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mylodic

[audio:mylodic.mp3]

A Bluer Bossa than “Blue Bossa”, I heard this tune composed by my dear friend Saman Vossoughi who plays jazz guitar, and I was like: “what scale is that?”. It sounded so – interesting, so different. And usually I know my scales around…

It turned out this tune is based on Melodic Minor, a scale I had always rejected as not feasible. “It’s neither fish nor fowl”, I used to state, “as part of it sounds like Major, and part of it like Minor”. I simply didn’t know how to use it. I’m glad attending my friend’s concert has taught me to stay open, since I began to practice Melodic Minor as soon as I came home after the concert. All of a sudden I found it rather useful. A week or so later we arranged to meet and record the song in my studio as a one-shot collaboration. Here we are.

The “who is who” is easily to be detected, as Saman has the smoother sound, and my Jaguar is a bit more incisive.

(Saman has dedicated this tune to Joe Henderson, famous tenor saxophone player, who among many other things recorded an outstanding version of “Blue Bossa”. But “Mylodic” bears no direct resemblance to the latter, although it’s kind of a Bossa, too).

guitars & gear: Saman: Gibson ES 335, Vox AC 15, Tube Reverb. Gary: Fender Jaguar, Vox AC 30, Gibson EB3 bass, Cabasa, Tabor, Tube Reverb

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weather has changed for the better

[audio:weather.mp3]

…but my head is still in the clouds.

The title of this post is intended as my response to Elspeth’s tagging me. I was meant to write a six word memoir about myself. Of course this doesn’t allow for much, and I had to break the rules by adding a contrasting sentence…

(I’m not really part of a blogging community, so everybody who would like to write a six word memoir about him- or herself is kindly invited!)

guitar & gear: Fender Jaguar, ’67 Vox AC 30, Tube Reverb

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doorbell symphony

[audio:doorbell.mp3]

Oh, it’s an exaggeration, of course. I never had in mind to even try to compose a symphony. By the way, my favorite ones are the seventh by Ludwig van Beethoven, and the fourth and last symphony by Johannes Brahms, if you’d like to know. Take your time to listen to them! They are just incredible…

But what I wanted to do here is just another improvisation, as usual. At the very moment when I began recording, the doorbell rang. I knew it was not for me, and so I could go on playing. How I love these spontaneous opportunities!

I just began expanding on the Big Ben Theme of our doorbell, which is real low at the beginning of the track (can you hear it?), due to the microphones being close to the speakers of the amplifier. And it was the beginning of an interesting journey to…, well whatever. Just listen.

guitar & gear: Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Vox AC 15 Heritage, Tube Reverb

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dusk

[audio:dusk.mp3]

Collaboration with Susanne

It’s a summer’s evening in the country. The air is moistening, but still warm. Our friend’s summer celebration has just begun, the tent is pitched, and we take a look down the hills before joining the party.

This is the light version (pun intended) of an evening atmosphere, dusk in this case meaning the beginning, not the end of something…

The musical piece this time consists of far more than the usual one-man-improvisation: though it began exactly like that, it was elaborated as a multi-track-tune, re-recorded and in the end Susanne sang partly improvised, partly well-arranged melodies to it. I can publish tunes like this only once in a while – or it would be just one post a month. But I liked the light atmosphere of the original improvisation so much, it brought up a bunch of additional ideas.

For those curious about the original, I add it here. It may be interesting to follow the evolution of this piece:

[audio:dusksolo.mp3]

participants: Susanne Fritzsche – vocals, Gary Winter – Fender Stratocaster, Gibson EB3 bass, percussion