Four-time Grammy winner Paul Avgerinos

Paul Avgerinos

Four-Time Grammy Winner Following His Bliss With Gratitude and Joy

BY SHERYL ARONSON / PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF PAUL AVGERINOS

Tucked away in the woods of Redding, Connecticut, is Studio Unicorn, a magical hideaway where four-time Grammy winner Paul Avgerinos daily alchemizes his diverse forms of musical composition. While his passion and focus center on composing and playing New Age music, his talent is expansive: a multi-instrumentalist, engineer and producer composing and licensing music for film and TV, with a catalog of more than 9,000 tracks and over 300 million streaming listeners.

Avgerinos achieved such accolades by following his bliss and being true to himself, which meant no touring, something unheard of in the world of music. So, if the public wants to experience his angelic music, they must go online and float away to the heavens.

“I found that touring didn’t suit my personality because I’m very sensitive and need to be surrounded by nature. I need peace and quiet—I’m kind of high maintenance in that way,” Avgerinos revealed.

Here’s an artist who seems completely at peace and extraordinarily humble when speaking about his incredible journey in the genre of New Age music. Called “one of the giants of ambient music” by AllMusic Guide, this maestro continuously approaches his artistry with joy and playfulness.

“I followed my bliss with the New Age music and never expected to make a dollar. I think it’s very important for artists to faithfully follow their bliss—granted, I followed mine through because I love doing it.”

Chic Compass: You graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. What got you interested in music? How did attending Peabody affect your career as a musician?

Paul Avgerinos: I started playing bass in a rock band around the age of 12. Then, while playing jazz, I started studying the upright bass because my jazz player/piano friend thought it would be great to have an upright bass in our jazz band. I also performed with the local Symphony Youth Orchestra to further my learning.

I was 18 when I got a full scholarship to Peabody Conservatory on the upright bass. It was awesome to be surrounded by such great musicians and to grow as a musician in just a few years’ time.

Chic Compass: At Peabody, you studied classical music; you also have a jazz background and played rock ‘n’ roll. Then you decided to perform New Age/spiritual music. What caused that change in musical genres?

Paul Avgerinos: When I was around 15 or 16, I started having some beautiful spiritual awakenings. I was doing a lot of yoga—like three hours a day—and meditating. I then discovered John McLaughlin’s heavenly music. His sound set me on a new path of music, and I realized music was a connection. If it was approached in a deep meditative way, it could bring you closer to the divine. Seeing John McLaughlin do that with his music and studying with his guru, Sri Chinmoy, inspired me to participate in Sri Chinmoy’s meditation groups when he offered them in Norwalk, Connecticut. Sri Chinmoy came to my hometown area once a week to give meditation classes. That was about five or six miles from where I was growing up. I even got to see Carlos Santana there one day, who was also a devotee. A very magical time. I was clear that music was not just my life, but that God could also be at the heart of my spiritual musical life—my spiritual awakening—and spiritual growth.

Chic Compass: Sounds very exciting and inspiring. Besides John McLaughlin, were there any other musicians influencing you?

Paul Avgerinos: Chick Corea’s Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke, Wayne Shorter’s Weather Report, Gary Burton—all the great jazz-rock masters of the early ’70s. Back then, it was a vibrant time in music. Jazz had never been combined with rock energy before, and they were even bringing in some New Age elements with an impressionistic flavor, like Ravel’s influence—a blessed time to be coming up as a young person in the music scene.

Chic Compass: You also created your own recording studio, as well as being an artist. Talk about how you established it.

Paul Avgerinos: After five to six years performing as a musician, I realized I wanted to do this ambient, New Age music as an artist. To accomplish this goal, I needed a little studio to produce the recordings. I built a small basement studio in ’87, and we started making recordings. Fortunately, one of my clients had a New Age label—New World Productions—and they were in the UK as well as the U.S. I was making masters for them, and one day I said, “Hey, could I make some of these recordings?” and he said, “Sure. Go ahead and do whatever you’d like.” I took advantage of the opportunity and began creating my own albums for release on that label. I made four or five albums for them, and that was my beginning as a New Age artist.

My studio had modest beginnings, but there were many synchronistic events that helped me along. I began to feel that this was what I was meant to do. After a good 10 to 15 years, I had picked up steam, and my career as a New Age artist and studio producer/engineer took off.

Chic Compass: You were making a career for yourself in this genre of music, even though you had decided not to tour as a musician.

Paul Avgerinos: My career suffered a bit because I didn’t tour or do live concerts, so my career evolved more slowly. Also, there were very few outlets that broadcast New Age music. When streaming came online, my career picked up. I now had more accessibility and availability to an audience of New Age folks.

Because I wasn’t doing concerts and tours, a lot of my friends pulled ahead and did much better commercially. Also, my version of New Age is very subtle and multi-layered. Performing the music live isn’t entertaining to watch since the sound is cerebral and spiritual. I could bring in dancers and videos and make a nice show, but I’ve never really been drawn to the performance aspect of the music.

I’m grateful that the Goddess has allowed me to reach a large audience without doing concerts. I’ve done a few here and there; when people ask me, I’ll usually comply.

Chic Compass: How many years did it take for you to feel your music was gaining popularity?

Paul Avgerinos: I think it took 15 years. Before or around the turn of the century, things really started to click together—it was a bit of a slow burn. There weren’t many outlets. You sold your CDs at concerts. Sales do much better when people see you in person when touring.

I’m a slow-burning kind of person. I’m the quintessential late bloomer—except for my orchestral career, which took off like a rocket. I didn’t even realize what was happening, and I turned around one day and said, “Wow, I can’t believe I got this far this quickly.” I’m a firm believer that everything is about karma, dharma and the grace of God. I give thanks to God all the time for these amazing blessings.

Chic Compass: Is one of your main goals as an artist to help people incorporate the music and have a connective, spiritual experience through music?

Paul Avgerinos: My interest in New Age music was to heal and soothe myself. When I got good at that experience, I realized it could be useful for a much larger group of people I’ve never met. All humans deal with the same issues, such as sadness, isolation, loneliness, lack of connection and fear. What humans are longing for is real, unconditional love and bliss. I realized my spiritual music was a beautiful form of service that not only could help people with their own healing and spiritual growth, but also help them feel more peaceful, sleep better, be happier and worry less. If you focus on helping someone else or serving in some simple way, your happiness comes from knowing you’re involved in that service. I have a lovely life here, very full of blessings and abundance.

Chic Compass: How do you feel when you get a message from a listener that your music has really moved them or helped heal them in their life?

Paul Avgerinos: My listeners have shared stories of how they were uplifted by my music. Maybe a relative was dying while listening to my music or a baby was being born as the mother was listening to my music. These sacred moments—passages into this life and out of this life—are very special and dear to me.

Chic Compass: You’re also a four-time Grammy winner. Can you talk about your experiences receiving those Grammys?

Paul Avgerinos: It’s been a wonderfully magical process: three regular Grammys and one Latin Grammy. The first one was probably the most special in some ways because it was for my New Age album, “Grace,” in 2015. I started releasing New Age music in ’87, which was also the year the first New Age Grammy was awarded to Andreas Vollenweider, the Swiss harpist. Then Enya won a few years later. Being among these iconic artists in the genre, I never imagined I could get a nomination. The morning of the day that I won, I burst into tears. I cried for like five minutes. I kept asking myself, “Why are you crying?” I heard a little voice answer, “You’re going to win, and you’d better cry now because onstage you won’t be able to make a good presentation.” That was such a beautiful experience.

Then there was a Latin Grammy in 2020 for “Puertos: Music From International Waters” by Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra (producer Paul Avgerinos), and in 2022 with Arturo O’Farrill for engineering “Fandango at the Wall.” This past February was for the best audiobook, “Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration With President Jimmy Carter.” His grandson gave the presentation at the Grammys. I’ve always admired President Carter. He was such a bright light, a true beacon of goodness.

Chic Compass: It sounds like this Grammy fits perfectly with your life philosophy and what you strive for creatively and spiritually. You’re more than a musician—you’re a composer, producer, recording engineer and you own Studio Unicorn. Talk about what you do in the music world that’s most important to you.

Paul Avgerinos: The craft has changed a lot since I began my career. Back then, things were much more delegated. You’d be either an artist, a bass player, an engineer or a producer—but you wouldn’t be all those things at the same time. Now you must do all these things, plus you also must know Excel spreadsheets, social media and marketing. I kind of bumble along and do the best I can.

Besides creating New Age music, I also make catalog music for TV. I have about 8,000 tracks in my ASCAP catalog and 5,000 cue sheets. Each cue sheet is a separate TV show that has my music in it. Recently, I composed music for the Winter Olympics, which is going to be in Italy, and did about 15 tracks of classic old Italian melodies with modern beats. This morning, I finished a Southern rock track with slide guitar that’s aggressive and rocking. Playing like this expresses other parts of my creative energy—more male aggressive—kind of having fun with the boys kind of energy. Then I can switch it up and be very feminine and goddess-driven. If you do one thing all the time, it can get a little stale.

When you’ve had a long career, you have to be careful about getting into a rut, doing the same thing repeatedly. Diversity is the spice of life. I’d say the old maxim of following your bliss is still very true. I followed my bliss with New Age music and never expected to make a dollar off it. I think it’s very important for artists to follow their bliss—granted, I followed mine for 15 years because I love doing it. If I didn’t have that hopeful energy mentally, I might have quit, and I would’ve missed all this fun stuff. What I tell young artists is they’ve got to have a five-to-10-year plan and really must devote themselves and sacrifice for that plan—and not expect quick results.