Dean would often place a microphone outside his bedroom window to capture the crash of thunderstorms. While on an early bird-watching trip with the pastor of his church, Dean learned to appreciate the wonderful, musical complexity of bird-songs. \u0022You don\u0027t notice those things when you\u0027re young unless they\u0027re pointed out to you,\u0022 reflects Dean. \u0022Hearing them for the first time like that changed my whole perspective on what nature was and what I thought about sound.\u0022 From that point on, music, nature and spirituality became the primary threads with which Evenson wove the fabric of his life. A Scientist\u0027s Questions His interest in nature and a keen analytical mind initially took him into the sciences, where he pursued a Master\u0027s degree in molecular biology under a National Science Foundation Fellowship at the University of Maine. At some point during graduate school, however, he realized that he was devoting much of his time to art and music projects on the side. When he completed his degree, his life took a dramatic turn in that direction. \u0022I realized that I had gone into science to find out what science knew about life, but I was never looking for a career,\u0022 Dean explains. \u0022I was entranced with determining what it takes for us to live as better human beings on this planet.\u0022 The same quest for spiritual knowledge that brought him to science propelled him toward the arts. The New York Recording Scene After graduate school in 1968, Dean moved to New York\u0027s thriving East Village arts district, \u0022to see what would happen,\u0022 as he puts it. Two important things happened right away. He moved into an apartment directly across from Dudley Dickinson, who soon became his wife and lifelong artistic and business partner. Dean also immediately found work as a recording engineer at Regent Sound Studios where he worked on albums by Eric Clapton, Les McCann and Roberta Flack. An Emerging Technology At the same time, Dean became intrigued with emerging video technology. For sharing ideas of peace and spiritual evolution, Evenson reasoned that the visual image is as powerful a sensory medium as audio, so he and Dudley took a risk and bought one of the first Sony portable cameras long before VCR players were available to the public. They went on the road in a converted school bus to record the alternative culture and awakening consciousness of the era. Documenting An Era Exploring their newfound artistic and documentary medium, Dean and Dudley became engaged in some of the defining social and popular cultural moments of the \u002770s and \u002780s. They produced multi-media support for a Sam Shepard play at Lincoln Center, videotaped Jefferson Airplane\u0027s live tribute to Janis Joplin in San Francisco the night after she died, and taped the First United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. They lent audio and video recording support to the American Indian Movement during the occupation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and became profoundly inspired by Native American reverence for the living earth. An audio-video production developed out of participating in the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil, with interviews of Vice President Al Gore, Bianca Jagger, the Dalai Lama and others. At the conference, Dean performed with John Denver, fellow New Age pioneer Paul Winter, and then with Gwich\u0027in tribal leader Sarah James before an audience of 50,000. Founding The Music Label After many years of living the life of nomadic video pioneers, Dean and Dudley finally settled for a time atop 10,000-foot Mount Lemmon, just outside Tucson, Arizona. They founded their own music label, Soundings of the Planet in 1979, and began selling homemade tapes at swap meets and health food stores to fulfill their vision of \u0022Peace Through Music,\u0022 which became the company motto. Their beautiful, peaceful music often incorporated recordings of natural sounds--streams, bird-songs, wind, ocean waves--and the young company began to define the emerging New Age musical genre. Musical Achievements After years of organic growth, Soundings of the Planet has become a tremendous success, producing seven consecutive Billboard-charting albums, and being selected as a Billboard Top 10 Indie Label three years in a row. Dean himself has produced over 10 albums of his own music, including Billboard-charting Forest Rain, Desert Moon Song, Ocean Dreams, and Wind Dancer (with keyboardist Tom Barabas). Evenson\u0027s music has been selected for film scores, including the soundtrack to the PBS mini-series, \u0022The Way West,\u0022 and Disney\u0027s \u0022Jungle Book\u0022 preview. The Windham Hill music label included Dean\u0027s music on Path, its recent ambient music sampler. In addition, Evenson further combines his technical skills with artistic creativity, pursuing state-of-the-art music and multimedia productions, and by directing, producing and recording numerous albums by other Soundings Ensemble musicians--including vocalist Lorellei, whose collaboration with Dean marks a dynamic, new development for both artists. Evenson is renowned as a virtuoso composer, flautist and synthesizer artist, and uses his position in the music industry to promote environmental awareness, social justice and responsible business practices. The Ongoing Vision Dean\u0027s life has taken many unexpected twists and has led him and his family through many remarkable, ground-breaking experiences. The same philosophy that led to their unpredictable success and vitality in the past is what continues to guide him. Dean explains, \u0022I\u0027ve always wanted to do the best thing for the planet and what I do is in service. I don\u0027t have a lot of projections about what I\u0027m supposed to be doing or where I should be going. I just follow my inner purpose and personal vision. It\u0027s the intuition, the learning, the inner knowing of which way to go that is the important pathmark for us.\u0022 Maintaining that devotion to inner vision and the positive evolution of the planet in the \u002790s continues to guide Dean and Dudley Evenson and their growing music label.","offset":0,"nextOffset":null,"totalCharacters":7133,"complete":true},"rightsUrl":"https://www.videohistoryproject.org/terms-service"}