Being one of the (cough, cough) "older" people around here, I actually remember when the primary form of recorded music was the 12" vinyl LP. In fact in the early 80's I was a store manager for Camelot Music and was very much involved with selling vinyl records. One of the great features of LPs are the liner notes that were often included that provided information on the music, lyrics, performers, etc. I know, CDs have liner notes in their inserts/booklets, but I'm remembering liner notes that were in a type size readable by humans.

From time to time, I intend to provide "liner notes" for my songs/projects and give some background information and insight as to where/how/why these came about.

“Liner Notes” - Reflections

“Reflections” is the granddaddy of all of the Hackdaddy projects. The first version of this track was written nearly 30 years ago for trumpet and piano, and was performed for a student recital at Wittenberg University. This was somewhat progressive at the time as the vast majority of student recital pieces were from “standard” repertoire that typically was not jazzy and did not contain improvisation. I certainly admit to some inspiration from Chuck Mangione (among others) on this track, with his “Bellavia” probably being the biggest influence.

Reflections resurfaced in the 90’s as a brass quintet piece for Champaign Brass, taking on the form of a trumpet feature with brass quartet accompaniment. It began morphing into the present version a few years ago, and for awhile was a (synthed) trumpet and clarinet duet with piano and string features. The current published version is an acoustic trumpet duet, and also has an expanded strings presence throughout the track.

“Liner Notes” – 7-11

7-11 is the first of what I would call a concept project; that is, creating a project based on a particular idea or “rule”. In the case of 7-11, the “rule” is that every measure is either 7 beats or 11 beats. Sometimes it’s 7/4 or 11/4, and sometimes it’s 7/8 or 11/8, but it’s always either 7 or 11. This concept, as you might imagine, is deliciously ripe with the rhythmic interplay often found in a Hackdaddy project.

7-11 turns out to be a bass feature, with solo bass bookending the track, as well as being a prominent driver throughout the track. There’s also some synth features to go with brass punches and ethereal strings. 7-11 is more or less an arch structure as far as material; sometimes slow, sometimes fast, but never half-fast (ba-dump-bump). Also, I want to be crystal clear that this track has nothing whatsoever to do with the convenience store chain of the same name; it’s just a coincidence.

"Liner Notes" - J D

J D is - you guessed it! - something that got started a long time ago and just got finished recently. This one started out in the practice rooms at Wittenberg, and a very good friend of mine, J. D. liked it alot from the start, hence the name of the song. It was always a juxtaposition of latin and swing, but originally the swing part was a different theme.

The first version of J D actually was finished in the early 90's, but fell victim to a hard drive crash (literally a day or two before the backup drive I had ordered showed up - ouch!). Incidentally, a few other tracks were nailed by that crash; the Sugarloaf Parkway material, for instance. It took awhile to re-create these tracks, but I think it helped to progress them further than they might have otherwise.

So, the latin themes in J D remain pretty much intact to the original, except for the piano solo which was done a few weeks ago. The swing sections are similar to the original, but were realized in the last few months, and the marimba solo, like the piano, just happened very recently.

"Liner Notes" - Nothing But the Blood

Nothing But the Blood started out around 2001 as a trumpet quartet, believe it or not. I am very heavily into recycling, so it's not unusual for my "projects" to manifest themselves in a variety of instrumentations, depending on any number of factors. We were living in metro Atlanta (Lawrenceville) at the time, and I was playing regularly with the Gwinnett Community Band. An offshoot, or sub-ensemble, of that group was a trumpet ensemble, which not only played at concerts but also at church services and other occasions. Nothing But the Blood was one of several pieces that I wrote for that group.

Overall, the arrangement is kind of in three sections, and while the trumpet ensemble was able to pull it off at one level, the contrast of the sections really begged for fuller and more varied instrumentation. The energy of the middle section called out for the addition of a rhythm section, which of course expanded to service the whole piece. The outer sections, being more "traditional", lyrical and legato, morphed into a woodwind ensemble, and the "poor" trumpets that reigned over the initial version were reduced to punctuation fills.

"Liner Notes" - Seventeen for Jean

This song, more than anything else I've written, is based on a single artist, actually on a single tune. Don Ellis did a tune called Bulgarian Bulge, an eastern-European sounding thing in a meter of 33/16 (yes, 33/16, that's not a typo). Being a huge fan of odd/complex meters, I wanted to write something similar, but not wanting to be a copy cat, mine is only in 17/8. I suppose I could have written it in 34/16, but then it might look like I was trying to one-up Mr. Ellis by a sixteenth note, and that was not my intention. The resultant meter is also the influence for the name of the piece.

I did keep the eastern-European influences by using prominent clarinet and violin, although the beds for the solos are decidedly more western-jazzy, in a Hank Levy sort of way. This is yet another one of my projects that started more than a few years ago, but got finished a few days ago.

"Liner Notes" - Sugarloaf Parkway

Sugarloaf Parkway is another one of those projects that began it's life a long time ago and has been simmering at various temperatures ever since. The primary organ theme was "born" around 1980 and is actually based in part on an idea from a friend in college, so if this song ever becomes popular I will need to track him down and strike a deal.

The second theme is also from around the same time, but was part of a different track for a long time before it found a home here. The bridge material with the synth feature actually came along only a few years ago, and had also started out in something else until the "aha" came along to put it here. Finally, sensing that the track needed a little something else (like finding that one extra seasoning that makes the soup special), the organ solo was realized just a few weeks ago.

The name "Sugarloaf Parkway" comes from a road by that name in metro NE Atlanta Ga. It's a newer road that sort of "cuts across the grain" of the existing roads to provide a quick and easy way to get from here to there in that part of town. The drive and energy of this track seems to reflect that same "cut across the grain" feel; thus the name.