Tag: instrumental

The Ventures | Theme from “Hawaii 5-0”

Regular contributor JB writes: “This track really ticks all the boxes: A one-hit wonder surf rock band in psychedelic costumes, playing a track with a ladder of ascending mods. All in all, an important historical/cultural artifact. They really should have included this one in the Voyager space probe — it tells alien intelligences all they need to know about life on earth in the ’70s … ” The Ventures’ website proclaims the band “the best selling instrumental rock band in music history.”

The band’s nominal regular rock instrumentation had plenty of orchestral help, including the opening bars’ signature syncopated tympani hits, brass poking out of just about every corner, and a piccolo flourish on the piccardy third D major ending. Starting in C minor, we climb up by half steps, starting at 0:36.

The theme as heard at both the opening and closing of Hawaii 5-0 is somehow even more bombastic. IMDB summarizes the show’s premise: “The investigations of Hawaii Five-0, an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police answerable only to the governor and headed by stalwart Steve McGarrett.” Scoring four Emmy wins out of 23 nominations, the show ran 12 seasons (1968 – 1980). The theme also won TV Land Awards for “TV Theme Song You Want for Your Ringtone” in both 2007 and 2008, and was nominated in 2003 for “Drama Theme Song You Can’t Get Out of Your Head.”

Theme from “Buckaroo Banzai”

From Genregrinder‘s review of The Advuentures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984): “Neurosurgeon. Physicist. Rock Star. Hero. Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) is a true ‘80s renaissance man. With the help of his uniquely qualified team, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo is ready to save the world on a moment’s notice. But after his successful test of the Oscillation Overthruster – a device that allows him to travel through solid matter – he unleashes the threat of “evil, pure and simple from the 8th Dimension”… the alien Red Lectroids. Led by the deranged dictator, Lord John Whorfin (John Lithgow), the Lectroids steal the Overthruster with the intent of using it to return to their home of Planet 10 ‘real soon!’ But, no matter where you go, there Buckaroo Banzai is… ready to battle an interdimensional menace that could spell doom for the human race.”

Was the movie a comedy, a sci-fi geekfest, or a fast-paced race-against-time thriller with sky high stakes? Yes. Was it so visually jam-packed with cutting-edge tech trinkets while simultaneously so light in plot continuity that it confused audiences? Also yes. But for audiences happy to see a movie with the look and feel of a cartoon book come to life — particularly one that featured an all-new universe where the effortlessly charismatic hero was somehow a top neurosurgeon by day and also a guitar-slinging rockstar by night — the movie was a cult hit. In addition to Weller and Lithgow, the cast’s other A-list actors include Ellen Barkin and Jeff Goldblum. Descriptions of the film pretty much can’t cut it, so watch the trailer, below!

The theme, which played under the movie’s closing credits, features the high-pitched three-note call of Buckaroo’s abovementioned overthruster (first heard at 0:26 as the theme starts), which was so centrally important to the plot that it should have been listed in the credits itself. After a start in A major, 1:04 brings a shift to Eb major for the B section. The modulation is ushered in by sudden shift to a I minor chord and then a V chord in A major just before the key change. So somehow, the improbable modulation feels more like a gentle exhale down a half-step to the new Eb tonic than a jarring shift. The overthruster’s call chimes in often as the two sections alternate again throughout. At 3:24, the regal fanfare which brings the theme to an end still features the now-iconic three-note chirp.

for Roger

Franz von Chossy Quintet | Perpetual Lights

“Franz von Chossy was a Munich native who began playing the piano when he was 6,” (JazzInfo). “His mother introduced him to classical music and encouraged him to learn folk music. Franz went to Amsterdam to study at The Conservatoire of Amsterdam. He then moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Kenny Barron and Garry Dial, Dave Liebman and John Taylor. He also studied film composition with Edward Green in New York.

Franz has released numerous critically acclaimed CDs under his own name, as well as his quintet and his trio. Franz has played in Europe, America, Canada, Asia, India, Jordan, and Syria as well as Africa (Tunisia and Morocco) and Asia. Franz is a valuable member of jazz groups such as the Pascal Schumacher Quartet or Arifa. His ability to improvise … allows him seamlessly switch between styles …”

“The new suite from the Franz von Chossy Quintet, When the World Comes Home, is a musical interpretation of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise,” (JazzSick Records). “Von Chossy’s evocative piano playing moves between jazz and classical music and infused with fresh, contemporary accents by his band. Inspired by his collaboration with the Metropole Orchestra, he composed a cinema-like suite with Adam, Eve, and the fall of man as its points of departure … When the World Comes Home features an extraordinary line-up of piano, drums, cello, violin and clarinet.”

“Perpetual Lights,” the album’s opening track, is an ambitious piece of more than eight minutes in length. One of the few through-lines from start to finish is a restless subdivision of each beat into 16th notes — softly stated by the percussion or carried only by the piano. At other times, the 16ths grow into an overlay for something close to a straight-ahead rock groove, all the more noticeable because the melody often features sustained notes and phrases. The unusual instrumentation jumps out here and there: we hear a cello where we’d expect a bass; the violin and clarinet speak as one at first, then jump into dialogue. The piece starts in Eb, shifts to Bb minor at 1:09, then changes to C minor at 1:28. More changes in tonality follow.

Nelson Rangell | Map of the Stars

“Flute Talk Magazine states ‘Nelson Rangell creates the impression that anything is possible when he improvises,'” (AllAboutJazz). “Such praise is a confirmation of what contemporary jazz fans have known since the Denver-based saxophonist emerged in the late 80s: that Rangell is one of the most exciting and diverse performers in the genre, equally adept at soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone, as well as being a genuine virtuoso on flute and piccolo.

… Rangell first played flute at the age of 15. Within months he was studying both classical and jazz music at The Interlochen Arts Academy … (then) the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.” After college, he worked in New York City with artists including Hiram Bullock, Jorge Dalto, Eric Gale, Richard Tee, Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn, and Michael Brecker. “He also found occasional employment with the legendary Gil Evans Monday Night Orchestra and worked on many commercial jingle recording sessions.” Rangell has gone on to release 15 albums. While apparently no fan of smooth jazz, Stewart Mason of Tivo calls Rangell “a gifted soloist capable of twisting away from simple, melodic lines without losing the cozy accessibility that’s the calling card of this style of jazz.”

“Map of the Stars” (1992) gives Rangell a chance to showcase the piccolo at its most fluid and agile. The charming opening melody, in F major, shifts to a second section in F minor (0:48), back to major at 1:04, then minor again at 1:20, this time announced by a playful trill. By the time the groove-driven chorus arrives (1:44), we’ve slipped back into F major. At 2:13, the next verse begins with a guitar solo as the pattern continues — until 4:04, where a masterful extended solo by Rangell finishes out the tune.

for Marje

Jacques Ibert | Française (Lorenzo Micheli, guitar)

French composer Jacques Ibert’s “skill (at) improvisation became useful when he was employed as a pianist at silent movie theatres, where he composed scores  to fit the action on the screen,” (JacquesIbert.fr). “He later was to write over sixty film scores for sound movies. World War I interrupted Ibert’s studies at the Conservatoire. He joined an army medical unit, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the French government.”

After his military service, Ibert continued to lead a life of high achievement, not only as composer but as a French citizen. “Shortly after returning to the Conservatoire, Ibert stood for the competition for the Premier Grand Prix (Prix de Rome). He won the prize,which meant living up to three years in Rome at the Villa Medici, in October 1919. In 1937, Ibert was named Director of L’Académie de France à Rome, the first musician to hold this post. In 1955, Ibert was appointed General Administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux (the combined management of Paris Opera and Opera Comique). In 1956, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux Arts of the Institut de France.”

Ibert wrote “Française” for guitar in 1926. “Ibert … wrote a number of operas, ballets, and film scores, as well as orchestral, vocal, and chamber music and some thirty instrumental pieces,” (ThisIsClassicalGuitar). The “Française” … “is a virtuosic composition with a startlingly original guitaristic style. This lively dance with roots in folk-music in 2/8 time begins with rapid triplets interspersed with linking scalic passages. A middle section offers ingenious harmonic modulations, intricate cross rhythms and short bursts of melody, leading to a reprise of the first section and a vigorous coda.” After a start in C major, the piece modulates to E major at 0:45. More shifts in tonality follow.

“I’m a Barbie Girl” again, but in the Style of Six Classical Composers | Josep Castanyer Alonso

“If you were alive and anywhere near a radio or MTV in the late ’90s, you heard ‘Barbie Girl,'” (Slate). “Its mercilessly chirpy Europop lyrics (‘I’m a Barbie girl in the Barbie world / Life in plastic, it’s fantastic’) were set against a relentless post–Spice Girls beat. Norwegian lead singer Lene Nystrøm playacted as Barbie and Danish singer-rapper René Dif played Ken. Dif’s gruff ‘Come on, Barbie, let’s go party’ is one of the song’s most unkillable earworms.

… whatever rock snobs think of ‘Barbie Girl,’ the song is now so durable that, earlier this week, no less a rock star than (Coldplay’s) Chris Martin was asked by two fans to sing it live onstage. Though it’s been 26 years since Aqua’s infamous anthem was first unleashed, Martin still remembered the melody.”

Against this backdrop of pop ubiquity and this summer’s cinematic extension of the Barbie franchise, cellist Josep Castanyer Alonso has produced his take on how six different classical composers might have approached the “Barbie” theme. Belying his top-drawer resumé, Alonso’s YouTube bio simply reads, “I am a cellist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. I also play the piano a bit …” There are key changes between the various variations, but also a few modulations within a given variation (each carefully labeled); 1:16 is just one example.

Staying within just one era/style, here’s a shorter fugue by Alonso as well:

Aaron Copland | Fanfare for the Common Man

“Copland’s fanfare is in the strong open-fourth and -fifth harmonies that cause it to sound open,” (LeoQuirk.com). “Also allowing it to sound open are the unisons in each instrument group, and the slower rhythms; for a fanfare, it is uncommonly slow, and is marked ‘Very deliberately.’ Copland alters rhythms and harmonies to great effect in this piece.  He could have easily repeated the same theme in the same way each time, but the piece is much more compelling thanks to his changes. This piece is also effective because it doesn’t have frills or flourishes. It is powerful in its simplicity, and ‘simplicity’ does not equal ‘boring.'”

Debuting in 1943, “The Fanfare has ecome a kind of national anthem for so-called ‘common’ men and women — like public radio listener Lynne Gilbert, who spoke with NPR from Bristol, Maine. ‘In spite of the current political landscape,” she says, ‘I guess I still believe that there is an American dream of peace and prosperity for everyone. Music that soars and inspires like this piece does bring hope for the future. It’s powerful, it’s direct and it’s really just American.'”

The piece is written in Bb major overall, but its majestic, stable bearing shifts at 2:47. From that point on (amounting to the final 20% or so of the piece), we continue to hear familiar intervals and phrasing. But the tonality has gone off in an entirely new direction, at times featuring E-natural and C# notes.

Steps Ahead | Self Portrait

“Steps Ahead is an American jazz fusion group (which) arose out of spontaneous sessions at Seventh Avenue South, a jazz club in New York City owned by saxophonist Michael Brecker and trumpeter brother Randy Brecker,” (AllAboutJazz). Fully deserving of the term “supergroup,” the band’s “shifting roster has included vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, saxophonists Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, Bendik Hofseth, Bill Evans, Ernie Watts, and Donny McCaslin; pianists Don Grolnick, Eliane Elias, Warren Bernhardt and Rachel Z; guitarists Mike Stern, Chuck Loeb, and Steve Khan; bassists Eddie Gomez, Darryl Jones, Tony Levin, Victor Bailey, Richard Bona, and Marc Johnson; and drummers Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, Steve Smith, and Dennis Chambers. Steps Ahead was active during the 1970s and 1980s, intermittently during the 1990s, and reunited for concerts in the mid-2000s.”

“Released in 1984, Modern Times … was a radical departure from their self-titled debut,” (JazzMusicArchives). “Unlike the first album’s mostly acoustic textures, Modern Times is a high-tech, futuristic, jazz-of-tomorrow fusion masterpiece … Strong compositions, impassioned performances, and early DDD production are married to otherworldly yet urban atmospheres to create one of the best albums any of these distinguished players has ever appeared on. “Self Portrait” (is a) classic Mainieri composition: long-lined unforgettable melodies, loud/soft contrasts, quirky bridges, outstanding solos over synth splashes, and sudden endings.”

Starting in D major, this 1986 live version of “Self Portrait” shifts into D minor between 1:14 – 1:39 before returning to the original key; the two keys continue to alternate throughout the tune. This particular gathering of the band, perhaps its quintessential lineup, featured Michael Brecker on tenor sax; Mike Mainieri, vibes; Darryl Jones, bass; Mike Stern, guitar; and Steve Smith, drums.

for Mark

Bill Chase | Bochawa (feat. United States Marine Band)

“The U.S. Marine Band’s mission is to perform for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps,” (Marine Band website). “Founded in 1798 by an Act of Congress, the Marine Band is America’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization. President John Adams invited the Marine Band to make its White House debut on New Year’s Day, 1801, in the then-unfinished Executive Mansion. In March of that year, the band performed for Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration and it is believed that it has performed for every presidential inaugural since. In Jefferson, the band found its most visionary advocate. An accomplished musician himself, Jefferson recognized the unique relationship between the band and the Chief Executive and he is credited with giving the Marine Band its title, ‘The President’s Own.’”

“‘Bochawa’ was written by Bill Chase (1935–74); this version was arranged by Jackie Coleman,” (from the video description). “Chase was a trumpet player who graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied with Herb Pomeroy and Armando Ghitalla. After graduation, Chase soon found himself working with Maynard Ferguson, where he remained for about a year before moving on to the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Chase finally settled into the lead trumpet chair in Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd. After leaving Herman’s band in August 1967, he moved to Las Vegas where he worked as a freelance musician and arranger. Around this time, The Beatles burst onto the scene, and his interest turned towards rock. As the 1970s began, Chase wanted to create his dream band comprised of four trumpets, four rhythm instruments, and one vocalist. Chase gained national attention after his group earned a Grammy nomination in 1971 for Best New Artist. ‘Bochawa’ comes from Chase’s third and final album, Pure Music.“

Splitting up into various smaller ensembles to perform for various events is a constant process for the Marine Band, including the jazz quintet heard here. Featuring the trumpet in the original spirit of Chase’s composition, the funk/rock track modulates up a whole step at 4:47.