Thursday, May 3, 2012

Listening 8 - Freedom at Midnight / David Benoit

Like I said earlier, my dad listened to a lot of jazz when I was a kid.  I didn't like all of it, and sometimes I'd wish he would play more modern pop music.  Every once in a while, however, I would here some jazz that I'd find myself humming later that day.  Freedom at Midnight by David Benoit is one of those songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TADcnHVyWkk.
Its just a link this time because blogspot would only find the live versions of the song, which were usually less clear than this version.

It starts out with a piano intro with the drums comping.  The intro is a foreshadowing of the refrain.  The whole band comes in for the last note.  Then the bass comes in, thwapping away at the strings.  The piano moves into the first portion of his piece.  Then they finally get to the refrain which is a longer version of the intro.  Next to play is the saxophone.  He essentially plays what the piano played during the first portion.  Then it plays the refrain again.  Next it goes into a section I'm calling the bridge, it has a very different feel to it.  You can call this the B section if you wish.  After the bridge, there is a lengthy saxophone solo.  After the sax solo, they do the refrain once again and then back to the bridge.  After the bridge, it plays the refrain once with percussion/ bass hits and then the refrain one last time normally.  David finishes the song out with his solo as it fades out.

The song is for the most part AAB, but to me it seems more like AABSBS with S being solos and there is a refrain in between each part.  The refrain is simple and catchy and it sticks with you.  Its very melodic and gives a sense of peace.  My friend is telling me he feels like he's in the weather channel, I'm playing this song so much right now.  At least jazz is still alive on the weather channel...

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad that you and your dad have shared a musical bond. Pretty special.

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