“Natural Light” is Louis Anthony deLise’s first album as featured soloist. Of the compositions, deLise says, “For me, the impetus to create music can come from many places: my surroundings, life’s events (good or bad); or, simply, the urge to play with this or that pitch collection, time signature, or rhythm. Mostly, I make music I want to hear. Music helps me celebrate life’s ups and tolerate its downs. Making music usually helps me feel better about my circumstances. It is, indeed, my original balm of first choice. So it is with Natural Light.”
Press release by LAZZ Promotions – Bocage Music Publishing
Using music to self-sooth began when deLise was a child. At age seven he was hospitalized for several months in Philadelphia. Over the Christmas holiday, a kindly teacher at the hospital (the city supplied tutors for the kids who were hospitalized for long stays) loaned him a toy xylophone. He used that little instrument to teach himself to play, “Silent Night.” It is no simple coincidence that toy bells and other mallet percussion instruments are today such an integral part of deLise’s sound.
The self-soothing with music continues. “The composition, ‘Early January,’ was improvised at the piano through tears remembering my late brother, Michael. It is unabashedly tonal (composed in E-flat major), sensitive, and reflective. It sings about the impermanence of life.” Other pieces on the album are similarly personal.
“Soon after I moved to New Jersey, I was delighted to discover that Walt Whitman, one of my favorite poets, once lived near my new home. I have read that Mr. Whitman loved to walk barefoot in the marl he found along Camden County’s many creeks. When I sit at the piano in my studio, I can look out at one such stream. I imagine the great poet could have walked here. Whitman wrote about his joy of just being in the poem, ‘Miracles.’
…Or wade with naked feet along the beach, just in the edge of the water…
What came from my musing is a musical portrait that undulates back and forth between E-flat Lydian, C-natural minor and E-flat major.”
Get to know the artist
The career of composer Louis Anthony deLise has included concurrent assignments playing percussion in orchestras that accompanied Tony Bennett, Luciano Pavarotti, Dianne Ross, Beverly Sills, and Mel Tormé; playing piano and percussion in Philadelphia’s recording studios; and arranging for Grammy winners Patti LaBelle, the rock band, Halestorm, and jazz pianist, Peter Nero. He arranged and conducted on two albums for Miss LaBelle: Timeless Journey and her Billboard number one hit, The Gospel According to Patti LaBelle. Additionally, deLise arranged and produced several top twenty and “Pick Hit” recordings for labels including Def Jam, Mercury, Casablanca, Vanguard, EMI, Centaur in the US; MGM (Australia), EM Records (Japan), BBE Records (UK), Soul Jazz Records (UK), Z Records (UK).
One of deLise’s proudest honors was to work as Miss LaBelle’s arranger for her performance at the Kennedy Center (with President Obama in attendance) in 2011, when she was part of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
With a major grant from the Pew Charitable Trust, Louis created, wrote, and produced the radio program series, Notes from Philadelphia. deLise has written
articles for the National Speakers Association magazine, Speaker, and was a contributing writer for Music First! Published by McGraw-Hill Co. He is the author of a textbook on songwriting: The Contemporary Minstrel: Songwriting, Recording and Making Money with Your Music.
In addition to his work in popular music, deLise is a composer of chamber, choral, and orchestral music. Metropolis Music Publishers (Antwerp, Belgium), and Alry Publishing (Seattle, WA) publish deLise’s music in print for worldwide distribution.
Louis Anthony deLise holds an earned Doctor of Musical Arts in musical composition. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lamda, the music honor society, The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and was included in Who’s Who in America. He has served as a Governor on the Board of the Recording Academy (The Grammy organization), Philadelphia Chapter and is a member of the City of Philadelphia’s Music Industry Task Force. He has won several awards including The Silver Microphone, an Addy, and awards from the International Television Association, and the Film & TV Festival of New York. deLise was an Adjunct Lecturer in composition and music theory at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University.
For more information and music samples, see louisanthonydelise.com