Music Minor

Stories put to music for a weekend set of ears.. Let the lyrics and melodies stew and sink in deep.

So apparently, a decade ago, someone produced a David Foster tribute album that today is quite hard to find. In one edition of the CD, Norwegian singer-songwriter Ole Børud, whose own brand of music stretches from extreme metal to R&B, covers Foster's monster hit with Chaka Khan, Through The Fire. Are we ready for a version that deviates by degrees from the original? Check this out and tell me what you think. On the other hand, other editions of the album have someone else covering Through The Fire--Joe Pizzulo, who is most remembered for his work with Sergio Mendes on tracks like Take This Love and Never Gonna Let You Go. We’ll take a look at that one too.

The sound check went well. Our next worry though was if we could fill the cathedral, which seats over 1100 people. Thanks to the vigorous Filipino community in Illinois, the place was packed that evening.

How often has it happened to you that a radio station plays a track that piques your interest and you have no way of finding out what the song’s title is or who even sang it? Hmm, I guess not too often these days since we now have apps that identify such songs for us. But this would happen to me a lot in the past, and I’d resort to scouring the internet and heading out to record bars in a frantic attempt to find a particular song. The same thing happened when I first heard the title track of Laurence Elder’s 2006 album, Surrounded. I think it was the jazz rock groove that got me. Maybe that unusual chord progression too. And it was frustrating that the radio jock didn’t give out much info. I picked up the artist’s last name but really, that didn’t take me very far. I eventually found the track and the album (produced in Germany, I believe) maybe 5 years later.  I love Shazam.

It must have been in the mid-90s when I first listened to a cut from her album, Love Is Starting Now, playing on a local jazz station, but I had never heard of the artist herself. Intrigued, I purchased Julie Eigenberg’s CD and was delighted. Produced by legendary guitarist David Spinozza, the album is an interesting mix of originals (some collabs between Eigenberg and Espinozza) and a few covers, all infused with Eigeneberg’s innocent yet spirited tone. Some tracks are quite magical, but I particularly enjoy That’s Who You Really Are and the way its melody and chord progression seek out curious destinations. It’s a shame Eigenberg never produced a second album. These days, I understand she does the jazz club scene. Maybe I’ll catch her one time.

My favorite of his recordings is Never Too Far from his 1997 album, Through My Eyes. The album lists jazz greats Lee Ritenour, Don Grusin, Abraham Laboriel, and Eric’s brother Larry as among the project’s many musicians. And tying the tracks together is the singer’s familiar, effortless tone, heartfelt interpretation, and of course, some pretty good songwriting.

As for me, regardless of the language, I’d “take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.” Here’s to a new year!

The rhythm of that brass section, the la-la-las of the backing vocals, the unexpected meter change--everything about this Christmas tune points to the psychedelic 60s. Produced as a demo in 1967 by songwriter Margo Guryen, I DON’T INTEND TO SPEND CHRISTMAS WITHOUT YOU was released in the same year with French singer Claudine Longet doing a sultry rendition of the song. This version by Filipino superstar Nora Aunor, who began her singing career in the late 60s, remains pretty faithful to the original. The only difference? The arrangement and interpretation are feistier and more spirited. And why not? Check out some of the lyrics: We had a fight What of it You weren't even right What of it I'm all alone, and Christmas is coming, too And I don't intend to spend Christmas without you Don those beads. Strap on those wide buckles. Sport those headbands. And do the Temptation Walk, The Pony, and The Mashed Potato. This is the right music to do all that this holiday season.

From the 2015 holiday album of the The Swingles, WITH US, written by Swingles alto Clare Wheeler, is a modern-day reminder that we are never alone, not in Christmas, not ever. God is with us. Its poignant melody and haunting arrangement evoke images of seeming isolation and despair, but its words are ever-consoling. The album’s liner notes reveal: “The lyric presents three snapshots of Christmas drawing on the idea of Emmanuel, ‘God With Us’. First, a feeling of disconnection from home and family; second, a postcard of the nativity; finally, a tribute to those who must hide their faith from persecution.”

This particular cut makes my head bob. I am so looking forward to the days ahead. So why is Christmas your favorite time of year?

While Payapang Daigdig was not written as a Christmas hymn, it is easy to see why the famous Filipino song, sung in the midst of death and devastation, is so linked these days with the story of Christ’s birth. It is in the same kind of still night and under the same blanket of stars described by de Leon, that the Prince of Peace was born to a world quaking likewise in fear and uncertainty. God is here. Peace be with us. Here’s a recording of Payapang Daigdig from the country’s premier all-male a cappella group, the Tux.

The song is from the 1903 operetta, BABES IN TOYLAND, which assembles characters from various Mother Goose nursery rhymes, to create a grand, holiday-themed musical. But perhaps the Victor Herbert and Glen McDonough tune is more popular among fans of Doris Day, who recorded TOYLAND in her Christmas album 6 decades after the song was published. Written as a kind of a lullaby, TOYLAND celebrates the magic of being a child and the joyful years of youth that go swiftly by. This arrangement by The Manhattan Transfer is equally magical and joyful, mimicking through sound a kaleidoscope of Christmas lights and glitter.

Trijntje’s 2010 Christmas project, THIS IS THE SEASON, seems to be from the same playbook as her 2009 tribute album to Michael Jackson, NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE. All the tracks from both records are stripped down with just rhythm guitars and hand percussion accompanying the artist’s richly-textured voice. But it’s the opening cut, SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS, that puts me in the holiday spirit. Anyone who grew up in the 70s as I did surely remembers this hit from the Jackson 5 (though Stevie Wonder lays claim to the original, which he released in 1967). And so for me, listening to the recent reboot reawakens childhood memories of Christmas mornings, stockings stuffed to the brim with sweet treats, the smokey fragrance of roasted chestnuts, and the sight of a full leg of ham sitting across a whole refrigerator shelf. Trijntje’s rendition, however, is more melancholic than the Jacksons’ Motown classic--as it should be, especially since the song, written by Bryan Wells and Ronald Miler, dreams of a Christmas when “there’ll be no wars.” Quite timely this Christmas, 2015.

Music by George Duke in the late 70s. Cover by Monday Michiru and Soulfeenix 30 years later. There is something to be said about an American who pens a Brazilian-inspired tune interpreted by a Japanese songstress, and produced in Spain by a mutli-instrumentalist who is half French and half Cameroonian. Clearly, George Duke’s music crosses the boundaries of time and space. And hey, this remake stays faithful to Duke’s original vibe.

In the 1980s, George Duke produced music for a variety of artists ranging from disco and R&B acts like Sister Sledge and A Taste of Honey to jazz icons Miles Davis and Tania Maria, to gospel singers Philip Bailey and Howard Hewett. He helped put together hits for Hirsohima, Sadao Watanabe, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams, Angela Bofill, Dianne Reeves, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow...the list is practically endless. But I am particularly fond of his work with the jazz fusion group from Hawaii, Seawind. Seawind, its power vocalist Pauline Wilson, and the band’s signature full brass sound made the music world take notice when they earned a Grammy nomination for THE DEVIL IS A LIAR from their debut album. But it was their project with George Duke that finally got the group more regular airplay on the radio, with a hit the penetrated the Top 40. Duke’s deep roots in jazz and R&B perfectly complemented Seawind’s funk-soul vibe, producing fusion favorites like THE TWO OF US, STILL IN LOVE, PRA VOSE, and this, their biggest hit, WHAT CHA’ DOIN.

The combination from Duke and Perry, who incidentally both celebrate their birthdays on January 12, is magical.

While George Duke’s credits as a producer include projects for American greats like Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Dianne Reeves, Jeffrey Osborne, and Anita Baker, not many realize that his first producing stint was for Brazilian artist Raoul De Souza in 1977. In an interview with Kelly Hughes of Jazz Review, George Duke explained how Brazilian music started to creep into his own work. “I began to meet a lot of Brazilian folks. Artists like Airto Moreira, Milton Nascimento and Flora Purim. We'd talk about music, listening and talking about it, like where the music would go. It was really like an extended family and I love that. I love that kind of extended family. Really discussing what music can be, what jazz can be, to try things musically. Cannonball Adderley, in 1971, took me to Brazil, and I said, ‘One day I will go back there and create an album.’” After producing work for De Souza, George Duke eventually returned to Brazil in 1979 for his own project, BRAZILIAN LOVE AFFAIR. Among my favorite tracks? This effortless tune.