jwnicholson78

Awesome guitar work and great writing too.  Love the overall arrangement.  Mix sounds great, too.

Jeff

55 minutes ago, daryl1968 said:

Great stuff JW. I enjoyed that

Thanks, daryl!

7 hours ago, markno999 said:

Jeff,

Great work, a lot to be entertained by in this song, you have a lot of ideas in there.   Super enjoyable listen(s):)

 

Regards

Thanks so much!

10 hours ago, Herky Acuff said:

Lots of moods and lots of fun. At first the melody sounded like the Cruella De Ville theme from 101 Dalmations. Terrific playing!

Thanks!  I couldn't remember the Cruella theme so I had to google it to check it out.  I can hear the similarity a little!

Outstanding.  Sounds ready for the radio, to me!

Jeff

A really well done  tune.  The vocals and harmonies especially sound great.

Jeff

Nice groove.  I love seeing all the hardware synths in action!

Enjoyed that.  Well done.

Everything about this, the groove, the bass, the trumpet, the piano, the singing and lyrics was an absolute treat.  That's probably the most convincing trumpet vst I've heard, especially considering it was out in front and solo at a couple points.  The vibrato on it was really well done.  I'm curious how hard it was to program.

Outstanding job.

Jeff

5 hours ago, Teegarden said:

Well played, some nice changes and good recorded very nice piano sound! Sounds great through my monitors😀

Appreciate it!  Actually this was played on a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano.  I recorded the video with my camera and midi on the piano, and then took the midi to my PC and rendered it using Native Instruments The Grandeur.  That way I don't have to complete quiet when I'm recording, which impossible in a house with 11 year old and 13 year old boys anyway!  😀

19 hours ago, garybrun said:

Like it.
You cant beet the sound of a nice piano.

Thanks!

The attention to detail on note choice, rhythm, and composition in general paid off.  It shows.  It's an excellent soundscape.

Jeff

Excellent.  I'm hearing the Peter Gabriel comparison, too.  Singing is great and there are some very tasty guitar licks in there too.

17 hours ago, Wookiee said:

Thank you Jeff. I can understand the Who connection, the tune involves 4 instruments playing ARP patterns, one 24 steps, one 16 steps, one 8 steps. The 4th ARP is a little different from the other 3, playing a I, IV, V, over 8 steps, finishing V, VI.

The 24 step pattern starts it all, after 48 bars the 16 step pattern overlaps in a 24 bar repeat. Then the 8 step pattern starts after another 24 bars repeating until the end.

Each pattern steps are based on a major scale progression. The 4th pattern only shows itself a random points. The bass and drums are there just for some fun, growing in content as it progresses to add some interest. 

Appreciate your ears and comments. 

Appreciate the details.  I'm always impressed by how you have so many interleaving parts and patterns.

Actually, when I read the song title I was expecting a chord structure based on the circle of 5ths.  That might make for a cool follow-up.

On 7/10/2023 at 10:19 AM, jack c. said:

nice add some other instruments here and there.jack c

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback.

A very moving tribute.  I'm sure your friend must have really appreciated it.

I didn't hear the original version, but the drums sounded plenty punchy in this one.  Nice job.

It's not often you head to youtube to listen to songs and get hit with come quotes from Voltaire

The whole production was really well done.

'Tis the best of all possible worlds, indeed.

On 7/10/2023 at 8:58 AM, Wookiee said:

Constructive criticism welcome as always, any other criticism keep to yourself it is only you that is upset.  

I do apologize, as I have no criticism, constructive or otherwise. I rather enjoyed it.

About 2 minutes in the arpeggios were giving me a strong vibe of The Who.   Very clever and inventive.

Jeff

I wrote this blues and boogie piece for piano a couple years ago, but wanted to re-record it to see if I could do it better.  It took me a couple of months to work it up to the speed I really wanted to play it at.  I hope you enjoy it!

Jeff

2 hours ago, bjornpdx said:

Definitely prefer the 2nd version although the faster tempo of the first one lent itself well to depicting a storm.

I like the main theme (very nice!) that comes in right at the beginning and then you return to it a couple of times. I was thinking it could work well if you had a calmer "after the storm" part featuring that theme. Anyway, impressive playing. Really enjoyed it.

Hi Bjorn,

Thanks for the kind words and the interesting suggestion.  If I get a chance, I'll play with that notion a little bit.

Quote

 Beethoven approves.  🙂

That made my week!

3 hours ago, FreeEarCandy said:

Second one is most certainly too fast, but impressive playing. The second one is much better in terms of time in my opinion. Have you ever tried to slow it down and even perhaps simplify it more? Don't get me wrong. I certainly do enjoy watching/listening to a very talented piano player that sounds like he has a few extra fingers, but I'm reminded of something my mother told me a very long time ago-"There is an elegance in simplicity".  No doubt, the composition is wonderful, but the parts that seemed to hit me on an emotional level were the slow areas in between. The faster parts appealed to the logical side of my brain. In any event, it was a most enjoyable piece, Jeff.  You are very talented.

Thanks!  To be honest, I don't think I was ever able to play it all the way through at the original speed with eventually crashing like a train wreck.. I don't know what I was thinking putting in those damn left hand arpeggio's, especially on A flat,  but they just about killed

I much prefer the slower version, too. I've never really revisited the composition too much on this piece, other than to rework some of the chord voicings.  But I totally get what  you are saying about simplicity.  I often find myself these days recording something, and then after first pass, stripping out so many excess notes to try and simply. 

5 hours ago, mark skinner said:

 Very Nice playing. I very much prefer the rendering on the new mix. Old mix was impressive as well but it did seem a little muffled and maybe a couple of bpm on the fast side.  I thought it was interesting watching your gaze go from the left to the right hand while playing. I'm a one handed player and it seems I'm going to stay that way.  I Really enjoyed this ..

mark

Thank you Mark.

I really appreciate your comment about the new mix being clearer.  It's something I've been working on improving, so it's nice to know that you can hear the difference.

7 hours ago, AndyB01 said:

I listened to both (original first). The tempo of the first really does showcase your piano chops but I definitely prefer the rolling tempo of the second - sounds a little more expressive too in terms of light and shade.

Impressive stuff either way, you have great talent and use it well. 🙂

Andy

Thanks, Andy.  I appreciate the kind words.

11 hours ago, aleo said:

A fine, really nice piece, Jeff.  Beautifully played.

Thanks!