“Capable Of” is from a new musical, Chaining Zero, that is currently in development. The show has had multiple readings and workshops, including a recent one in New York. The writers, Jeffrey James and Justin Halpin, have been releasing musical numbers on various social media platforms in a series, Chaining Zero Sessions, featuring notable Broadway performers such as Christopher Jackson, Jackie Burns, Jay Armstrong Johnson, and Stephen Christopher Anthony. Key change from A to B at 2:56.
Tag: 2020s
Los Saviñón | Ciudad Hermosa
With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a composer known for his works Pippin, Working, and Wicked (among many others), “Beautiful City” was featured in Schwartz’s Godspell (1971). From the synopsis of the production on Schwartz’s site: “Based on the New Testament gospels, mostly St. Matthew, Godspell uses the parables and passion story of Jesus for an inventively theatrical and interactive show about the formation of a community.” To call the show a national phenomenon isn’t an overstatement. In an interview with Broadway World, Schwartz recalled: “I think there were … 10 productions running at the same time and they were like sit down in various cities. So, I spent about a year of my life traveling around the country working on productions of Godspell.”
JewSchool.com describes Schwartz’s apparent focus on “biblical- and religious-themed” work: “In addition to Godspell, he’s the songwriter behind Prince of Egypt (the animated musical retelling of the Exodus story) and Children of Eden (a musical rethinking of the first nine chapters of Genesis). He wrote the lyrics to Bernstein’s Mass … ” However, “the song is surprisingly humanistic. The rallying cry is to build ‘not a city of angels, but finally a city of man.’”
Mexican a cappella sextet Los Saviñón‘s web presence is long on music and short on descriptions, but here’s an excerpt from its bio, translated from Spanish: “We are an a cappella vocal group formed at the end of 2013. (We explore) popular music from different times and places, focusing mainly on a repertoire in Spanish. We have performed in important venues in Mexico City and in the interior of the republic.”
The group’s rendition of “Beautiful City,” arranged by David Pineda, includes the familiar key changes of some other renditions — but adds a few more for good measure. This effect is most noticeable towards the end of verse 1, which wraps up at 0:35. Recorded “en casa” (in the performers’ respective homes) at the start of the COVID pandemic (April 2020), the video demonstrates the resourcefulness and cohesion-at-a-distance which were required of so many musical ensembles during the worst of the pandemic.
TinWhistler | Down By The Sally Gardens
“Down By The Sally Gardens” is a traditional Irish folk song based on a poem by W.B Yeats, performed here by the duo TinWhistler. “We’re PJ and JJ, two brothers from the Mediterranean island of Mallorca,” they say in the description of their group on YouTube. “We mostly play traditional Irish music but also other kinds of “Celtic music”: Scottish, Breton, Galician, Asturian… Mostly on Irish tin whistles/low whistles (PJ) and guitar (JJ).” You can learn more and order their album on their Bandcamp page. Key change at 2:12.
Graham Rorie | Babiche
“Orcadian fiddle and mandolin player Graham Rorie is an award-winning folk musician based in Glasgow,” his site reports. “A finalist in the 2021 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year and graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Traditional Music Degree, Graham has been making a name for himself as a performer, composer, session musician and producer.”
The bio continues: “While still in the early stages of his career, Graham has gained a wealth of performance experience appearing at festivals including Glasgow’s Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours (Canada), Festival Interceltique de Lorient (France) and Celtica Valle D’Aosta (Italy).” The piece “Babiche” is part of “a new suite of music composed by Rorie to tell the story of Orcadians who traveled to Northern Canada between 1600 and 1900 to work for The Hudson’s Bay Company. Orcadians, according to the history website Orkneyjar, are “the indigenous inhabitants of the Orkney islands of Scotland. Historically, they are descended from the Picts, Norse, and Scots.”
Starting in E major, a middle section in an inversion-heavy C# major (2:14) returns triumphantly to the main melody and original key at 2:54. Many thanks to our champion contributor JB for submitting this tune!
Scary Pockets | Man in the Mirror
Scary Pockets is a collaborative team consisting of Jack Conte and Ryan Lerman, in collaboration with the self-described “rotating roster of the best session musicians in the LA area.” Conte and Lerman are accomplished musicians in their own right, and as Scary Pockets, they put an irresistible, funky twist on everything from modern pop tunes to older classics. Their own knack for finding the groove merges with the talent and soul of a rotating musical team to produce tunes which, though cover arrangements, take on a life and energy of their own.
Today’s tune is Scary Pockets’ arrangement of Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard’s “Man in the Mirror,” made famous by Michael Jackson in 1988. In addition to Conte and Lerman, this tune features the soulful vocals of Rozzi Crane, the inimitable style and talent of MonoNeon on the bass, and the transcendent drum rhythms of Tamir Barzilay. While the original tune certainly wasn’t lacking in the groove category, Conte and Lerman’s arrangement condenses Jackson’s orchestral style into a compact, pulsing funk which compels the listener to dance from beginning to end. The tune begins in G Major, and — similarly to Jackson’s rendition – modulates up a half step as the tune reaches its most climactic energy (at the 2:41 mark).
If this is your first introduction to the Pockets’ music, I recommend listening to this tune around noon, so that you allow yourself enough time. I arguably did not: I discovered it just after dinner time, and found myself still bopping to the Scary Pockets discography on Youtube at an hour that most decent people reserve for sleeping. Hope you enjoy, and embrace the groove.
Berklee Valencia Summit Sessions | Um Dia Mais
A group of students and faculty at Berklee College of Music’s campus in Valencia Spain collaborated on composing, arranging, recording, and engineering the track “Um Dia Mais” (One More Day).
According to the Youtube video posting, “‘Um Dia Mais’ is a song that combines experiential vignettes from different perspectives on the meaning of ‘a new morning.’ It is a song about hope, opportunity to start over, appreciating your surroundings, and seizing your day. The song was composed, recorded, and mixed during a three-day workshop, Summit Sessions: Ready, Set, Record!, which included a songwriting session led by Berklee faculty Viktorija Pilatovic; a production session led by artist, producer, and composer Magda Giannikou; and a recording session led by Giannikou and engineered by recording and mix engineer/audio technician Pablo Schuller.“
Featuring a 4/4 feel rooted in jazz fusion and infused with Brazilian flourishes, the tune begins in C minor but shifts to E minor for the chorus (1:00) before returning to C minor for the second verse (1:19). 1:56 brings a second chorus in E minor, continuing the pattern. An extended bridge begins at 2:34, initially in E minor but shifting to Bb minor at 2:53. At 3:11, we’ve returned to the E minor chorus, but at 3:30, we dive into an outro: a new 5/8 time signature serves as a compelling backdrop for a brief but wide-ranging keyboard solo; the vocal line, centered largely around one note, hovers and darts like a hummingbird.
Andrew Ripp | Jericho
“Jericho” was released in August 2020 by Andrew Ripp, an American singer-songwriter specializing in contemporary Christian music. “The story of Jericho has always been super inspiring to me, which is why I wanted to turn it into a song,” Ripp said. “The part that really draws me in is when God says to Joshua, ‘See, I have given you the city.’ It wasn’t the marching around the walls of Jericho that made them fall, it was the moment Joshua believed God over his circumstance that the city became his. Marching was just an exercise in faith and obedience.”
The track debuted at #32 on the Billboard Hot Christian chart, and eventually broke into the top ten. Key change at 2:38.
säje | I Can’t Help It
säje is a Grammy-nominated, jazz-inflected “vocal supergroup,” according to its website. “Born out of close friendship and incredibly deep admiration, these world-renowned artists, composers, and arrangers have come together to explore, create, and celebrate the music that moves them. As individuals, each artist has crafted their own notable solo career, and now are delighted to bring their collective voices to this union, traversing a vast array of compelling original material, beloved jazz standards, and contemporary re-imaginings (Alina Engibaryan, YEBBA, Johnny Cash, etc)”. säje received their first Grammy nomination in 2020, for their first composition “Desert Song” in the Best Arrangement Instruments and Vocals category. “The union of säje is rooted in the tradition of joy, curiosity, lush harmony, heart-felt expression, and profound sisterhood.”
The quartet’s cover of “Can’t Help It” was released in 2020. The track was originally intended for Stevie Wonder’s monumental Songs in the Key of Life (1976). It was co-written by Wonder and Susaye Greene, a singer and songwriter who was the final member to join The Supremes after Mary Wilson’s departure. Although Greene was a background singer for Wonder on Songs, the tune didn’t make it onto the album; it was instead featured on Michael Jackson’s 1979 album Off the Wall, Jackson’s first release with Quincy Jones as producer.
Unlike the original, with its textbook smooth funk feel aimed at the pop charts, säje‘s cover is full of unexpected percussion kicks, bass line flourishes, and the unpredictable magnetism of tightly clustered vocal lines. Sean Jones‘ trumpet solo further testifies to the ensemble’s jazz-centered pedigree. Forbes’ recent profile quotes säje member Johnaye Kendrick: “’We’re taught, as you’re coming up [as an artist], It’s a male-dominated field, you have to be one of the boys, and know how to hang, and what to say, and all of that … I didn’t think to immerse myself and surround myself with women … It’s amazing to be surrounded by powerful women with endless ideas and the desire to uplift; it has changed our lives.’”
The tune begins in Ab major, travels through a transition starting at 2:53, then dives downward to Gb major in a glissando-led modulation at 3:15, delivered as easily as a sigh. At 3:39, we’ve reverted to the original key. All is wrapped in the most polished of 2020-style socially distanced video packaging, leaving us waiting for the energy of a synchronous performance from this extraordinary ensemble, new in so many ways.
BTS (방탄소년단) | Dynamite
1960s British blues artists such as Peter Green, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, etc. took a quintessentially American style of music and mirrored it back across the pond with a new twist. In the 21st century, the US boy band pop formula which peaked in the late 90s and early 2000s is alive and well: it’s now served to us from the deep inside the corporate fortresses of South Korean K-Pop.
K-Pop royalty BTS (also known as Bangtan Boys) has won a nearly universal planetary fanbase. Perhaps fueled by the novelty of its English lyrics, the video for the August 2020 single “Dynamite” has amassed a staggering 1.26 billion views on YouTube, certainly a record for any tune we’ve featured to date! Vox reports: “In 2018, they became the first South Korean band in history to debut an album at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, as well as the first to have a single land at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.” They have collaborated with the likes of the Chainsmokers, Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, and Halsey.
K-Pop is big business, and BTS is at the apex of the genre’s multiple groups (both male and female). SBS News reports that in 2019, BTS was worth more than $4.65 billion US dollars to South Korea’s economy each year, or 0.3% percent of the country’s GDP.
The modulation is at 3:04.
Sarah Niemietz | All Your Love
Sarah Niemietz is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter with a varied career in music, film, and musical theatre. Though young and at first glance unassuming, Niemietz possesses an extraordinarily rich and soulful voice, with which she explores a wide range of musical genres. While her upbeat funk tunes generate extraordinary energy, her slower acoustic pieces can be just as evocative as well. She has displayed her powerful voice, clever lyrics, and on-stage charisma through several albums and collaborations with a wide variety of artists. According to her IMDB biography, her work with Youtube powerhouse Postmodern Jukebox included two European tours and several extraordinarily popular videos. She has also collaborated with Scary Pockets, a Youtube channel which specializes in unique arrangements of well-known tunes.
Meanwhile, her most recent album is a live collaboration with songwriter W.G. Snuffy Walden. One of the tunes from that album is “All Your Love,” which begins in E major. However, at the 2:10 mark, Niemietz modulates up a whole step to F# major and brings us back to her steady groove to finish out the tune. Hope you enjoy!
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