Biography
Celebrated for both his unique artistic vision and deep understanding and love of music, Alan Kozlowski is an award winning visual artist, filmmaker, Grammy-nominated music producer. Inspired by the culture of world music in 1960s San Francisco, Alan moved to Spain in 1968, to study with legendary Gypsy flamenco guitarist Diego del Gastor, and shortly thereafter began his study of photography and the visual arts. Alan's diverse interests and talents integrate extraordinary life experience and a penchant for technology, creating a rich tapestry of artistic adventure and creative expression.
Much of Alan's artistic focus centers around mentor, teacher and dear friend, Ravi Shankar. First exposed to his music at a concert in San Francisco in 1965, Alan was blessed to meet Ravi under auspicious circumstances in 1978, which began 35 years of study and collaboration. Alan went on to perform with Ravi in venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and London's Royal Opera House. To commemorate Ravi's 75th birthday, Alan co-produced with George Harrison "In Celebration," a four-CD collectors edition of his works. In 1993 Alan directed "Ravi Shankar: The Concert For World Peace" at London's Royal Albert Hall, released worldwide by A&E, and in October 2011 filmed "Ravi Shankar, Tenth Decade In Concert: Live In Escondido", released on DVD. Alan actively documented many of the major milestones of Ravi's life, from 1978 until his final concert in November 2012, and managed his archives for twenty-five years.
Following Ravi's passing in December 2012, Alan mined the archives to produce "Sangeet Ratna" (Jewel Of Music), a 35-minute tribute to his life and work, presented in March 2013, at Ravi's memorial event at Nehru Park in New Delhi. Alan is currently in the process of expanding the short film into a feature length documentary.
Alan's passion for documenting music resulted in collaborations with artists such as Jackson Browne, Jeff Bridges, Kenny Loggins, Lee Rittenour, Lionel Richie, Michael Hedges, Michael McDonald and Earth Wind and Fire. In 1994 Alan was Director of Photography, co-produced and edited an intimate portrayal of life on the road in the Disney documentary "Jackson Browne: Going Home" which won the cable ACE Award for "Best Music Special of the Year", and recently traveled with Jackson to Cuba, to film a video collaboration with musicians around the world for Playing For Change, performing "Guantanamera".
In addition to filming music, Alan also produces artists, including Indian vocalist Lakshmi Shankar's Grammy-nominated album "Dancing In The Light", and Spanish flamenco pianist, Pedro Ricardo Miño's
"Piano Flamenco".
Alan worked with Jeff Bridges and T-Bone Burnett to capture ancillary material for the Academy Award winning "Crazy Heart" and created all promotional materials and live performance videos for Jeff's 2012 Blue Note Records release, "Jeff Bridges".
As Director Of Photography, Alan showcased his talent as in the visually stunning film "For Us The Living: The Medgar Evers Story" (1983 Directed by Michael Schultz, starring Howard E. Rollins Jr., Irene Cara, Laurence Fishburne, Roscoe Lee Browne) and the majestic award winning film "Travellers and Magicians" (2003 Directed by Khyentse Norbu. The latter opened at the Venice and Toronto film festivals to critical acclaim and won the Best Of Festival award at the 2004 Telluride Mountain Film Festival.
In 1984, Alan co-founded Pacific Ocean Post, a leading film and television post-production studio in Santa Monica, California, employing more than 300 special effects, animation, sound, and editorial professionals, breaking new ground in the integration of digital technology and visual expression. Under Alan's leadership, Pacific Ocean Post helped bring home the Visual Effects Oscars for Independence Day (1997), Titanic (1998) and What Dreams May Come (1999). POP was acquired by Liberty Media in 1998, facilitating Alan's return to his artistic pursuits.
Alan's focus on photography has resulted in the publishing of "On The Path-Tibet", a collection of photos from his travels through Tibet, and exhibitions in London, Santa Monica, Telluride, Malibu, Bangkok and Koh Samui.
In 2002 Alan created On The Path, a performing arts center, gallery, and multimedia production facility in Santa Monica, followed by a venture into new media. Fascinated by the intersection of art and technology, Alan co-created two iPad apps. On The Music Path offers one-on-one, immersive instruction with world-renowned musicians such as Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson and Eric Johnson. Imagine Clarity is a mindfulness meditation resource for the corporate world, for which Alan serves as creative director.
Through his continual travel, deep exploration, extensive relationships, vivid imagination and unending curiosity Alan Kozlowski remains to this day...On The Path of discovery.
