Steven Halpern - Cannabis Dreams (CD)

Release Date: 04/09/21

Creatively inspired by specific strains, including Mirayo by Santana, each track creates a sound-enhanced 'natural high'

The connection between music and cannabis goes back long before recorded history. Musicians, artists, poets and others have always praised the creative inspiration they receive from green plant medicine. From my early career as a jazz-rock trumpet/guitar/bass player, one toke would often make it easier for me and my band to lock into the groove.

As a sound healer/solo recording artist, more than one album (though by no means all) has benefited from the specific strain attuned to a particular mix. In some cases, the synergy was especially profound; with 'Matanuska Thunderf*ck', I heard the same music in my head on successive studio dates, and could continue where I left off the week before. That's why I had to include this high energy track on a mostly meditative album. The spirit of the plant insisted on being represented!

With focused attention, intention and repeated listening, you may also hear, as I do, notes that I did not play. Listen with headphones, and psycho-active sounds swirl around inside your head. After I thought the album was finished, I heard about Santana's new line of premium cannabis. On 11/11/20, I recorded new music, inspired by Mirayo by Santana.

Every track was a first take. The mixes fit together so seamlessly and organically, I knew they were what I was waiting for to complete the album. Enjoy, meditate and radiate!

In my forthcoming memoir, I recount 'co-composing' anecdotes that occurred in the studio while recording breakthrough albums. When I was coming of age in the mid-1960s, I was mentored by poets and musicians who came from the tradition of 'tuning in to one's muse.' There was a big difference between getting high and getting stoned. I studied with master poets/writers like Robert Creeley, Jack Clarke and Albert Glover, and jazz greats Ron Carter, Joe Ford and Larry Coryell. In English 101 at University of Buffalo, Dr. Michael Aldrich turned us on to how to listen deeply to the Beatles' ''Tomorrow Never Knows''.