Paris

Paris
A passion for music
The mellow and danceable R & B sounds of Pacific Northwest native Paris Landon communicates his passion for evoking an emotional response in his listeners. His just released new single contains two songs, “Crash” and “Fallen” and serves as a prelude to the release of a full album later this year.
What powers the Paris sound? “I’m passionate about my music and I like to create a total experience for people to enjoy,” Paris says. “There’s a sense of longing in my songs that hooks people in and—I hope—keeps them coming back for more.”
Paris cites his song, “Fallen” as an example of how he likes to leave room in his songs for the audience to react. “The song is about falling in love, so the emotional and musical challenge is to create that sense of letting go—of surrendering to the inevitable.” Paris creates this feeling with the evocative sound of a mandolin decrescendo in the chorus—followed by an abrupt stop to leave space for people to experience the passion of the moment for themselves.
Putting Paris on the musical map
With a catalog of over 400 songs to his credit, Paris has many ways of approaching his creative process. “Sometimes I go in knowing exactly what want. Other times, I’ll just start playing the piano or I’ll come up with a drum beat and mold it step-by step to come up with the musical picture I want to create in my mind or anyone else’s who listens to the song.”
After he’s built the musical foundation of a song, he tackles the words. “Some people are lyricists first, but I’m a classically trained musician turned singer so the melody always comes first.” To come up with the words, he explores the emotions the music creates for him.
When it comes to performing, Paris, who has played with Chuck Mangione and Stanley Clark, can sit down and play every part of his songs. “Because that’s the way I composed it.” Paris didn’t start singing until he was in tenth grade and found it was the only way to fully express the musical concepts he was creating. “I think of myself as a musician first—and then a singer.”
Like his addictive single, “Crash,” Paris Landon’s career is moving at the speed of light. But like many “overnight sensations,” Paris has been preparing for this success all his life.
Paris: The early years
A classically trained bass player, Paris credits his father, with introducing him to the world of music. “My first music memory is climbing up on stage after one of my dad’s performances and trying to play drums.” Throughout his son’s childhood, Paris Landon Sr. performed with bands that toured from New York to Canada doing cover gigs.
It seems natural when it came time to pick an instrument at the tender age of 6—that Paris follow in his father’s footsteps by choosing to play the bass, which is his father’s instrument. “But unlike my dad, I made myself play the bass with my right hand—even though I’m ambidextrous.”
Paris’s school years were spent playing the upright base in orchestra and jazz band. He also spent countless Friday and Saturday night studying music with his dad. “We’d go to ‘Silver Platters’ and study everything we listened to.”
In addition to crediting his dad, Paris is grateful to his first orchestra teacher, Vicky Hinchy. “She actually toured with my dad—they grew up playing music together.” Her husband at the time, owned the Pacific Northwest instrument mecca—Shoreline’s Guitarville. “Mrs. Hinchy made music fun—and I’ve tried to carry on that tradition of really enjoying what I do, today.” Paris adds, “Other teachers like Chris Harshman and William Boyd saw talent and always encouraged me.”
Classic Moves
Musicians of his father’s generation, like Stevie Wonder, and the incredible Jaco Pastorius, Earth, Wind and Fire and Seattle’s own Quincy Jones were the people he looked up to while he was growing up. “And Prince, too. He’s a songwriter who does what he wants to do. And I admire that,” Paris says.
Paris recommends that anyone who wants to become a songwriter should study classic musicians like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. “These masters could write out all the parts for a forty-piece orchestra by just listening to the music in their heads.”