I wrote the song Alive & Kickin’ in the spring of 2006. I keep a folder of music ideas that come to me. I was going through the folder and found the basic motif that makes up the beginning of the melody. I then developed the rest of the first 8 measures (A section) based on some chromatic ideas that I was working on at that time. The song is in AABA form (A=basic melody, A=same basic melody, B=different melody, & then A=basic melody from the beginning). Then I wrote chords for the A section that I had just finished. After playing the A section over and over, which is in the key of G minor, I decided to use the sub-dominant chord (iv) of G minor, (C minor), as the key of the B section. The B section has a lot of melodic ideas from classic jazz and is influenced a lot by Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie’s tunes in minor keys. I also feel as though the whole tune is reminiscent of Wes Montgomery’s tunes like 4 on 6 and The Road Song.
At the time I was playing in an organ based group and we called ourselves Alive & Kickin’. So that is where I got the name for the tune. A lot of my students like playing Alive & Kickin’; it has a cool vibe about it that makes it fun to play at up-tempos. The first recording of this song that I did was recorded slowly because it was a new tune and the band wasn’t used to it. In 2006, I finally recorded it the way I heard it in my head with Jeff Hufnagle on piano, Jim Leslie on drums, Chris Berg on bass and myself on guitar. I hope you enjoy listening to it!
Alive & Kickin' is track #19 on the music player on the sidebar.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Blues For T. (Thelonious & Lester)
I wrote Blues For T. the summer of 2006. The T. stands for Thelonious as in Thelonious Sphere Monk who was one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Thelonious’ friends called him T. I was told this by the greatest jazz musician that I ever met - Lester Bass.
I met Lester Bass at Central State University when he was playing bass at my friend Brian Winguard’s senior recital. I had heard of Lester before then. He was a legend in my eyes. I had heard that he had played with and knew a lot of famous jazz musicians and that he even got to play with Thelonious Monk. I was in awe of Lester’s presence. Here was a man who actually knew Thelonious my hero.
After the recital, I got my courage up and went over to meet Lester. I was asking him questions about his bass and the songs that they played. I didn’t want to ask him about Thelonious and all the musicians that he knew for fear of intruding on his personal life. Lester had on this crazy hat that I thought was so cool, so I told him that I liked it a lot. He said “Oh, that’s my Thelonious hat. I got that from T.” I didn’t understand what he meant by that so I said “It sure looks like something Thelonious would wear.”, and then Lester said “He did wear it. He gave it to me.” Then I said “So who is T.”, and he said “Oh, that was what Thelonious’ friends called him - T.” So, that’s how I found out about that.
I have to say this about Lester. He was the kindest, most gentle, and supportive person that I think I have ever met. After that first meeting, Lester ended up doing some gigs with me. He always wanted to practice for the gig even if it didn’t pay well. I got to know him and he told me many stories about different musicians that he knew through the years. He told me about rooming with Wes Montgomery in Lionel Hampton’s big band and watching Rashaan Roland Kirk grow up in Columbus, Ohio where Rashaan Roland Kirk was at the School for the Blind.
Eventually Lester told me about playing with Thelonious Monk. He was a sub for one week as a bass player in Thelonious’ band. When he got the gig, Thelonious said that he needed a decent hat, so he took Lester up to his apartment in New York and went into his bedroom, opened up the closet and in the closet were hundreds of hats. He picked one out and gave it to Lester. That’s how he got his Thelonious hat.
He went on to tell me that Thelonious told him to be at the club at 2 o’clock for rehearsal. When Lester got there, no one was there. Later that night, at the gig, Lester asked Thelonious, “Where was everybody for the rehearsal?” Thelonious looked at him with puzzlement and then said, “Oh, we didn’t need to practice, you did.”
Another friend of mine, Don Hinkey, told me a story that Lester would never tell. Don said that Lester contributed to the history of jazz as being the only man to ever beat up Charles Mingus. Charles Mingus was in a big band with him (I have no idea which one) and Charles was known to harass people into trying to do heroin with him. Lester stayed away from drugs his whole life and his favorite hobby was boxing when he was a young man. After several weeks of being tormented by Charles Mingus, Lester beat him up. Before I knew about this incident, I would ask if we could play some of Charles Mingus’ songs. Lester would always say no sternly, but I didn’t understand why. Now I know.
In the weeks before Lester died, he was in great pain. He had edema from complications of diabetes, but he still wanted to do gigs with me. I had one last gig scheduled with him and I found out that he was sick and I couldn’t find him. My teacher, James E. Smith, subbed for Lester that day. I miss Lester a lot. I used to go to his house near my teaching studio and watch BET Jazz when I had breaks from teaching. When I wrote this song, I thought about Lester a lot. His week with Thelonious was one of the highlights of his musical career. I dedicate this song to both Thelonious and Lester. I hope you enjoy listening to it!
Blues For T. is track #27 on the music player on the sidebar.
I met Lester Bass at Central State University when he was playing bass at my friend Brian Winguard’s senior recital. I had heard of Lester before then. He was a legend in my eyes. I had heard that he had played with and knew a lot of famous jazz musicians and that he even got to play with Thelonious Monk. I was in awe of Lester’s presence. Here was a man who actually knew Thelonious my hero.
After the recital, I got my courage up and went over to meet Lester. I was asking him questions about his bass and the songs that they played. I didn’t want to ask him about Thelonious and all the musicians that he knew for fear of intruding on his personal life. Lester had on this crazy hat that I thought was so cool, so I told him that I liked it a lot. He said “Oh, that’s my Thelonious hat. I got that from T.” I didn’t understand what he meant by that so I said “It sure looks like something Thelonious would wear.”, and then Lester said “He did wear it. He gave it to me.” Then I said “So who is T.”, and he said “Oh, that was what Thelonious’ friends called him - T.” So, that’s how I found out about that.
I have to say this about Lester. He was the kindest, most gentle, and supportive person that I think I have ever met. After that first meeting, Lester ended up doing some gigs with me. He always wanted to practice for the gig even if it didn’t pay well. I got to know him and he told me many stories about different musicians that he knew through the years. He told me about rooming with Wes Montgomery in Lionel Hampton’s big band and watching Rashaan Roland Kirk grow up in Columbus, Ohio where Rashaan Roland Kirk was at the School for the Blind.
Eventually Lester told me about playing with Thelonious Monk. He was a sub for one week as a bass player in Thelonious’ band. When he got the gig, Thelonious said that he needed a decent hat, so he took Lester up to his apartment in New York and went into his bedroom, opened up the closet and in the closet were hundreds of hats. He picked one out and gave it to Lester. That’s how he got his Thelonious hat.
He went on to tell me that Thelonious told him to be at the club at 2 o’clock for rehearsal. When Lester got there, no one was there. Later that night, at the gig, Lester asked Thelonious, “Where was everybody for the rehearsal?” Thelonious looked at him with puzzlement and then said, “Oh, we didn’t need to practice, you did.”
Another friend of mine, Don Hinkey, told me a story that Lester would never tell. Don said that Lester contributed to the history of jazz as being the only man to ever beat up Charles Mingus. Charles Mingus was in a big band with him (I have no idea which one) and Charles was known to harass people into trying to do heroin with him. Lester stayed away from drugs his whole life and his favorite hobby was boxing when he was a young man. After several weeks of being tormented by Charles Mingus, Lester beat him up. Before I knew about this incident, I would ask if we could play some of Charles Mingus’ songs. Lester would always say no sternly, but I didn’t understand why. Now I know.
In the weeks before Lester died, he was in great pain. He had edema from complications of diabetes, but he still wanted to do gigs with me. I had one last gig scheduled with him and I found out that he was sick and I couldn’t find him. My teacher, James E. Smith, subbed for Lester that day. I miss Lester a lot. I used to go to his house near my teaching studio and watch BET Jazz when I had breaks from teaching. When I wrote this song, I thought about Lester a lot. His week with Thelonious was one of the highlights of his musical career. I dedicate this song to both Thelonious and Lester. I hope you enjoy listening to it!
Blues For T. is track #27 on the music player on the sidebar.
The Island Song
I wrote The Island Song as an assignment for a jazz composition class with my teacher James E. Smith in 1999. The song's chord structure is based on George Gershwin’s "I Got Rhythm" which is in a rounded binary form (AABA) and is 32 measures long (without the verse). My assignment was to write a bebop/hard-bop melody based on Gershwin's tune. I made the song twice as long (64 measures) so that the chords would last twice as long also. I then wrote the melody. The melody is influenced a lot by two songs - St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins and Christopher Columbus by Chu Berry. I also added in devices from bebop like the use of diminished arpeggios and tritone substitutions. The bridge (B section) of The Island Song is an improvised solo over the chord changes (the easy way out). The feel of the song is a Calypso-Jazz feel similar to the way St. Thomas is played by a lot of jazz musicians.
I tried to record The Island Song 3 times before I had a band that could play it right. Maybe that was because of the form being longer or the song having so many different elements to it. I don't know why. To me it's just a simple tune but that is probably because I wrote it. I found the right team of players in 2006. I had John Toedtman on bass, Jeff Hufnagle on piano, Jim Leslie on drums, and myself on guitar. This group was able to interpret exactly what I heard in my head when I wrote this song.
Kids really love The Island Song a lot (but they don't like playing it because it is hard to play). I have a lot of fun playing this tune and I always get a big response from the audience when I play it live. I hope that you enjoy listening to the recording of The Island Song!
The Island Song is track #22 on the music player on the sidebar.
I tried to record The Island Song 3 times before I had a band that could play it right. Maybe that was because of the form being longer or the song having so many different elements to it. I don't know why. To me it's just a simple tune but that is probably because I wrote it. I found the right team of players in 2006. I had John Toedtman on bass, Jeff Hufnagle on piano, Jim Leslie on drums, and myself on guitar. This group was able to interpret exactly what I heard in my head when I wrote this song.
Kids really love The Island Song a lot (but they don't like playing it because it is hard to play). I have a lot of fun playing this tune and I always get a big response from the audience when I play it live. I hope that you enjoy listening to the recording of The Island Song!
The Island Song is track #22 on the music player on the sidebar.
Look For Hope
I wrote the song "Look For Hope" the summer of 2004. It is a song that is hard to describe or even explain. I was thinking about the events that took place after September 11, 2001. I remember that day so clearly. I lived in Hilliard just outside of Columbus, OH at that time. I was driving up Broad St. and the news of the first airplane hitting the Trade Center in New York came on the radio. They thought that maybe it was an accident. I went home and turned on my television. At that moment the second airplane hit the Trade Center. I watched the live broadcast for several hours.
Maybe I was in shock but I decided to go ahead with my day. I went back up Broad St. towards downtown Columbus. When I got downtown, they had it all blocked off with National Guard soldiers with guns. I turned back around and then got on I-70 to go to the store where I was teaching at the time. The road was bare with no cars hardly at all. The sky was bare with no planes or helicopters. I got to my work place which was open but none of my students came in that night. I was trying to pretend like nothing was wrong, but I also had a lot of things wrong with my life at that time and that was how I dealt with it.
I got home and saw the news about the other terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the attempt to attack the White House. I cried myself to sleep that night. It changed my life that day and I decided to move back to Dayton, OH where I had left so many of my own problems behind me.
There was a shift in the way things were in this country that day, some for the better and some for the worst. But, more than anything, it seemed as if people lost their hope and became distant from each other. Politics became more segregated and divided. It used to be us - the people, and them - the politicians. We all took sides but when it came down to it we were one people and now that is gone. It died with all those victims on September 11, 2001. It died inside me that day.
That is why I had to write Look For Hope. I have no idea where the chords came from and to this day I don't quite understand how it is that they work together. I thought about the way I, and my country had become and it poured out of me like water onto the ground. I was a conduit for this message and it poured out of my guitar and into the air. I immediately got out my cassette recorder and recorded the song. It was about 95% complete. I got some new ideas from my friend David Cousino for some of the chords and another friend, Jeff Hufnagel, helped me edit the melody. I then wrote the end part of the song.
It is by far the most complicated song I have ever written. I am so blessed by this song coming through me. I think I now know what the great masters such as Bach and Beethoven felt all the time - truly blessed by God to be the vessel.
I met Peter Thomas the Cellist around the time that I recorded Look For Hope. He was always practicing after hours at McCutcheon's Music where I teach. He asked to see some of my music and he played Look For Hope for me on his cello. I immediately asked Peter to play the melody in unison with my guitar on the recording. The cello along with the guitar really made this track sound great. That along with the extra percussion that Jim Leslie overdubbed, the wonderful piano of Jeff Hufnagel, John Toedtman's fretless bass, and David Ferrara's great rhythm guitar made Look For Hope magical.
By far this is the song that I am most proud of. I want to record Look For Hope again in the future with the guitar featured more on it, but this is a great recording that I have of it for now. I hope that you enjoy listening to it!
Look For Hope is track #18 on the music player on the sidebar.
Maybe I was in shock but I decided to go ahead with my day. I went back up Broad St. towards downtown Columbus. When I got downtown, they had it all blocked off with National Guard soldiers with guns. I turned back around and then got on I-70 to go to the store where I was teaching at the time. The road was bare with no cars hardly at all. The sky was bare with no planes or helicopters. I got to my work place which was open but none of my students came in that night. I was trying to pretend like nothing was wrong, but I also had a lot of things wrong with my life at that time and that was how I dealt with it.
I got home and saw the news about the other terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the attempt to attack the White House. I cried myself to sleep that night. It changed my life that day and I decided to move back to Dayton, OH where I had left so many of my own problems behind me.
There was a shift in the way things were in this country that day, some for the better and some for the worst. But, more than anything, it seemed as if people lost their hope and became distant from each other. Politics became more segregated and divided. It used to be us - the people, and them - the politicians. We all took sides but when it came down to it we were one people and now that is gone. It died with all those victims on September 11, 2001. It died inside me that day.
That is why I had to write Look For Hope. I have no idea where the chords came from and to this day I don't quite understand how it is that they work together. I thought about the way I, and my country had become and it poured out of me like water onto the ground. I was a conduit for this message and it poured out of my guitar and into the air. I immediately got out my cassette recorder and recorded the song. It was about 95% complete. I got some new ideas from my friend David Cousino for some of the chords and another friend, Jeff Hufnagel, helped me edit the melody. I then wrote the end part of the song.
It is by far the most complicated song I have ever written. I am so blessed by this song coming through me. I think I now know what the great masters such as Bach and Beethoven felt all the time - truly blessed by God to be the vessel.
I met Peter Thomas the Cellist around the time that I recorded Look For Hope. He was always practicing after hours at McCutcheon's Music where I teach. He asked to see some of my music and he played Look For Hope for me on his cello. I immediately asked Peter to play the melody in unison with my guitar on the recording. The cello along with the guitar really made this track sound great. That along with the extra percussion that Jim Leslie overdubbed, the wonderful piano of Jeff Hufnagel, John Toedtman's fretless bass, and David Ferrara's great rhythm guitar made Look For Hope magical.
By far this is the song that I am most proud of. I want to record Look For Hope again in the future with the guitar featured more on it, but this is a great recording that I have of it for now. I hope that you enjoy listening to it!
Look For Hope is track #18 on the music player on the sidebar.
Urban Skies
I wrote "Urban Skies" in early 2006. I live in a part of Dayton, OH that is near a hospital and at night you can hear helicopters and sirens. I was lying in bed one night and the noise was especially loud outside of my home so I looked outside my window at the urban skies and then I wrote this song. Originally I recorded the song as a Bossa Nova with cello and a jazz band but, last summer I recorded it the way I heard it in my head when I wrote it, with crazy electric guitars and a strong back-beat. Both recordings are great and the fact that the song works both ways shows that it's a great tune!
Urban Skies is track #17 on the music player on the sidebar.
Urban Skies is track #17 on the music player on the sidebar.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
