On September 19, 1995, when a frail eighty-five-year-old Paul Bowles acknowledged the cheers of New York's Alice Tully Hall concert audience that had just listened to his PASTORELA, CONCERTO FOR TWO PIANOS AND ORCHESTRA, and song suite, SECRET WORDS, performed by the EOS Ensemble, not only was it was the first time in almost five decades that he had set foot on native soil, but it was also the first time since his expatriation in 1947 that a serious revival of his music was being launched.

Born in Jamaica, NY, on December 30, 1910, Bowles sought refuge from an unhappy childhood in the life of the imagination. He wrote poetry, studied piano, composed music, was fascinated by the visual arts and was unable to decide which artistic direction to pursue professionally until Henry Cowell praised his music and recommended him to Aaron Copland. Bowles followed Copland to Paris, Berlin, and Morocco, immersing himself in the European cultural world and acquiring his first taste for the wanderlust that would become a hallmark of his life.

Bowles' musical compositions from the 1930's and 40's blend the influences of the French avant garde with American folk and popular elements, and, as recent performances have revealed, compare favorably with the works of Copland, Thomson, and Blitzstein from the same period. His entire song opus dates from this period, too. Vigorous, witty, theatrical, and endowed with an uncanny ability to fuse words and music, Bowles composed appealing melodies supported by clever accompaniments, many of which used jazzy rhythms. Perhaps best known for his folksy-bluesy BLUE MOUNTAIN BALLADS to texts by Tennessee Williams, he has also created some fine settings of Gertrude Stein, William Saroyan, and of his own and his wife Jane's poems.