The Dog Training Review

Paul Winter is a renowned saxophonist, composer and leader of the Paul Winter Consort. Through his affiliation with New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, he co-created the Missa Gaia or Earth Mass. This music is a center piece of the yearly Pet Blessing.

Paul grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania and later attended Northwestern University in Illinois. There in 1961, he conceived the Paul Winter Sextet and was soon signed to Columbia Records. In 1962 the group was selected by the United States State Department to tour Latin America as cultural ambassadors.  Winter became interested in bossa nova while touring in  Brazil and also became influenced by other cultures’ music.  The Paul WInter Sextet released its bossa nova album “Rio” in 1965. 

In 1967 Paul changed the name of the Sextet to the Paul Winter Consort.Their 1972 album “Icarus”, produced by Beatles’ producer George Martin, brought the group to international prominence with its mixture of jazz, classical and world music.

Paul Winter’s music has embraced the traditions of jazz, bossa nova, world and earth music. He has won 6 Grammy Awards, most recently Best New Age Album of 2007 for “Crestone: A Celebration of the World of Crestone”. Paul often records in the great outdoors so as to capture the sounds of the desert, mountains amd canyons. These natural sounds are incorporated into his music.

In 1981, Rev. James Parks Morton, Dean of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, asked Paul Winter to compose contemporary music for the Mass.  Paul accepted and chose to create music that would honor the sacredness of the Earth. Into this he wove the voices of whales and wolves. This became the Earth Mass or Missa Gaia. The Missa Gaia was first performed in 1981 on Mother’s Day at the Cathedral. Every year on the Feast of St. Francis (St. Francis Day) the Consort performs the Earh Mass at  the Cathedral’sBlessing of the Animals

The Paul Winter Consort and the hauntingly beautiful music of the Missa Gaia are featured in our St. Francis animal blessing documentary film, “A Celebration of Creation”.