Week 2 Blog Post - I Got It Bad It Ain't Good by Duke Ellington

    

    The very first thing I noticed when I heard the song was how unique and soulful this particular singers' voice is. I thought that she used her vibrato perfectly! It was very subtle but also very powerful. I also loved how I could relate to the song. It subconsciously reminded me of me when I met my wife and how I hated how much I loved her because being vulnerable wasn't something I was good at. And I feel like that's what this song is all about. We as humans are afraid of being vulnerable and misplacing trust that when we find someone who loves us, we tend to question the reality of it. We are skeptics by nature, especially if we've had traumatic experiences in the past.
    I also really enjoy the horns in this song. I feel like some jazz songs have a little too much horns where it's overwhelming to listen to. 'Twas not the case in this song, I thought it had just the right amount. It was also interesting to hear the different types of horns and how even though they sounded different seperately, they sounded good as an ensemble. Now I'm not musically inclined enough to identify them but I definitely recognize a difference in their tones. On the third listen, I started to notice the "toy-like" piano in the background more. It reminded me of holiday music. It felt like Christmas came early and reminded me of when my family would eat christmas dinner together. It's cool that music has that power. All in all, the song is a banger. Definitely adding it to my playlist.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 5 - Nancy (With the Laughing Face) - Frank Sinatra

Image
      When you hear this song, it's easy to see why the ladies swooned all over Frank Sinatra. What he lacks in range, he makes up for in just suave and elegance. Just silky smooth. The lyrics he sings are very predictable and typical for a love song but because it's Frank Sinatra, no one cares! He can speak gibberish and people would love it simply cause of his voice. I love the orchestra in this song as well. I think they deserve a lot of the credit.  It's cool how they followed Sinatras lead throughout the entire song. It takes a talented ensemble to be able to follow the lead of a jazz singer because they're very fluid with the way they sing songs. Every jazz singer puts their own spin on songs to make it their own. If you listen to other versions of this song, the general melody is the same but they add their own personality to it. Throughout the song, you can hear a harp being played and the sound of it makes me think of someone entering the gates of heaven. Th...
Read more

Week 3 Blog Post - Cheek to Cheek by Irving Berlin

Image
      The first thing I noticed about this song was the different instruments it had! I heard some violins (or some type of string instrument), muted horns AND normal horns, and a piano. It's cool to hear the different layers of music in the one song. The more you listen, the more you start to recognize. Some songs, try this method of using a lot of layers. About half the time, it sounds like there's just too much going on. But listening to this song, it all blends together so well. To do that well, especially in this particular day and age, makes it that much more impressive because they didn't have the editing ability or the artificial instruments we have now. The ensemble really came together on this one.     I also just recognized how happy this song makes me! It probably has to do with the fact that it's overall upbeat and cheerful. Irving Berlin compares dancing with your significant other to being "heaven". It's a very relatable feeling! We have a t...
Read more

LB 12 - It All Falls Down by Kanye West

Image
      There's a lot you can say about Kanye West about one thing you can't say is that he doesn't know how to make good music. This is one of my personal favorites by him. He is one of the greatest music producers ever and this song is proof of that. It is one of his simpler pieces of work but it has such a nice vibe to it. The guitar mixed with that bass line just sounds so good. Then comes the drums and 808's, which Kanye is known for.      He addresses some topics that are so relevant today. He talks about how the evils of money and how we buy materialistic things just for the image. It all stems from being self conscious and he admits that he's a victim of this mindset. Love when artists are able to portray a message but also make the song a banger. One of my all-time favorite albums, it's a certified banger.
Read more