On both our CDs, Rob Mounsey and I had agreed that
we would each bring in a ballad to the project. On the "LOCAL
COLOR"(Denon) CD, Rob contributed "Mahana," and "The Blue Rose" was my
entry. On our current release, "YOU ARE HERE," my ballad represents, I
think, one of my favorite pieces of writing to date. "Anhelante"(which I have
translated from the Spanish dictionary to mean "yearning" or "longing") is the
fullest realization of my studies of the voicing style of Clare
Fischer. His influence permeates this composition. Rob seemed to be
most fascinated by the fact that the tune moves in and out of tempo. In general,
on the CD, there is a significant Latin and Afro-Cuban presence, it's in the
'attitude' of the music and is physically supplied by the brilliant performances
of percussionist Marc Quiñones. When "Anhelante" does go into tempo, it
is done in the style of a 'bolero' rhythm, with Marc supplying the necessary
patterns on congas, bongos, and timbales.
Though I have enjoyed
many of Clare Fischer's recordings over the years, I was greatly inspired to
study his scores more closely upon hearing his CD, "LEMBRANÇAS"(Concord
Picante). He performs on this CD with a '90s
version of what would have been a Fender Rhodes in another time. The sound is
especially beautiful and lends itself to a particular voicing style where small
clusters of notes seem 'hidden' within the chord. It seems that this style does
not always translate well to the acoustic piano. Perhaps the best examples of
these kinds of voicings are found in the 'bolero' sections: [A2] and
[C]. Even though [A2] can be described as a vamp over an Fm9(#7)
and suggests that one might improvise using the F-melodic minor scale, if you
look at bar 3 you can see that a C7(alt.) voicing is hinted at which gives the
feeling of a V7(alt.) resolving to im7. The inclusion of this one chord gives
the vamp a very special hypnotic quality, and if you follow only the top voice
of each chord, it stands as a melody in long tones on its own.
The composition also features the usage of one particular voicing
which employs two major triads, one atop the other. The upper triad is usually
in the first inversion and the lower triad in the second inversion. These appear
in all the rubato sections: [A], [B], [D], and the
[Tag] or the coda. You're looking at what is essentially the mini-score
Rob and I used to perform the piece. For those of you who might never have seen
this style of writing a lead sheet for a 'free ballad,' I should explain a
couple of notations. In the rubato sections I essentially use the fermata to
indicate that in the space after the chord, the player can improvise. In several
places you will also see the use of a wavy line(from left to right). I employ
this to indicate that, in these spaces, I may improvise something. It is telling
Rob to be alert and leave the space open. Once the recording was completed I
made some adjustments to the written music to accommodate improvements we made
as the piece developed from the initial draft. No matter how detailed my
mini-score is, I can't say enough about just how beautifully Rob consistently
performed it, and with a most beautiful electric piano sound of his own
creation. I really hope you enjoy listening to this piece and exploring
harmonies such as this on your own. If you are interested in reading some more
about just how Rob and I came to work together like this, you won't want to miss
the Khan/Mounsey Saga which hopefully explains
everything.
Those of you who have visited this page before will
notice that we have just added an alternate cover, which Rob created, featuring
the artwork of Doug West, who had contributed the painting for "LOCAL
COLOR." Of course, I thought it would be nice to have some continuity in our
cover art, but here, we were at odds. So, the agreement we finally came to was
that, IF we secured a domestic release in Japan, we would then use the cover you
see here.
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