My husband accompanied me to a studio recording session on Saturday, Sept. 6 in Newark, NJ. The engineer found me on Gigmasters and said that from reading my bio, I had the experience to do what he needed.
He had a beat laid out -- it turned out he was a drummer-turned-DJ -- and my job was to create the bass line, the chords, and the melodic improvisation. The style: house music, a branch of hip-hop.
I don't have much experience with house, but I think I did a decent job. I enjoyed it. There was another DJ there, and one of their friends, and they all said they loved what I was doing. It was a matter of taking what I do already, and fitting into a different genre of music. I love that idea. After all, musical genres are very flexible, especially jazz... you can have jazz-rock, jazz-funk, Latin jazz, hip-hop jazz, ethnic jazz...
I always draw from music I know to create new music, and the first song that popped into my mind was "Comin' Home Baby" by Mel Torme. Here's a YouTube video of him performing the song.
This beat was faster though, so I condensed the bass line to fit the groove, and tweaked some of the chord changes to flow better. I don't know if I could create a bass line without thinking of the chords at the same time. To me, they are inextricably linked.
The engineer picked out a piece of the bass line that he liked, and used his software to make it loop over and over. So, I realized that chord changes were not needed, at least for the first two minutes of the music. It was a very repetitive, driving sound.
But I didn't want to play one chord over and over, so I found two different chords to play over the same bass line. I really liked that sound, since the chords were opposite to each other, which created a feel of dialogue: first one voice speaks, then the next, over and over again.
Next came the "blowing," as we say in jazz -- meaning, the improvisation. I jammed over the beat/bass line/chord foundation for several minutes and he picked out his favorite piece. I learned quickly that you can't be proud or possessive when recording for a DJ. It's their job to choose pieces of your work and loop them into the music. That's what this kind of music is, and you have to respect that. It's not like playing a live concert or recording a CD, where every note of your playing is heard from start to finish.
Then, the engineer wanted a bridge, so we had to do the process all over again. This time my inspiration was "Catnap" by Nils, a German-born smooth jazz guitarist...
I don't listen to a lot of smooth jazz, but I love those chord changes! This is a great song to listen to after a hard day's work, or when sitting at your computer getting things done. I like listening to songs that don't have words when I'm working, since the music keeps you moving, but words would be a distraction, especially if I'm trying to write things.
Again, this DJ's beat was a lot faster, so I condensed and added some "snap" to the bass line, and it worked for him!
Now the engineer is re-mastering the recorded product, and getting it ready to play in dance clubs where he works as DJ. Imagine hanging out in some hip club and hearing my playing coming from the speakers! It's an exciting thought.
The whole thing took four hours. My husband was with me -- I am grateful for his support and encouragement, and for the fact that he can involve himself in a situation and not get bored! He took this video of me.
Then when we got out, the effects of Hurricane Hanna were upon us, and we drove the whole way home through heavy downpours and flooded roads.
