Improvisatory oud track. Meandering oud solo, measured and spacious, with pauses full of resonance and contemplation. Expressive, contemplative and meditative, perfect music to accompany a middle Eastern landscape on screen, vast, beautiful and unpredictable.
Tag Archives: Improvisation
Puddle Pondering
Hypnotic improvisational string track on Cretan lyra. Layers of overlapping Cretan lyra play drone-like modal phrases. At 3 minutes, the various lines come together along with added percussion, to form a more driving, unified, full melody, growing in intensity with hints of Irish folk music and Arabic music, to a powerful ending. Mesmerising, contemplative and experimental, singular sounds for a documentary looking at lesser-known cultures, spiritual places or undefinable combinations of cultures.
Brigitte
Acoustic country-jazz track. Acoustic guitar chords and double bass lay down the rhythm for a jazzy acoustic guitar line, country-style violin plays call and answer with guitar, breezy snippets of virtuosic soloing. Playful, cheeky and brazen, suitable for a TV/Documentary segment about good ol’ country life or an advert for mouth-watering, home cooking.
Bed track features acoustic guitar chords, double bass and percussion only.
Run Away With Me
Smooth jazz club track. Warm piano chords, walking double bass, light drums with a smooth saxophone improvising melody on top. Chilled, positive and slightly cheesy, perfect classic jazz for a reassuring, family advert.
Bed track has more prominent piano. No saxophone.
Bea
Instrumental classical/jazz track. Strings in conversation, playing melodic cycles. Warm, resonant piano enter, joined by marimba flourishes and a deep, soothing strings melody. Jazz piano chords, and the melody repeated in various registers. Marimba solo over sustained strings and a meandering improv section in the last minute. Earthy, romantic and enveloping, a calming jazz number, reminiscent of sprawling Ethiopian jazz rooted by a strong melody, as well as the gentle, rich Gymnopédie melody. Suitable for a very laid back advert or a pastoral Film/TV sequence set under a beaming winter sun.
Spinner
European-style jazz instrumental. Spanish guitar soloing furiously over a bed of walking double bass, percussion and guitar chords. Accordion takes over with a playful solo. Guitar returns, accordion provides chordal accompaniment. Fun, warm, uplifting and positive, laid back jazzy high jinks for adverts or TV/Docs/Film evoking the retro swinging technicolour of Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
Bed track chordal guitar, double bass and drums only.
A Father’s Grip
Thoughtful acoustic guitar folk instrumental. Slow and pensive folky melodic acoustic guitar intro. A pause then a faster section, with finger-picking repetitive folk/blues guitar. A more meandering, explorative section follows into a more upbeat improv-style, rootsy country/folk section. Contemplative at first, then hopeful and positive, yet low-key. Bert Jansch with hints of boogie-woogie, a guitar journey to accompany reflective, traditional scenes on TV/Film/Adverts.
Requiem for L Lawson
Live instrumental acoustic guitar saga. Raw blues/folk acoustic guitar melody, repetitive melodic motifs. Lyrical mid-section to a more tense, frantic part, alternating between drama and calm moments. End section is like something out of a Western film, tense and sparse, with dramatic slide guitar, to a hopeful finger-picking final section. Sombre, dramatic and epic with moments of light, the nature of the live recording adding interesting imperfections. Different sections would suit various Film/TV/Documentary moments, would suit an American road trip or a nature documentary explore the American Wild West.
Semi-invented Crime
A free jazz build on piano, drums and orchestral strings. Shifting sustained orchestral strings growing increasingly mysterious, jazz double bass and bongos. Jazz drums introduced, snatches of solo melody on violin. Taken down a notch by a cool drum solo before a violin and piano take solos accompanied by shuffling drums and energetic bongos in an improvised free jazz homage. Ambient at first, then searching, mysterious and intriguing and intense and finally reckless and daring, suitable for TV/Film tension-building or for a thrilling moment of release.
Dive In
Smooth piano-led jazz track. Jaunty jazz piano riff over a bed of walking double bass and shuffling drums. Piano improvisations, before a double bass solo then back to piano soloing with accompanying chords beneath. Chilled, peaceful and positive, laid back jazz club vibes, perfect for breezy adverts or warm, comforting TV/Doc scenes.
Bed track features chordal piano, double bass and percussion, no solos.