"Apartment Five" for jazz-rock group

[Raymond Jacob]

For piano, drumkit, bongos, guitar, organ. Length here is five minutes, but in a performance venue the piece allows for improvised soloing and would be extended. Inspired by Ahmad Jamal.

It may be listened to here: Apartment Five

Thank you for listening.  --Ray

[Kristofer Emerig]

Hi Ray. Thanks for posting your work, firstly. Some notable, subjective observations, on first listening:

Why aren't you swinging this (particularly the piano part) madly early on, or at least intermittently throughout? I'm just curious.

Brass and vocals (preferably Donald Fagen, but near-surrogates might do) could really fill this out as a dreamy, quirky pop/jazz piece. The undergirding is already established.

I appreciate your originality in the sense that, this doesn't sound 'canned', nor necessarily predictable in its development.

[Raymond Jacob]

Hi, Kristofer - Thank you for listening. I thought about your question overnight- why didn't I swing? The easy answer is because I can't play swing piano. But more seriously, I didn't hear the piece that way. I conceived this as sitting in a triangle between jazz, rock, and chamber music, and it could drift toward any of those points, any time, without ever getting too close...never fully committing. So what I tried to establish, if not convincingly, was a feel that's not quite rock, not quite jazz.

Your points about further orchestrating, along with Mr. Hewer's comment, have validated the need to revisit this for further development. As I was posting it a few days ago I was still asking, is this really finished?

I have to thank you and Mr. Hewer for comments that make me think. It's why I come here.

--Ray

[Mike Hewer]

I enjoyed that Ray. I thought it sophisticated with a quirky narrative that kept me hooked. I felt it lost a little drive in the John Adamsy type minimilism from around 2'40" till the vox but that's just me. Anyways, I liked the quartal+ infused harmonies. Did you play live on the keys or was it via midi?
You've reminded me to check out more of Jamal. I'm a big Corea and Jarrett fan and what I've heard of Jamal sounds like he's in that pocket too.

[Raymond Jacob]

Hi, Mike - thank you for listening and for posting the interesting comments. (Good ear on the quartal harmonics, by the way). I'm very happy to hear that this held your interest. But, yes, that section at 2'40" has never felt settled with me, and I will have to develop that better. I'm waiting for the eureka moment.

I played everything live, including keys, dividing the piece into four segments for recording purposes. I recorded drums first, playing to a click; then played keys to the drum track. I used a Roland RD2000 for that.

Yes, I want to dig deeper into Jamal. I love his writing. And what a beautiful piano touch he has.

--Ray

[HS Teoh]

I confess ignorance: what does "apartment five" refer to?

Listened to this twice, once a day or two ago while going through your playlist on the forum, and again just now. Loved the quirky style and humorous unexpected transitions. And the ending with a splat. Not the kind of music I usually listen to but I did have fun listening to this one.

[Raymond Jacob]

Thanks so much, HS, and especially for giving some of those other tracks attention. The title here has no meaning. Friends in NY refer to their home as "apartment five" (there is a 5 on their door) and I always thought that would make a good song title. The title has no relevance to the music, which itself, has no meaning. A perfect match. --Ray

[gregrorio j]

Interesting juxtapositions of sections. I found the first 2 minutes playful and mercurial, reminded me a bit of a V. Guaraldi vibe. Then, it seemed to go more minimalist (Bb minor-esque tonality which held for a while ) with some jamming that for some reason got me thinking of 'Rainbow on Curved Air', T. Riley. Bongos sounded great!
Then at about 2:45, electric guitar makes an appearance - with what I thought was a bit too much distortion which along with a plodding 8th note groove, and it sort of broke the 'line' for me, despite the connection with its tonality. I found the section that followed, at 4 minute mark, had echoes of the sections before, with an added pair of rising thirds - adding a whole-tone color. I liked this section the best. Then the downshift into 12/8 at the end was a nice touch, rosy-orange feel good groove. Fun!

[Raymond Jacob]

Thank you for your thoughtful and encouraging comments on this piece. That section at 2:40 (Mike mentioned, too) is a problem, and I've yet to have the eureka! moment that would give due strength to that entire section. I'm considering asking a reed player to come by and improvise over that part, modally, rapid & disjoined register changes, unpredictable phrasing, untamed.... extend the jamming with live-action excitement there. Thanks for mentioning the bongos. I've never tuned them, the weather does, and when I want that sound, I'll use them the way they are at the moment. I love them. Thanks, Gregrorio! --Ray