instrumental

John Coltrane | All the Things You Are

“All the Things You Are,” a classic jazz standard composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, was originally written for the musical Very Warm for May (1939). It later appeared in the film Broadway Rhythm (1944).

“A romantic, warm-hearted song, (it’s) a combination of harmonious lyrics and lush, intricate music,” (JazzStandards.com). “In Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs, William Zinsser calls it ‘…the most perfectly constructed of all popular standards’ and further says, ‘Kern effortlessly moves his Bach-like tune through five keys in 32 bars-the textbook illustration of how songwriters achieve freshness within the form’s tight limits.'” The song’s success was surprising, because it was unusual for its time. Kern wrote it to satisfy his own creative urge and felt it was far too complex for popular appeal … “

The tune is written in four flats; it begins in F minor; modulates to C major, G major, and E major before returning to F minor; then ends in Ab major. for a much more detailed breakdown, please check out JazzStandards.com‘s page for the tune! The chart (and Charlie Parker’s 1945 rendition of the tune, both below) include “the now-ubiquitous intro and outro melody based on Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# minor, Op. 3, #2,” (DanReitz.com).

The Piano Guys | Carol of the Bells

Thanks to JB for finding this stunning 12-cello arrangement of Carol of the Bells. His words below:

“I love the way the arrangement uses a key change in the “inner” quotation of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (key change at 2:10; quotation starts at 1:44) to then change the key in the “outer” tune of Carol of the Bells.

It’s also uncanny how this specific combination — (a) pizzicato cellos (b) making a whole-tone upwards mod — so strongly evokes a particular cinematic trope: viz., Jason Bourne, or some other Cold-War-era spy, being chased across a plaza in some European city as the net closes in.”

Franz Liszt | Vallée d’Obermann

“Franz Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann (‘Obermann’s Valley’) is a virtual tone poem for solo piano,” (The Listeners’ Club). The Hungarian composer “wrote this music in the 1830s at a time when he lived in Switzerland with the countess Marie d’Agoult, with whom he had eloped. The piece was later revised and published as part of the first of a collection of three suites titled Années de pèlerinage (‘Years of Pilgrimage’).

Vallée d’Obermann begins with a gloomy and desolate descending theme in the pianist’s left hand, accompanied by hollow triplets in the upper register. Chromaticism and wrenching dissonances evoke a sense of aimless wandering, exhaustion, and angst. These opening bars bring to mind Liszt’s description of Obermann as ‘the monochord of the relentless solitude of human pain.’ This initial motif forms the seed out which the entire piece develops, using the process of thematic transformation that we find throughout Liszt’s orchestral tone poems. Through this metamorphosis, Vallée d’Obermann briefly transcends the darkness of E minor and floats into the celestial sunshine of C major. In its final moments, the music surges upward to an exhilarating climax.”

“In a letter Liszt once confessed that, ‘My piano is the repository of all that stirred my nature in the impassioned days of my youth. I confided to it all my desires, my dreams, my sorrows. Its strings vibrated to my emotions, and its keys obeyed my every caprice.’” (Classic FM).

The transition from E minor (and transient departures from that key) to C major falls at the 4:48 point. The lighter mood is further accentuated at that point by a noticeably higher range and softer dynamic — for awhile, at least!

Paul Mauriat | Love is Blue

“Love is Blue,” originally composed by Andre Popp and Pierre Cour, started off its life as Luxembourg’s entry in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest,” (Stereogum). Several versions charted over the years, “but the version of the song that really hit … was the one that French easy listening composer Paul Mauriat released the following year.”

MotD regular contributor JB calls Paul Mauriat’s “Love is Blue” (1968) “… a perfect encapsulation of the zeitgeist of the mid-60s. At the same time that the Rolling Stones were recording truly transgressive stuff like ‘Under My Thumb,’ there were still large and enthusiastic audiences for weekly variety shows like Lawrence Welk and The Grand Ole Opry. Mauriat’s arrangement manages to simultaneously include both a beautiful harpsichord melody and cheesy strings and horns.”

Starting in A minor, the tune’s progresses through two verses before reaching the chorus, which shifts to A major at 0:54 after a dynamic huge buildup previewing the major key at 0:51. The pattern continues from there.

Ross Miller | The Drunken Man from Kalabakan

“Ross hails from Linlithgow, West Lothian in central Scotland,” (artist website). “He is a member of the world famous Red Hot Chili Pipers. A world champion piper, Ross began piping aged 7 and was the Pipe Major of the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland. He is currently a member of the Grade 1 Inveraray and District Pipe Band.

He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Traditional Music – Piping from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2017. Ross was a finalist in the 2019 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition. Ross has performed in many countries such as: New Zealand, Australia, USA, Ghana, Russia, and all over central Europe, as well as appearing on BBC Hogmanay Live and performing solo on the roof of Murrayfield Stadium. In 2021, Ross performed along with a group of pipers on the soundtrack of the OSCAR & BAFTA award winning film Dune.“

“The Drunken Man from Kalabakan” (2025), combining traditional and rock influences, starts in Bb minor. At 1:18, accompanied by a completely new groove, the track shifts to Eb major via a common-tone modulation.

Please click the image below to access the track.

Keven Eknes | Falls

“Keven Eknes is a Norwegian guitarist and composer based in Los Angeles, CA,” (artist website). “He is developing his first full-length instrumental album, Dark Canyon, created in collaboration with keyboardist and producer Alex Argento, following earlier solo releases.

… As a touring and session guitarist, Keven has performed and recorded with Jonathan Cain (Journey), Engelbert Humperdinck, Jesse McCartney, Leslie Odom Jr., among others. He was part of the house band for NBC’s American Song Contest, performing with artists including Michael Bolton, and has worked extensively with the Deadline Hollywood Orchestra on projects featuring artists and composers such as Mark Ronson, Diane Warren, Jaeil Jung, Brian Tyler, and Bear McCreary.”

Eknes’ 2014 track “Falls” is largely built in A minor. From the first bars, its lyrical melody soars above a peaceful 12/8 feel. A chorus arrives at 1:38 — initially in Bb major. But after a shift in the groove and a falling chromatic bass line, the section eventually ends on a sustained D major chord, fading to the 2:11 mark. Next is a soft-spoken dialogue among drums, bass, and guitar. At 3:04, the cycle repeats, with the guitar melody augmented and developed along the way. A blistering bridge in E minor hits at 4:13, shifting over to A major at 4:48. 5:20 brings a gentle restatement of the theme, starting in A minor but concluding in D major.

Ludwig van Beethoven | Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61

“Ideas for the Violin Concerto (1806) can be found in the same notebook that Ludwig van Beethoven was using for the Fifth Symphony,” (Nashville Symphony). “While the latter required several years to be hammered into being, he produced the concerto in a matter of months, in 1806. But Beethoven did keep his soloist, a friend named Franz Joseph Clement who had been a former prodigy, waiting until the very last minute; he completed the score barely in time for the premiere two days before Christmas.

Beethoven had written his piano concertos up to this time for himself as soloist, but here he tailored this piece to the musical personality of Clement, who was acclaimed for the delicacy and tender refinement of his style—aspects that Beethoven highlights throughout the piece. But for all the celebrity of the soloist, the work did not catch on right away. While not as outwardly radical as the Eroica, the Violin Concerto was path-breaking in its own way and may have disappointed concertgoers expecting a mere display piece. There are few documented performances over the next three decades or so, and the Violin Concerto had to wait for such advocates as Joseph Joachim.”

After beginning in D major, the orchestra shifts with a sudden burst of increased volume (1:02) to D minor. Many more shifts occur throughout, but this one takes place before the violin soloist’s part even begins. This frequently-programmed piece is quickly recognizable — even from this introductory section alone.

Stan Getz | Crazy Chords

“Saxophonist Stan Getz came up at the very end of the swing era, a star soloist with Woody Herman’s orchestra in the late 1940s,” (NPR). “From the start, Getz was known for his rapturously beautiful ballad playing, much admired by peers like John Coltrane … It’s hard to overstate what a terrific tenor saxophonist Stan Getz was because there’s nothing dated about his style. He had a light, gorgeous tone that might convey great tenderness. He made swinging sound utterly natural and necessary. And he had an enviable melodic imagination as an improviser. His inspiration Lester Young famously said a good solo tells a story. And Getz could spin a tale.

Stan Getz fell into a lucrative career as the American standard bearer for a new musical fad, Brazil’s bossa nova, even before he scored big with “Girl From Ipanema.” Suddenly, Steaming Stanley really was out of step, replaced by his own more laidback self. He still improvised solos like a poet. But with so many tenors and others jumping on the bossa nova wagon, now everyone was copying him. So much for being old-fashioned.”

Well before Getz’s fame as an interpreter of bossa nova, his track “Crazy Chords” was released in 1951. After a short intro, the tune starts in earnest at 0:07. The 12-bar blues blazes by so fast that the second chorus hits at 0:17 — and the third at 0:28 and so on. Each chorus brings the tonality up by a half step, but Getz’s ideas (and those of his pianist, Al Haig) routinely bridge the borders between each chorus.

B+B Project | Cheremshyna

“B+B Project” is a Ukrainian ensemble named for its instrumentation (button accordion and bandura, an instrument which combines qualities of the zither and the lute). “The bandura is a traditional Ukrainian instrument … the B+B Project is bringing back the popularity of this fine instrument!” (EthnoCloud). “The group was created (in) 2015. They play a diverse repertoire: original songs, cover versions, rock, classical music, dubstep, Ukrainian music, and many others … The collective has toured extensively in Ukraine and around the world.” The B&B Project is now one of the most famous instrumental groups in Ukraine.

The group released “Cheremshyna” in 2022. After beginning in A minor, there’s a shift up a full step to B minor at 1:53. At 2:27, the tune returns to the original key.

Camille Saint-Saens | Africa (op. 89)

French composer “Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was left bereft at the death of his mother in December 1888, and the cold winter winds in Paris persuaded him that perhaps a warmer climate might better suit him,” (Interlude.hk). “Accordingly, he left Paris for Algiers where he stayed until May 1889 – walking, reading, listening, but not composing. Finally, in late 1889, he went first to Cadiz, Spain, and then to Las Palmas to take a winter holiday in the Canary Islands. There, he took a hotel room not in his well-known name but under the same of Charles Sannois, businessman, locked himself in his room, and started to work.

… The resulting work, Africa, Op. 89, was the result of the time he spent in Algeria and Egypt, and, at the final climax, uses the melody Salam al-Bey, then the Tunisian national anthem … In addition to this version for piano and orchestra, Saint-Saëns also created a solo piano version which is extremely difficult as both the originally challenging piano part and the orchestra parts are resolved in the solo pianist’s part.”

Sticking to the orchestral version: after beginning in G minor, the piece shifts to Eb major during an animated cadenza section in or around the 1:58 mark.