Tag: 2020s

America the Beautiful | United States Navy Band

“Jazz is America’s music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy’s premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big band jazz for the Navy and the nation for 50 years,” (US Navy Band). “Formed in 1969, this 18-member group continues the jazz big band legacy with some of the finest musicians in the world … The list of guest artists who have appeared with the Commodores reads like a who’s who of jazz and popular music: Ray Charles, Branford Marsalis, Clark Terry, Grover Washington Jr., Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, Eddie Daniels, James Moody and many more.”

In an interview with the Navy’s publication Fanfare, alto vocalist Chelsi Vanderpol detailed some of her preparation process: “I get the opportunity to solo pretty regularly and, absolutely, I still get nervous! I think we all do — I don’t think that goes away. I just think you get better at hiding it … Einstein says something about energy not being able to be destroyed, but rather changed from one form to another. I think about that and try to change that nervous energy into power and excitement to share my message with the audience. I think what we do is so important and I think people need to hear it.”

“America the Beautiful” had a rather roundabout origin: Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward over several years during the 1890s, although Bates and Ward never met. The song wasn’t published until 1910. Among its many covers, the tune is perhaps most closely linked with Ray Charles, whose 1972 rendition was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005. The Navy Band’s arrangement, recorded here in 2019, rises a whole step at 2:16.

Cole Fortier | Such Unlikely Lovers (Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach)

Here’s a first: a submission which not only includes an exacting level of theory detail, but is a live performance by the contributor, leading a quartet! Cole Fortier is an undergrad at the SUNY’s Crane School of Music. Thank you for such a detailed description of this genius tune’s structure, Cole!

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From Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello’s masterwork album, Painted from Memory (1998), comes the track “Such Unlikely Lovers.” It’s a truly unique and incredible song for many reasons.

First, it seems to be the one lyric on the album where everything goes right for the main character! While this album is an epic and stunning meditation on heartbreak, the upbeat and colorful narrative of this song brings the variation of levity and charm to the ordeal. Costello said that he heard the music that Bacharach presented to him for this track and immediately envisioned a lyric based around a chance romantic encounter on the street. The sense of spontaneity, optimism, and energy in the lyric is reflected so excitingly in the music. This song grooves so hard — more than almost any other song on the album. The constantly shifting tonality and subtle meter changes (a Bacharach trademark) truly embody the spontaneous spirit that drives the song.

As the song begins, it’s difficult to discern the key; the riff essentially vamps between a Gsus chord and an Fsus chord (Eb/F to be specific). The vocal then enters on a C minor chord, which contextualizes the previous Eb/F chord as being a part of the key signature of C minor. More specifically, this section of the song can be interpreted as C Dorian with the raised sixth scale degree of the A natural. The most intriguing harmonic shift happens very quickly though as an F#min7 chord occurs on the word “gray” (0:24) and subsequently resolves to a Bmin9 chord. This modulation from C minor to B minor is masterfully handled through carrying over the common tone of the A natural from the C Dorian mode to the F#min7 chord. The entire modulatory sequence repeats again at the lyrics “when you look how you feel” (0:30) — but this time, the song continues on in a tonality much more closely associated with B minor than C minor (starting at “Listen now”, 0:40). After the chorus, the opening riff returns at 1:17. Weirdly enough though, the opening riff is played 2.5 steps down and is never played in its original tonality again.

The smooth and nuanced modulation patterns in “Such Unlikely Lovers” through the use of common tones really show the genius of Bacharach’s writing while also supporting the energized and spontaneous lyric that Costello wrote. 

Jessie J | I Want Love

English singer/songwriter Jessie J released “I Want Love” as a single in June 2021. “I had an argument with a bf once after a major red carpet. I went to a bar where I didn’t know anyone and I danced alone until sunrise,” she said describing the inspiration behind the song and subsequent music video.

“I took a shot with strangers and I talked to myself in the mirror in the bathroom,” she continued. “My tough exterior that I so often use as a defense mechanism went away, my heart softened. My fear left the room and I just let go. That’s what this song this video means and represents to me… I wanted this video to feel like I felt like that night.”

Beginning in Ab minor, the tune abruptly shifts up a half step to A for the final chorus at 2:43.

Lee Jieun (이지은) | Winter Sleep

“Lee Jieun (이지은), popularly known as IU, is a highly-acclaimed South Korean singer, songwriter, philanthropist, and actress … She is also known in South Korea as ‘The Nation’s Little Sister.'” (KPopping.com) “For years, she attended singing and acting lessons … She also auditioned for more than 20 companies, failing most of them. However, her hard work eventually lead to her debut on September 18, 2008 when she performed the digital single ‘Lost Child.'”

KoreaTimes reports: “According to IU, 2021’s ‘Winter Sleep’ is a piano-driven song in which she talks about the feeling of loss that hits people when a loved one passes away. ‘I was hit by a wave of loss after having a farewell with people around me … but I realized that flowers still bloom and stars rise in the sky regardless of how I feel… Now, my heart does not break when I sing this song.'”

The straightforward arrangement keeps its focus on the melody, which takes a few unexpected steps from time to time. At 2:12, an early half-step modulation brings a shift which lasts for the balance of the tune — all the way to the non-resolving ending. Many thanks to our frequent contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Kim Petras | Malibu

German singer Kim Petras describes her song Malibu, released in 2020, as a “pick-me-up song” with a “punchy mix of synth-bass squirts and tropical-funk guitar that lives up to its namesake.” The music video for the track features over a dozen artists, including Todrick Hall, Demi Lovato, and Jonathan Van Ness, and was filmed in isolation during the pandemic.

Starting in G, the tune shifts up to A at 1:58.

Yebba | How Many Years

“Dawn (2021) doesn’t sound like the debut of a burgeoning pop sensation hopping onto trends,” (New York Times). “The album has a rich retro palette, draws deeply from jazz and R&B and is set in a dusky register that gives Yebba’s flexible voice room to roam … The album’s title doesn’t just refer to the break of day; it was her mom’s name, too.” Yebba’s mother died by suicide just as the artist was rising towards her current prominence. “’I feel like now I get to be 26, instead of always being so immersed in grief … I no longer feel like my life is some chore that I haven’t completed — that my mom is hanging over my head. There are new ways to honor her.’”

“The retro and the contemporary find a nice equilibrium throughout Dawn, but the draw is still Yebba’s voice and the way she massages every note into a sigh,” (The New Yorker). “She possesses an explosive melisma on par with some of the great power-pop divas of the past, but finesse is her strength. She allows the depth and purity of her tone to reverberate, even in the quieter moments. The album’s opener, ‘How Many Years,’ lets threads of whisper-song fray into a gossamer veil, mirroring her apprehension and her doubtfulness … The greatest triumph of Dawn is that Yebba never loses her sense of self in remembrance. A tragedy of this magnitude threatens to overwhelm a début’s statement of identity, but Yebba won’t allow her story to be defined only by what happened. Instead of romanticizing her grief, she pushes through it, untangling a mess of emotions in search of closure.”

“How Many Years,” co-written by Yebba, seems to embody its lyric Where can I run when the ground moves beneath my feet? After the music begins at the 0:50 point, the verses change harmonic direction every phrase or two, all the more profoundly because the shifts happen during phrases rather than between them. However, the melodic shape of the choruses is constant — stated and re-stated with increasing emphasis, perhaps in an attempt to counteract shifting tonalities. The first chorus (1:31) is in Bb major; the second (2:37), in E major; the third (4:04) is something of a harmonic question mark, augmented and artfully blurred by subtle reharmonization.

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We’re including a live track as well as the heavily produced studio track, simply because they stand in such stark contrast to each other.

Leslie Odom Jr. (feat. Sia) | Cold

A solo version of “Cold” was first included on Odom’s 2019 album “Mr,” the singer/actor’s third studio album and first comprised of original material. The track proved to be the standout song of the album, and a new cover was released in 2020, featuring the Australian, nine-time Grammy nominated singer Sia.

“Sia has been a friend for a few years now after I met her backstage at Hamilton,” Odom said. ” As I look at making that foray into the pop world and pop music, she’s been a really great mentor and friend. I sent her the album and asked if there was anything she would want to collaborate on. She said, ‘I’ll sing on Cold,’ which was her favorite song from the album, so we recorded a new version of it that I think you’re really going to like.” Due to the pandemic, the two artists conducted the recording and producing of the track virtually.

The tune begins in C and modulates up to Db at 2:32.

Reba McEntire | Somehow You Do

“Somehow You Do,” from the 2021 film Four Good Days, was nominated for Best Original song at the 2022 Academy Awards and performed at the ceremony (and in the film) by country star Reba McEntire. It marks the fifth consecutive best song nomination for composer Diane Warren and her 13th overall — she has yet to win.

McEntire’s performance was introduced by Mila Kunis, who stars in the film as a young woman recovering from heroin addiction. “[The song is a] story of hope, perseverance and survival that celebrates the strength of the human spirit,” Kunis, who was born in Ukraine, said. “Recent global events have left many of us feeling gutted. Yet when you witness the strength of those facing such devastation, it’s impossible not to be moved by their resilience. One cannot help but be in awe of those who find strength to keep fighting through unimaginable darkness.”

Starting in C, the song dramatically modulates up a half step to Db at 1:56.

Robert Glasper | Forever

Robert Glasper’s Black Radio III, released in February 2022, features heavy-hitting guest artists on each track, including Common, Esperanza Spalding, Jennifer Hudson, Killer Mike, Q-Tip, Ty Dolla $ign, Yebba, and many more. It’s the third release in the Black Radio franchise; The New Parish describes the concept in its review of Black Radio (2012), which has continued throughout its subsequent chapters:

“’Real music is crash protected,’ state the liner notes of Black Radio … (it) boldly stakes out new musical territory and transcends any notion of genre, drawing from jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and rock, but refusing to be pinned down by any one tag. Like an aircraft’s black box for which the album is titled, Black Radio holds the truth and is indestructible …

Robert Glasper has long kept one foot planted firmly in jazz and the other in hip-hop and R&B,” (working with Q-Tip, Mos Def, Maxwell, and many others). “The Los Angeles Times once wrote that ‘it’s a short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a J Dilla reference into a Thelonious Monk cover, but not many jazz pianists are Robert Glasper,’ adding that ‘he’s equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hop and jazz,’ and praising the organic way in which he ‘builds a bridge between his two musical touchstones.’”

After starting in F major for the first verse and chorus (PJ Morton, lead vocals), “Forever” shifts up to F# major at for vocalist India Arie’s feature at 1:11. By now showing its colors as an earnest love song, the tune continues with an almost trance-like repeating chorus. Arie and Morton create a subtly shifting tapestry of sound, alternating between tightly coordinated parallel leads and soaring ad libs. By 4:30, the tune has faded out entirely, but then fades back in, its focus completely shifted, in a brief reprise — a Glasper trademark. The reprise explores a few strands of the harmony and textures over a subdued but complex drum solo before fading out again.

for Kym and Marcus