Tag: jazz

Jamie Cullum | Anyway

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Jamie Cullum, makes his MotD debut today with “Anyway,” included on his 2013 album Momentum. Shortly after the album’s release, Cullum elaborated on the inspiration behind it and how he chose its name in an interview with the German magazine Nothing But Hope and Passion:

“Well, it seems like a good title for the album for a lot of reasons. One is that this album was entirely made with a sense of momentum. My life’s changed in a lot of ways since the last few records, you know, I’m a father now, I have multiple responsibilities, far beyond just looking after myself, and so this album was made in pockets of time, rather than the luxury of all the time in the world. So I just kind of hurled myself into it, and the whole thing happened without a great deal of thought, which sounds careless, but I’ve come to realize that thought is the enemy of creativity in a lot of ways.

The other thing, the album is really about that crossover period where you’re really still a young man, but also you’ve got one foot in this incredibly grown-up, adult world where you’re the leader of your pack, and the album really is about that kind of balance of your childish fantasies with these grand and quite epic responsibilities. I think it’s momentum that carries you through that, really, so that’s how I came up with the title.

The tune is primarily in Eb minor, briefly modulating to G major at 2:59 before returning to Eb minor at 3:16.

Milton Nascimento | O Que Será? (À Flor da Pele)

An eons-overdue MotD debut today for Milton Nascimento, about whom AllMusic.com writes: “(A) Brazilian singer/songwriter whose soaring voice and plaintive songs have inspired and influenced musicians of all kinds. Nascimento may have his roots in Brazil, but his songs have touched audiences all over the world…he caught a break when the pop singer Elis Regina recorded one of his songs, ‘Canção do Sal,’ in 1966. Regina got him a showcase on a popular Brazilian TV program; after performing at Brazil’s International Song Festival the following year, his career was launched … His 1999 album Crooner won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Pop Album at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2000.

Whatever he writes and sings about, be it the planet, ways of living, and loving and dying, his music has always carried an eternally optimistic spirit. Elis Regina has said of Nascimento: ‘If God sang, he would do it with Milton’s voice.’”

In 1976’s “O que Sera (a Flor de Pele),” a vocal duet with fellow Brazilian musician Chico Buarque, we float above the complex, fast-moving harmonies so often found in Brazilian music. We encounter modulations at 1:52, 2:49 (for the duration of an instrumental interlude), and 3:18.

Ella Fitzgerald | What’s New

JazzStandards.com reports that “What’s New,” a classic standard, was written by Bob Haggart with lyrics by Johnny Burke. “In an era when cute and romantic had given way to urbane, Burke devised a clever gimmick to tell a love story: casual conversational lyrics telling only one side of the conversation. The result was ‘What’s New?’ … introduced by Bob Crosby and His Orchestra with vocalist Teddy Grace in 1939, (it reached) number ten on the pop charts.

“Recognized worldwide as “The First Lady of Song,” AllMusic reports, “Ella Fitzgerald is arguably the finest female jazz vocalist of all time. Blessed with a highly resonant voice, wide range, and near-perfect elocution, Fitzgerald also possessed a deft sense of swing, and with her brilliant scat technique, could hold her own against any of her instrumental contemporaries. Over her 50-year career, she earned 13 Grammy Awards, sold over 40 million albums, and picked up numerous accolades including a National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A hugely important cultural figure, Fitzgerald made an immeasurable impact on the development of jazz and popular music, and remains a touchstone for fans and artists decades after her passing.”

The bridge, normally a ‘B section,’ is simply the same tune and chord progression with some slight melodic alteration in the last two measures (an A1/A1/A2/A1 form). The A2 section modulates up a perfect fourth. Ella’s version here starts in F major and jumps up to Bb major (0:54 – 1:21).

Fred Hersch | And So It Goes

“And So It Goes” first appeared on Billy Joel’s 1989 studio album Storm Front. The tune has since been covered by countless artists, ranging from former Yankees centerfielder Bernie Williams to American bagpiper Jori Chisholm on his debut album Bagpipe Revolution. Here, jazz pianist Fred Hersch performs his rendition, which was featured on his solo 2017 album Open Book. Beginning in C major, Hersch hints at Eb Major around the 4:00 mark, and then settles in Ab at 4:51 and stays there through the end.

Bill Evans | Diane Schuur | Some Other Time

The most prominent image of Leonard Bernstein tends to be his dynamic presence as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. But his career also included his extensive composition for Broadway, including West Side Story, Candide, Wonderful Town, and many others. His tune “Some Other Time,” from the 1944 musical On the Town (lyrics by Betty Comden and Adoph Green), subsequently became one of the select few which made the leap from show tune to jazz standard.

One of the most noted instrumental versions of the standard is by pianist Bill Evans. His version includes an intro that approaches the musical equivalent of liturgy, serving as an intro across a broad variety of ballads by other artists. Pitchfork explains that “Evans’ art has endured in part because he has a brilliant combination of formal sophistication and accessibility; critics and his fellow musicians heard the genius in his approach to chords, his lightness of touch…while listeners could put on his records and simply bask in their beauty, how Evans’ continual foregrounding of emotion made the sad songs extra wrenching and the happy ones extra buoyant.”

On the Evans version, the intro and start of the melody are in C major. 1:30 brings the middle 8, which are in Ab major. There’s a return to C major at 2:04, completing the AABA cycle at 2:38 as the solo section begins.

Since the lyric is a very powerful one, we’re also including a vocal version by vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur. Her website details that she learned “‘What a Difference a Day Makes’ while she was still a toddler (and) developed her own rich, resonant vocal style at a very young age…(winning) two Grammy awards and three additional Grammy nominations” via her solo work and collaborations with the Count Basie Orchestra, B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Jose Feliciano.

Eric Reed | Flamenco Sketches

Though post-bop jazz and gospel flavors of his sound have developed over his many solo releases, pianist Eric Reed, a native of Philadelphia, got his first break working with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ band during the 1980s. Since then, he’s worked with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Cyrus Chesnut, and many other greats.

Starting in C major, “Flamenco Sketches” (2002) cycles through several keys before returning back to C major at 2:05, repeating the cycle again at 3:54 and 5:30. From AllMusic.com’s review: “Reed takes full advantage of the modal basis, building lush chord structures, trills, and tremolo effects on top of each other for a heavy six and a half minutes.”

Ronnie Laws | Always There

Saxophonist Ronnie Laws, the younger brother of flutist Hubert Laws, started his career in the band of trumpeter Hugh Masekela. In 1972, Laws joined R+B/funk legends Earth, Wind + Fire and played on their album Last Days and Time before moving on to his solo career.

During 1975, Laws teamed up with jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, known as one of the only jazz musicians from the Bebop era who also explored funk and soul while remaining primarily in the jazz genre. According to AllAboutJazz.com, with Byrd’s assistance, Laws “soon signed his first recording contract with Blue Note records, resulting in the impressive debut album Pressure Sensitive (1975)…The release rapidly emerged to become the longest-selling album,” to date, in the 42-year history of the storied record label, reaching #25 on the Billboard Soul chart and gaining extraordinarily broad rotation across R&B, Soul, Jazz, and Rock radio stations.

The track is built around slightly off-kilter tuning, but it’s closest to F# minor. What’s definitely clear is the bridge’s departure from the regular key, as well as from the otherwise all-pervasive groove, from 3:01 – 3:28.

Lyle Mays | Long Life

We’re very saddened to hear of the death, at age 66, of keyboardist, composer, and arranger Lyle Mays yesterday. From the archive at University of North Texas, whose conservatory Mays attended: Starting in the 1970s, as part of the Pat Metheny Group, Mays “provided arrangements, orchestration, and the harmonic and metric backbone of the group’s musical signature.” Jazz Times reports: “While the band bore the guitarist’s name, Mays was a crucial factor in their success. He and Metheny co-wrote most of the music, including the 1985 score for the film The Falcon and the Snowman. Mays … was responsible for the synthesizer sound that gave their music its distinctive contemporary fusion aesthetic.”

The Metheny Group’s site features a tribute from Metheny: “Lyle was one of the greatest musicians I have ever known…From the first notes we played together, we had an immediate bond. His broad intelligence and musical wisdom informed every aspect of who he was in every way. I will miss him with all my heart.”

Mays’ solo albums Lyle Mays (1986) and Street Dreams (1988) branched out from the Metheny Group’s trademark sound; Fictionary (1993), a more traditional jazz trio recording, featured Marc Johnson on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The enigmatic “Long Life,” from Mays’ final release Solo (Improvisations for Expanded Piano) (2000), features near-constant harmonic pivots. Starting in Eb major, the track goes on a profound yet meandering trip, returning back to its Eb “home” at 2:56 and 5:44.