Ann Mortifee Says New Book Sparked by Husband’s Gift and Inspiration

by Grania Litwin, Times Colonist, November 4, 2010

Singer-songwriter Ann Mortifee and flutist Paul Horn met almost 40 years ago when she was a 24-year-old at the dawn of her career, and he was an established luminary of new-age jazz.

She had written the score for The Ecstasy of Rita Joe and they were introduced at a recording studio, while working on an album for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s adaptation of the show.

After the session, Mortifee mentioned she hadn’t had time to write an overture and Horn immediately suggested they improvise something. Slightly stunned, she anxiously asked: “How do we do that?”

“I’ll just start and you follow me into the music,” explained the man with the golden flute, who had recorded inside the Taj Mahal. “It’s like a conversation. Whatever you do — don’t think.”

Fixing her with his gaze, he started to play. He then closed his eyes and drifted into the music. She flowed into the moment with her voice, and the overture came into being.

The South African-born Mortifee says she fell in love with him that day — he was married at the time, but they reconnected and married five years ago — and she began using his masterful musical guidance to connect with her inner voice whether teaching, composing or performing.

It also helped kindle her recent book, In Love With the Mystery, …..
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