"My Ideal"

My Ideal.mp3
"My Ideal"

Recorded many times but man, the one i love is that off-beat one with the keys playing the changes on the celeste. what a strange effect.
this is the 1956 BlueNote date with my all-time favorite pianist Russ Freeman. Yeah man what a date this was...

Anyhow, this is how this session went in a nutshell:

I sat down, laid a brushes track with my usual VSTI...and you know what? i think i better stop right here and explain why, as a drummer, i'm using this fake drum sound.
In a word: laziness.

Yeah, big surprise right? Well those of you who don't know me...maybe. For you others, notsomuch.

Not really. I mean I'm not really really really lazy. I mean i wipe my own...sleeve across my mouth when eating. Gotcha ya didn't i? you thought i was gonna go for the potty humor thing right?

Well, again for those who know me are very surprised right now that i didn't. but hey, it's still early in this post right?

OK, so listening to this, i really actually like what i did on the keys for comping. i mean on a slow tune like this, it's always a question how you're going to go at it...slow block chords or more active outlining of the emotion by using lots of color and whatnot.

I decided to go for the active side. most likely cuz i'm too shy to go for the more difficult 'ultimate and exquisite (in the math sense) approach. But hey, you never know.

In any event, after laying down the brush and hit hat, which in this VSTi sound library it actually is a pretty decent sample ( can't remember, did i already explain what a sample is and how it relates to a VSTi?)

Well, in a nutshell, a sample is simple a recording of something, in this case a drumset. they set a bunch of mics and record the set, one sound at a time and the whole set together etc. the sound engineer does a bunch of techie stuff about which i know absolutely nothing and comes up with a fake drumset.

So then companies package a bunch of these samples together and sell them. Some of them are great, some suck. and surprise, surprise, the good ones cost a zillion dollars and the ones that are not so good, cost a half a zillion dollars. And oh, these samples are what make up the sounds called VSTi, Virtual Studio Technology instruments. ........i think.

Any-who...i recorded my fake drums for a place keeper and then set to work deciding on an intro to get me into the tune. i decided on this one to use a simple vi---ii---V progression with a nice fat sharp nine at the end leading into the head.

Got all that? For the uninitiated (read: those actually making a good living) what i went in at the edge (the beginning of the tune) is a classic chord progression famous in song and story: the 'ole I--vi--ii--V--I chord sequence. A famous (infamous) tune that lots more people know than i wish did, is that evergreen, that fave of the piano elite, friend to trained and untrained cocktail drunk, hmmmm. what IS the name of the tune? Seriously. I can't think of it.

Everyone has heard this hateful thing. Everyone can play it. No one should. It starts out with a rockin back and forth rhythm in the bass....let's see if i can describe it with words....uh....it sounds kinda like:

Bumpa Dee Dee
Bumpa Dee Dee
Bumpa Dee Dee
Bumpa Dee Dee ad nauseum...this is outlining the I,vi,ii and the V chord changes., while the melody is up higher and usually is played by the drunkest most slovenly sorority sister in the house.

it goes a little something like this:

Plink plink plink
Ga Dadda Dadda Du
Plink plink plink
Ga Dadda Dadda Du

Raaaa Raaaaa
Ga Dadda Du du

Plink a
Plink a
Plink a Du Du

Plink Plink Plink....ad nauseum

Really, if you ever hear this again, run. Run screaming from the room like you're hair is on fire.
Better yet.

Set fire to the hair of the person who is playing this infernal bullshit song.

Bitter? Who? ME?

Jeez I'm just kidding, all right?

Anyway, back to my beautiful sweetness and light musical offering for the day: "My Ideal."

After i laid the drum track and designed and practiced the intro, i went after the changes for the tune. I read them down a few times and proceeded to record a pass and it went surprisingly well. but i kept redoing it until i had a minimum of clams (haven't heard from anyone yet. guess you all know what a musical clam is).

Also at this stage i had to make up some ending so it didn't go on forever. Using a mixture of chromatics and understated finality, i decided on a figure and ended a random phrase with it. this and many other things will be worked on at a later date.

I sang the head and fought the instinct to wince at all my intonation problems. i made it thru a few times. again, all this and more will be worked on some date yet to be determined. maybe when my extended family is out of the country and safe.

I laid what so far is one of my better trumpet tracks, leaky horn and all. it is unfortunately slightly out of tune. but you know what? this and other things will be worked on at a later date.

Next post: Chet tune number 5? You betcha!