Ben Dowling

"Working with Ester Nicholson on Soul Recovery was a transitional moment for me," claims author, pianist and composer Ben Dowling. This classically-trained jazz musician--who has toured the world with Earth, Wind and Fire's Al McKay, improvised with top classical musicians, recorded with Michael Jackson and scored Golden-Eagle-winning documentaries--probably seems an ill fit for writing spiritual tomes. And yet, in a strange way, it seems exactly right. Collaborating with other artists seems to be thematic in Dowling's life, demonstrated with his multi-media exploration with painter and visual artist Mark Wagner in his award-winning solo piano DVD release The Path of Peace, his multiple music releases and film scores, performances at top venues around the world--and his latest recording, Dreams and Fantasies, a series of improvisations with Georg Faust (Berlin Philharmonic), scheduled for release in 2015. In short, Ben Dowling is perfectly suited to this next step in his rather extraordinary career. "I am so honored to work with Ester and to be given an opportunity to develop ideas worthy of sharing with a wider public. The merging of music and spirituality is the story of my life. Writing it down allows for those ideas to take on more weight and significance in the world. What better function can an artist play?"