I recently became aware that the 30th anniversary of Prince's album/movie Purple Rain is this year, so I figured the opening song of both would be a good choice for the solo piece for this month.
This is yet another entry in my month-solo-piece series and I'm doing something slightly different: an original composition(!!!).
I wrote this song on piano a few years ago and came together fairly quickly and pretty much as it sounds now. I didn't have a destination for this piece but I figured it would go on a future Christmas record. While that's still most likely the case, my 6-month-old daughter inspired me to tackle the song as a solo bass piece.
Hope you enjoy!
Be Good,
DLW
P.S. You can hear my daughter cooing and babbling in the background...
I'm back again with another entry in my Top 5 series. Chuck Rainey has a bass playing career that has spanned over 5 decades, including roughly 15 years as a session player in both New York AND Los Angeles during the height of the recording era (mid-'60's-1980). He's featured on thousands of records, TV and movie soundtracks. That said, there's no way I've checked out most of his work but out of the things I've heard, these are my favorites...
As a rule, I'm not a huge fan of the sound of a slapped/thumped P-Bass. It usually sounds a little too throaty and hollow for my tastes (especially when compared to a full-on J-Bass). That said, there are a few exceptions: Freddie Washington, early Louis Johnson, Will Lee and, of course, Chuck Rainey. This particular track, Rickie Lee Jones' Woody & Dutch On A Slow Train To Peking (with guests Cheech and Chong), showcases Rainey's tone in a particularly good light (not to mention drummer Steve Gadd playing a shoebox with brushes). Other great examples include Peg and I Heard That!...
Word is, this Roberta Flack song had a verbatim/fully charted bass part written by Donny Hathaway and while Chuck nails it (there are horn & string unison parts to consider), he adds all of these amazing descending double-stops and upper register ornamentations that really give the part life.
Simply put; the bass Chuck Rainey plays at the 2:39 mark of this Steely Dan song gives me hope for a better tomorrow. In the ensuing 2 bars, Rainey offers rhythmic complexity and precision, unbridled melodicism AND tension & resolution. All this in 4 seconds. Without crowding the track.
Oh, and rest of his playing is great, too.
I kinda HAD to include this one. Classic groove (and overdub) on a classic theme song...
This is possibly my favorite Chuck Rainey bass line. He and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie are killing the pocket, Chuck's part peculates throughout and perfectly wraps around this Stevie Wonder-penned/Aretha Franklin-belted masterpiece. Even when he jumps to the upper register for the bridge, the supportive nature of his role is never sacrificed.
(This is actually a repost from last year. I'm gonna give this 1-solo-piece-a-month thing a try again. Wish me luck!)
I decided to do a shorter, leaner version of Lift Ev'ry Voice & Sing. I submit this as my February entry (aptly) and I'm planning (hoping) to post a new video every 3-4 weeks until I'm caught up. Until then...
First off, I'm sorry I'm so late with the updates. It's been a particularly busy summer and my desktop got sick and had to be wiped clean and blah blah blah...
At any rate, I'm back!
I was featured in the nascent music/news online magazine Detroit Sounds Like This a few months back. Thanks to my friend Mark Szymanski for extending the invite for the interview (one of the first for the site) and for skillfully editing what was, I'm sure, a meandering conversation.
Be sure to visit their site and stay abreast on what's happening on the Detroit music scene.
I'll be back next week with another entry into the Top 5 series. Until then...
I've been studying the vocals of Philip Bailey this month so I thought it would be fitting to make the subject of my next entry into the Top 5 series one on Earth Wind & Fire.
There's a catch, though. I wanted to pick songs that weren't on their records.
So, my personal rules as to what qualified was pretty simple: the song has to feature at least 3 band members playing on it and/or one of the vocalists singing lead. And nothing from any of their solo records. As usual, these are in no particular order.
That said, here we go!!!
And Then - Weather Report
This one is a bit of an anomaly. Actually, the whole album was considered quite strange when it come out in 1978. The only reason I can really think of that both Deniece Williams and Maurice White appear on this track is because all parties involved were signed to White's American Recording Company (ARC) lable, a subsidiary of Columbia.
And I Do - Abraham Laboriel
Philip Bailey owns this song. It actually sounds more like an EWF song than what they were doing at the time...
Love's What's Happenin' - The Emotions
From Larry Dunn's opening synth solo all the way until the fade, this one grooves HARD. There are various breaks, feel changes and even time signature changes on this and the band remains tight!
The Paper - Deniece Williams
While her sophomore record wasn't as commercially successful as her debut (both produced by Maurice) Deniece's Songbird album was ripe with great songs and performances. The Paper was the closing song on this project and it's epic. 8 minutes in length, various tempo changes and horn solos, The Paper (about the ending of Williams' first marriage) is basically a minor blues with a bridge. But everyone involved manages to wring the maximum amount of emotion from the form. And it's just good to hear Maurice playing drums!
Tequila Mockingbird - Ramsey Lewis
This has always been a favorite of mine. Larry Dunn's song (and MiniMoog) along with the contributions of Verdine White, Al McKay, Philip Bailey and former EWF bandmate Ronnie Laws make this a groovy and unique experience (dig the changes Ronnie has to navigate at the end of his solo).
I left off a few obvious choices (Sun Goddess, Free, Best Of My Love, etc...) but hopefully I've hipped you to a few songs that you haven't checked out before.
I'll be back with another Top 5 list next week! Until then...
