Category: Elise

Twennynine (feat. Lenny White) | Morning Sunrise

“Lenny White was 20 years old when he appeared on Miles Davis’ breakthrough fusion album, Bitches Brew,” (Progrography). “Yet it was in a different setting with Chick Corea, Return to Forever, where White would make his greatest impact as the drummer in RTF’s classic quartet lineup alongside Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola. In the 70s, White released a steady flow of solo albums and brought his distinctively crisp drumming (and wide-brimmed hat) to various sessions. Venusian Summer (1975) and The Adventures of Astral Pirates (1978) are highly recommended to fans of prog/fusion.

In the 80s, Lenny White formed the funk band Twennynine, which released three albums: Best of Friends (1979), Twennynine with Lenny White (1980) and Just Like Dreamin’ (1981). He also recorded a few jazz albums with his Miles Davis alums, including Echoes of An Era (1982) with vocalist Chaka Khan. In the 90s, White recorded hip-hop/funk records on the Hip Bop Essence label. He continues to release occasional albums, including Anomaly (2010).”

White’s Twennynine project is now remembered by only the most ardent fans, but it’s remembered fondly! The intro and verse of the R&B ballad “Morning Sunrise,” from the 1979 album Best of Friends, are built in A minor. The chorus shifts to D major at 0:55. At 1:22, the cycle repeats. Many thanks to our Brazilian contributor Julianna A. for this submission!

The Bee Gees | I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You

“(2023 marked) a half-century since the Bee Gees infiltrated the American charts with a run of singles,” (American Songwriter). “While the band rose to rarefied heights in the disco era (and plummeted just as precipitously once the genre fell out of fashion), those ’60s singles still exemplify their rare combination of pop songwriting smarts and gilded harmonies better than any of the other music they released in their storied career. And ‘I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You’ just might be the high-water mark of that period.

As Barry Gibb remembered in the liner notes to the 2006 reissue of Idea, the 1968 album that contained the song, that vocal approach was the last-minute brainchild of producer Robert Stigwood. ‘Now that was a memorable night. The song we wrote together, all three of us. I think that night, I know for a fact, we didn’t sing the choruses in harmony. Robert called us back to the studio at 11 o’clock at night and said, I want the choruses in harmony, I don’t want them in just melody. I want three-part harmony choruses. So we went in and attempted that ’round about midnight. Everyone drove back to the studio, and that’s what we did.'”

The verse of the somewhat de-tuned track begins in B major, but the chorus brings a shift to C# major at 0:33. The pattern repeats at 0:57 and 1:42 for the second and third verses and choruses, respectively. At 2:27, the chorus climbs another rung up to D# major. As was common practice at the time, the Australian trio were lip-synching to the 1968 studio track, so as was the case with most “live” (canned!) performances of the era, the visuals of the ending are a bit ragged.

Bruce Hornsby | What the Hell Happened

“Relevancy is an ambition that countless artists strive for, yet so few actually achieve,” (Glide Magazine). “Iconic pianist Bruce Hornsby can proudly count himself among those fortunate few. With a storied musical career that has spanned (50) years, the Williamsburg, VA native continues to be a prominent influence on many modern artists – from Spike Lee to Bon Iver – that seemingly encompasses nearly all aspects and genres of the music industry.

Starting in 1974 … he formed the Grateful Dead cover band Bobby Hi-Test and the Octane Kids with his older brother Bobby Hornsby … By 1980, Bruce and his younger brother John Hornsby moved to Los Angeles, where they spent the next three years writing songs together for 20th Century Fox. In 1986, Bruce, along with his newly-formed backing band The Range, released the multi-platinum album The Way It Is for RCA Records. It was that album’s eponymous chart-topping title track that propelled the group towards receiving their first Grammy Award, for Best New Artist, in 1987.”

Since then, Hornsby has continued to perform extensively — with his band The Noisemakers, touring solo, and supporing the Grateful Dead on keys and vocals. His writing style hasn’t really pivoted away from the pop-friendly sound of his days with The Range; it might be more accurate to say that his musical palette has expanded exponentially. A wonderful example of Hornsby’s relentless eclecticism is “What the Hell Happened” from 2004’s Halcyon Days. “Self-deprecating humor has always been a hallmark of Bruce’s lyrics, and the polytonal ‘What The Hell Happened’ might be his greatest example … (a) Randy Newman-esque piece.”

The tune’s intro and verse are built around Eb minor, but not without plenty of ear-bending alterations. At 0:39, the chorus shifts to Gb lydian. 0:56 brings a seams-hidden change to F major for an extended instrumental break, driven by Hornsby’s rock-solid stride technique and fluid right hand runs. At 2:41, we return to Gb lydian until near the end, when Eb minor makes another appearance. The tune’s overall feel might bring to mind one of Randy Newman’s sepia-toned tales, but the harmonic vocabulary is miles beyond — to borrow the title from another track on the album, very “Circus on the Moon.”

Eric Clapton | Let It Rain

“Eric Clapton was such a reluctant recipient of the solo spotlight in the early 1970s that he hid behind a different band name at least some of the time,” (UDiscoverMusic). “But after Derek and the Dominos’ ‘Layla’ had belatedly become a Top 10 US hit on Atco in August 1972, Polydor hoped to keep the momentum going by returning to Eric’s self-titled debut solo album of two years before.

The result was the release of his soft-rock co-write with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, ‘Let It Rain,’ as a US single. It was a new entry on the Billboard Hot 100 for September 23, 1972. The track entered at #80 … The song stuttered up to halfway on the Hot 100, most weeks without the “bullet” that signified major sales or airplay increases, and stopped at #48 in the chart for the first week of December. Clapton wouldn’t make the Top 10 as a solo artist again until 1974, but when he did, he went all the way to No.1, with ‘I Shot the Sheriff.’”

After an intro in A mixolydian, 0:15 brings a verse in D mixolydian. 1:17 features a return of the intro material, this time as an interlude. The sections continue to alternate from there.

Gary Wright | Love is Alive

“Gary Wright released the second single from his 1976 album The Dream Weaver, a song which hasn’t gotten nearly as much love from radio as the album’s title track,” (Rhino.com). “Maybe that’s because of all the exposure that ‘Dream Weaver’ got from its usage in Wayne’s World, (but) both songs hit the same spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

What those who weren’t around at the time often forget, however, is that ‘Love is Alive’ – which was both written and produced by Wright – was actually the first single released from The Dream Weaver … and it was a big ol’ flop. It just absolutely stiffed. But after ‘Dream Weaver’ came out and took the charts by storm, Warner Brothers reissued ‘Love Is Alive,’ and – like ‘Dream Weaver’ – it made it all the way to #2! … It also managed to make a very brief appearance on the R&B Singles chart, hitting #98 before falling back off. Not what you’d call a dramatic showing, but it’s still something that “Dream Weaver” never managed!”

The verse is built in F minor, with a prominent mischievous trill between the flat third and major third degrees of the tonic chord while the bass line sticks clearly to F minor. The chorus (first heard between 0:49 and 1:08) shifts to F major.

Spyro Gyra | Morning Dance

“Morning Dance was the breakout recording for Spyro Gyra; (the band) and co-founder/composer Jay Beckenstein will forever be associated with the title track from this album,” (Audioholics). “This wildly successful follow-up to their debut album (simply titled Spyro Gyra) was eventually certified RIAA Platinum.

… The 1970s were a vibrant time for instrumental jazz, with artists like Chuck Mangione, Maynard Ferguson, and Herb Alpert (in addition to Spyro Gyra) all charting Top 40 singles. Beckenstein has candidly admitted in interviews that he never expected anything beyond Spyro Gyra’s self-titled debut album, which was recorded and distributed ‘on their own nickel.’ The unexpected success of that album resulted in a major label record contract complete with ‘more money than they could imagine’ to produce and release Morning Dance — and the rest is jazz history. While Spyro Gyra debuted in the shadow of super-groups like Weather Report and Return To Forever, they were just as successful commercially, ultimately outlasting them all!”

The Caribbean feel of “Morning Dance” is established immediately, with steel drums leading the intro and multiple layers of percussion throughout. Alto sax and vibes alternate on lead after that point. 3:13 brings a half-step shift up into a new key for an alto sax solo on the gradually fading outro.

for Andy

Oli Howe | Livin’ On a Prayer

“After releasing his debut album Moving Forward in 2020, Brighton UK based pianist/producer Oli Howe has been establishing himself a leading force amongst the dynamic UK jazz scene … In 2022/23, Oli released a six-track EP Hackney Daze … which amassed over 2.8 million streams on Spotify alone in just six months (artist website).

… Oli has shared stages with the likes of Yoland Brown, Omar Lyefook, Tortured Soul, Freak Power, The House & Garage Orchestra, Billy Cobham and Taylor McFerrin while drawing sold out houses with headline shows at top UK venues such as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Brighton Jazz Festival and most recently Love Supreme Jazz Festival.”

Via his very popular Instagram channel, Howe has made a habit out of cranking out modernized, harmonically up-cycled cover versions of pop favorites. Just like Bon Jovi’s 1986 original, “Livin’ on a Prayer” starts in E minor (later flipping over to its relative G major). But after the bridge, there’s a shift up to Bb major, enhanced by a hiccup in the otherwise stable meter.

NOTE: Howe’s Instagram channel won’t allow direct embeds, so please click through below!

Level 42 | Take a Look

“Following the success of 1987’s Running In the Family, Level 42’s stock as the premier UK based pop/funk crossover act was assured, but the original fusion of the two genres had been watered down with each individual collection until by 1988 the band were a highly polished pop group with only the merest hint of their funk past,” (The Hackskeptic).

Staring At the Sun is by far Level 42’s most uneven performance. There is a definite lack of bite in the songs, none of Mark King’s superior bass prowess, with listless arrangements and a tired, formulaic production effort … (but) the uptempo funk/rock ‘Heaven In My Hands,’ which became a successful single, harks back to the “Hot Water” era Level 42 … the sweetly heartfelt ballad “Take A Look” can’t disguise the rest of the album’s inherent problems.”

“Take a Look” starts in F# major, yielding to G# major during a chorus mid-phrase at 2:18.

Abba | Hasta Mañana

“‘Hasta Mañana,’ an ABBA ballad released on their 1974 Waterloo album, never quite managed to reach the top of international charts, but is nonetheless included in most band compilations, including Greatest Hits and The Best Of ABBA,” (MusicTales). “The song was originally intended for the Eurovision Song Contest and was subsequently replaced by Waterloo featuring the lead vocals of both ABBA’s female singers Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad which followed the band’s promotion concept more closely.

‘Hasta Mañana’ is credited to the ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as well as their manager Stig Anderson, who scribbled the final version of the lyrics. It is reported that a draft recording was handed over to Stig to compose the lyrics before he left on vacation in the Canary Islands, where he snatched that catchy phrase ‘hasta mañana’ (meaning ‘see you tomorrow’ in Spanish) while listening to a radio broadcast.”

The tune is a slice of the quartet’s slightly simpler sound from the period just before the full effect of their worldwide fame took hold. Starting in F major, the tune shifts via a late half-step key change to F# major (2:33). Many thanks to our frequent contributor Ziyad from the UAE for this submission — his 21st!

MGMT | The Youth

“At some point in the last decade or so, public opinion, among those who still give thought to MGMT, began quietly shifting to accommodate the notion that they are a much stranger band than their career might initially have suggested,” (Pitchfork).

“More than just one-album wonders who never recaptured the magic of their indelible early hits, or even misunderstood tinkerers who found the spotlight in a fluke accident and quickly retreated—though both descriptions are true enough—they are artists whose work addresses the very sort of glitzy mass appeal that those early hits still command. Even ‘Time to Pretend,’ one of the singles that earned them slots opening for Paul McCartney and soundtracking the season finale of Gossip Girl, was itself a grimly funny satire of rock stardom.”

The band, whose core members met while attending Wesleyan University in Connecticut, released its debut album Oracular Spectacular in 2007. “The Youth,” a track from the album, spends most of its 3:45 length in F major. But at 2:35, there’s an unprepared trapdoor shift downward into E major — certainly as compelling as any half-step key change, but in this case, perhaps moreso before of its direction.