Foresight in hindsight

Wow. I was just searching my hard drive for something, and found this description of my current CD project instead. I wrote it on February 09, 1995. 16 years ago! That’s when I first decided to do this project.

I want this album to have really beautiful songs, played with a jazz sophistication (not really in jazz style, just the sophistication). Not insipid or repetitious, like New Age Music, or elevator music either. Strong, powerful and full of beauty. I won't be doing "It Shows" or "Laura Laur," or probably even "Tears At Last," because I think of them as more rock tunes. This is my mid-forties album (and it will be published before I'm actually 45, or even 44! Promise.

Amazing how well that describes what I'm now in the process of creating. It's a log time to have an unfinished dream. I’m glad I’m doing it now.

Meanwhile, I've got a tentative agreement with a fantastic drummer here in Seattle to do all the remaining drum tracks. Will keep you posted.

"Alamitos Bay"

I loved playing this track with Jon Hamar.

Like my other tracks, this was recorded by the magnificent Jay Kenney at Audio Logic Studio in Seattle.

Song copyright 2011 Leo Brodie
Enjoy!

New song: "Alamitos Bay"

It's been a while since I wrote a new song, but last month I happened upon a fun little chord progression. This is a demo recording of the main section:



Since this recording I added a very beautiful "B" section. I plan to include this on the CD, featuring only the piano and upright bass. I've arranged a recording session with a great acoustic bass player named Jon Hamar.

I can't wait.

Cello Session - March, 2011

I liked the sound of the cello and piano together on "Monica's Song" so much that I tried the same approach with another song from the album, "Across the Years."

The version on my original CD from 1998 sounded quite a bit different. One problem when you are using MIDI synthesizers is that you can click the mouse and get a completely different instrument so you tend to go overboard using lots of different sounds. Plus, everything sounds so dull and unnatural, you want to spice it up with multiple instruments. (Harpsichords and French horns, oh my!)

Here is that recording from the 1998 demo:
Across The Years (1999 synthesizer version) by Leo Brodie

With the cello arrangement I took a much simpler, cleaner approach. I also played it much slower, and decided to try something that -- at the time -- I thought was quite daring: switching from straight-quarter time to a jazz rhythm for the final section. It turns out to sound so natural and right that I bet most people won't even notice the change.

I bought a copy of a music scoring software package called Sebelius First, so that I could print out the arrangement. Here's the last page of "Monica's Song":

Jay Kenney, my recording engineer, recommended a cellist named Kevin Krentz. Kevin agreed to play my arrangements, and on March 2, 2011, we went into Jay's studio.

Here's a portion of the arrangement of "Across the Years", with Kevin playing both cello parts.
Across The Years (Sampler) by Leo Brodie

Then we recorded both cello parts on "Monica's Song." It turns out that this arrangement is really challenging for the cello, particularly one solo line that is very high-pitched. Kevin was on the highest string, almost as low on the fingerboard as you could be. But Kevin pulled it off beautifully.

Here's the last minute of "Monica's Song":
Monica's Song (teaser) by Leo Brodie

"Morning Aire" Session - Nov, 2010

Finally the calendar rolled around to our "Morning Air" recording session date: November 3, 2010.

I had emailed James the chart. The chart was very simple because for this particular song, the piano is the lead instrument and plays the main melody. James would improvise a guitar solo. He only needed the structure of the song and the chords, not individual notes.

When you're working with pro musicians, you don't need separate rehearsal time, as you would expect with amateurs. In fact, I had never visited the recording studio until the session, although I knew people who had recorded there (including James), and had worked with Jay Kenney, the owner and engineer, before. Jay is great to work with, and I love his place. The studio features a nice Yamaha C3 grand piano and a drum kit.

At the session, James and I recorded the basic track, with James playing bass guitar.

It took about an hour for us to find the right groove and get a good take. Then James overdubbed lead and rhythm guitar.

We spent a couple more hours on that, and finally Jay mixed it together.

I'm really happy with the result. James did an outstanding job.

The Perfect Approach: Slow Production

After "winning" James at the benefit auction, he agreed to play on one song in the studio. In fact, he was willing to play not only electric guitar, but bass as well (by overdubbing).

There are several songs on the CD that I would love for James to play on, but for this gig I chose a light, jazzy one called "Morning Air."

All I had to do now was book the studio time and hire a drummer, while remembering how to play the song on the piano and practicing it until I could get through it without mistakes.

I realized this is the perfect way to produce by CD. One track at a time, no rush. One track every few months would let me practice and prepare, and also save up the money for studio and the musicians.

As it turns out, our schedules for the recording session didn't align until November. But meanwhile, I was spending a lot more time at the piano. My daughters were listening to a song on the radio by a young contemporary band, which I really liked. For fun, I made cover of it - not for the CD, but for me (and YouTube):

And had so much fun with that, I went for even more tracks on a very old favorite of mine:


Meanwhile, I wrote the chart for "Morning Air" to send to James, and practiced it daily on the piano.

When you're in no rush, time truly is on your side.

Serendipity

By early Summer of 2010, I had found a well-recommended, affordable recording studio, and was planning to invite Anna to go with me to get a high-quality recording of the cello/piano arrangement (see previous post). I was excited about that because I had never had my music professionally recorded in a studio.

I still wasn't thinking about the CD project at all. But on June 25, Cindy and I, along with the girls, went to a benefit concert and auction at our church. Several of the regular musicians were offering their services for the auction. The idea was that if you won the highest bid, they would come to your party or event and play. 

Cindy wanted to contribute to the fundraiser. She leaned over and asked which musician I would want to bid on. Instantly, I replied "James." I was referring to the amazing guitarist James Howard, who performs regularly with his own blues-rock band, and often plays at our church.

Quick flashback: Several years earlier, while chatting with James, I asked about hiring him to play on my CD project. He was open to it, but we didn't get specific, and the idea still seemed out of reach, so I didn't pursue it.

As it happened, Cindy was the highest bidder on James. But I still wasn't sure if he would agree to a studio gig. Later I emailed him to ask how he felt about that. He loved the idea. He wrote back: "Thank you so much for buying me at the auction and having such a cool creative way to manifest the opportunity."

So we were on. It was as if these coincidences - discovering a cellist in my neighborhood, preparing to hire a recording studio, and then "winning" James' services at the auction - conspired to kickstart my CD project!