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Jimi And Betty Davis Tribute Song


kennywtelejazz

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Hi Guys , 

My Last thread has something like 4 songs in it so I'm forced to have to start a new thread for my new song 😅

On this one I played guitar , guitar synth , and Keys ( for drum programing ) The hardest thing about this tune for me was lifting Betty's Voice off some of  her recordings .

While doing that I had to time the stuff underneath her voice . In any event I had a blast doing this tune as imperfect as a few things may be w the vocals ...they are there more for the dramatic effect ...

 

I hope you enjoy ,

 

Kenny

Edited by kennywtelejazz
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I must admit I knew nothing about Betty Davis music until now. After some research I don't how I missed her. That was Very creative. I really liked the tone of the wah and how immersive it was , and liked the transition around 2:19 going into the more chicken pickin vibe. Good job pulling the vocals out. Enjoyed it.  mark

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19 hours ago, Douglas Kirby said:

I thought you really nailed a Hendrix vibe on this one - sounded cool. Excellent lead guitar playing - well done.

WOW  Douglas ! after hearing all of that , I'm gonna have to send you a twenty instead if the Ten I promised  you 😂

I listened to Jimi a lot when I was younger.  I'm glad I was able to convey his Influence in my playing .

Thank you so much for giving this tune a listen.

all the best

Kenny

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19 hours ago, mark skinner said:

I must admit I knew nothing about Betty Davis music until now. After some research I don't how I missed her. That was Very creative. I really liked the tone of the wah and how immersive it was , and liked the transition around 2:19 going into the more chicken pickin vibe. Good job pulling the vocals out. Enjoyed it.  mark

Hi Mark , 

 I listened to Betty Davis back in the day.  Back then (Mid 70's ... ) there was a lot of good music . I could hardly keep up with all the Music I Liked .

After developing a taste for Jazz and some other Music I loved , I had forgotten about her music up until only recently ...

 As you research Betty Davis you may find she has an interesting history , both in Music and in her personal Life . 

Betty was a first in a lot of areas so I'm not giving  away any spoilers ...., hey dig this

I don't always play Wah , but when I do , I like to use an Immersive tone !  🎆

Thank you for complementing my guitar playing  and productions skills ( the ones you liked ) it mean a lot too me .

all the best ,

Kenny

Edited by kennywtelejazz
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On 11/17/2020 at 7:49 AM, Bapu said:

Top Drawer, Kenny!

Thank You Ed !

On 11/17/2020 at 7:27 PM, Mesh said:

Very good stuff Kenny!!

Enjoyed this groovy track mixed with some funky/jazzy/bluesy flavors, made it very tasty indeed!  

Hi Mesh ! thanks for giving this one a listen . I'm glad you enjoyed

all the best ,

Kenny

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Always a pleasure to hear you in creative mode Kenny, perhaps some parallel compression on the drums might have made the kick a little more, but you know what you are doing.

Sweet guitar as ever.

Edited by Wookiee
Well Kenny's music may contain a parable?
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Another enjoyable one Kenny. 

I don't know if this has been discussed before but each song in it's own thread works for me - some days (like today) my "at work playlist" is this sub forum and it helps me quickly and easily see what's new vs. ongoing discussion on something I've heard. Music is meant to be shared and I don't think anyone should feel awkward making a new post for each song.

Looking forward to your next...

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Hey Kenny, I've been listening to a lot of JH lately (esp. Band of Gypsys) so this hit the spot.  Very nice mixing and of course your playing is stellar.  I really liked the relaxed funky feel of this too.  Only two nitty nits ------ you coulda left Bette (no "y" there) out of it and I wouldn't be unhappy and the chicken pickin' parts kinda took me out of the feel of the more Jimi inspired parts of the song -- more Wah, more Jimi!  As usual...great.~~Allan.

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That was most enjoyable, Kenny. Impressive guitar chops! Love that you don't fall into the common trap of burying a nice tone under excessive fx.

If I was mixing it, I'd try brightening/fattening the kick and snare a bit as they get a little lost here and there and don't contribute as much punch as they could. The drum programming is quite good. I'm especially impressed that it was played on a keyboard by a non-keyboardist. And very appreciative that you avoided my biggest peeve regarding sampled drums: the sin of tedious repetition.

But given that the featured element is the back-and-forth guitars, giving the back seat to percussion is a very minor nit.

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On 11/20/2020 at 4:50 AM, Wookiee said:

Always a pleasure to hear you in creative mode Kenny, perhaps some parable compression on the drums might have made the kick a little more, but you know what you are doing.

Sweet guitar as ever.

Hi Wookiee ,

It seems in the past month I may have had a spurt or a boost in my creativity . With the whole Pandemic and isolation going on I doubled down on my Music as a means of trying to keep my creativity and sanity .

I will look into implementing your suggestion  of bumping up the kick drum

Thanks for giving this one a listen .

On 11/20/2020 at 8:52 AM, Lynn Wilson said:

Kenny, I like this very much, and I think you nailed the production!  "Dance to the music" indeed!

Hi Lynn ,

You are very kind too me with what you have just said ...Over the years I have been here I have gone from being in the outfield with my productions to maybe being a little closer to home plate .I'm glad you liked this and I'm happy you took the time to let me know that ...

all the best,

On 11/20/2020 at 11:19 AM, Fred's Gratis Scores said:

Another enjoyable one Kenny. 

I don't know if this has been discussed before but each song in it's own thread works for me - some days (like today) my "at work playlist" is this sub forum and it helps me quickly and easily see what's new vs. ongoing discussion on something I've heard. Music is meant to be shared and I don't think anyone should feel awkward making a new post for each song.

Looking forward to your next...

Hi Fred's Gratis Scores !

I happen to agree with your posted statements wholeheartedly .I did it this way because  I had a bump in song output in the past 2 months .I didn't  feel right about posting 7 active song threads in such a short time . Anytime I have had 3 or 4 active song threads up I would get overwhelmed maintaining the threads I had up .

Then there's listening to other forum members music and song postings ... I do my best to provide solid feedback when I listen to other members music . Yet , I leave the hard core production feed back to others here that have chops in those areas ..

When all is said and done I post here because I like to share my guitar playing ...I'm still working on getting it together production wise ...

I'm looking forward to what my next one is gonna be myself ...lol everything I got going on now as possible new songs are all  nothing more than Sonic Frankensteins  ..lol

thank you for your listen and solid feed back I do appreciate it .

 

On 11/21/2020 at 1:48 PM, ABull said:

Hey Kenny, I've been listening to a lot of JH lately (esp. Band of Gypsys) so this hit the spot.  Very nice mixing and of course your playing is stellar.  I really liked the relaxed funky feel of this too.  Only two nitty nits ------ you coulda left Bette (no "y" there) out of it and I wouldn't be unhappy and the chicken pickin' parts kinda took me out of the feel of the more Jimi inspired parts of the song -- more Wah, more Jimi!  As usual...great.~~Allan.

Hello Allan ,

All my guitar tones on this song were dialed up from my  live gear ...I used my Live pedal board going into one of my smaller practice amps , then into my DAW ..

No re-amping and no amp sims what so ever ...  I'm proud of that too.

Sure , I know things could be improved , I like the country stuff near the end yet I may decide to do Dueling Wah's ..that whole section in my mind is still open...

You be interested in seeing this ..I wish I didn't have to do this to you but hey you spell checked me , you got it coming back at you   ..🤣

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Davis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Davis

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my playing on this song ..I had a real gas doing it .

all the best,

 

Kenny

 

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On 11/17/2020 at 12:55 AM, kennywtelejazz said:

listened to Jimi a lot when I was younger.  I'm glad I was able to convey his Influence in my playing .

You definitely caught the Hendrix vibe!

fine stuff, no doubt about it. 
and you actually had a little help from the bass player! Only time Jimi got that was from Cassidy on Voodoo Child ( the slow one) 🙃

t

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I didn't mean to leave some of you guys hanging . I wound up getting a new dog on Friday & it's been taking up a lot of my time .

On 11/22/2020 at 5:52 AM, Bajan Blue said:

Hi Kenny

wow, really like this and your guitar is, as always, top  shelf

too cool my friend, just too cool

Thanks for posting, this is going on repeat

Nigel

 

 

Hi Nigel ! I'm glad you like my guitar playing on this song . I guess from now on I'm just gonna have to use my live rig ...

thank you for listening and commenting .

On 11/22/2020 at 7:49 AM, bitflipper said:

That was most enjoyable, Kenny. Impressive guitar chops! Love that you don't fall into the common trap of burying a nice tone under excessive fx.

If I was mixing it, I'd try brightening/fattening the kick and snare a bit as they get a little lost here and there and don't contribute as much punch as they could. The drum programming is quite good. I'm especially impressed that it was played on a keyboard by a non-keyboardist. And very appreciative that you avoided my biggest peeve regarding sampled drums: the sin of tedious repetition.

But given that the featured element is the back-and-forth guitars, giving the back seat to percussion is a very minor nit.

Hi Dave !

Thank you for having something nice to say about my playing on this song . It means a lot ...I keep thinking someday I might drive up where you are to see you play a gig when things get back to normal .

I appreciate your mix suggestions  . I know you have the golden ear ...

You got it right my main focus was the back and forth guitars. Playing something fresh and interesting over the song while maintaining a tribute to both Jimi and Betty  is what I set out to do as a song concept with this one .

Full disclosure I didn't play every instrument on the track ....I won't take credit for what I didn't do ....my end of the drums were a bunch of fills and build ups in sections ...also the cow bell lol that is something I really enjoyed doing ..

all the best,

On 11/23/2020 at 1:42 PM, DeeringAmps said:

You definitely caught the Hendrix vibe!

fine stuff, no doubt about it. 
and you actually had a little help from the bass player! Only time Jimi got that was from Cassidy on Voodoo Child ( the slow one) 🙃

t

Hi Tom !

I run deep with the Jimi Hendrix influence . I was a teen when he was still alive and although I missed seeing him live I was heavily influenced by the astounding creativity he exhibited in his guitar playing . 

A funny story    ...I loved Jimi so much I wound up getting my long hair permed into an Afro like that artist painter dude Bob on PBS....

Then I started wearing Dashikis  and I ran w that look  LOL I'm not kidding ...this took place  from around 1972 to 1974 .....

A serious story , I have been to Jimi's Greenwich Village apt . I sat right on Jimi's couch among all of Jimi's photo's and his remaining stuff 2 times ...

the way that happened was Jimi had a roommate named Mike Q ...who held on to the apt after Jimi passed away and kept it the way it was in his honor and memory ...

The first time I went over there was 82 / 83 , I was auditioning for a theatrical Rock Band Mike was putting together ...I kept looking around while we were talking and I said to Mike man you must really love Hendrix ...He laughed and told me this was his crib and I was sitting on his couch ...whew 

I spent a few hours there that day and came back .....Mike was happy to let me pick his brain and he passed on information to me directly as far as how Jimi approached playing his guitar and songs ...it was real simple , even a dummy like me could use the info ...

When Jimi wrote Fire , he played Fire on his guitar ..he didn't play Moon Beams Polka Dots and Rainbows ...nope ... he played Fire ..

He always told a story in his playing  , everything he played fell into the category  of the greater songs message and concept ...He used his guitar to express the vibe and paint a musical picture with sound of his feelings about the songs message .

When Jimi played the Star Spangled Banner his guitar played the sounds of the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air....
 

I have ran with that concept since the day I sat on Jimi's couch ...This has been the single most important thing I have incorporated into my guitar playing over the years  ...

I have often told people that I often create a mental story line with in the song ...Then one of my Favorite things I do to keep inspired is then I will create actual characters for each of my guitar solo's  ...this song has a lot of that going on ...;)

all the best,

Kenny

Edited by kennywtelejazz
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Hey Kenny
Not familiar with Betty (with a y) Davis. Cool how you were able to lift bits of her voice and insert them into your project, more for the dramatic effect as you said.  As always I did enjoy your guitar playing, like how could you not? And I just wanted to comment that I was moved by the story upstairs of the new best friend in your life. Glad that worked out for you.  

 

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On 11/25/2020 at 6:45 PM, bjornpdx said:

Hey Kenny
Not familiar with Betty (with a y) Davis. Cool how you were able to lift bits of her voice and insert them into your project, more for the dramatic effect as you said.  As always I did enjoy your guitar playing, like how could you not? And I just wanted to comment that I was moved by the story upstairs of the new best friend in your life. Glad that worked out for you.  

 

Hi Bjorn ,

Glad you gave this song a listen ...when I lifted Betty's voice I had to lift the whole track and EQ out as much as I could while still maintaining her vocal character..

Then I had to tempo map it .... a lot of work , yet for a true vocalist who may listen to my song they may say I need to still work on my vocal production techs 🤣

Whew Oh Man ! my new dog is kicking my butt and I'm loving every min of it ...he has me up at 6 am ...every morning  we do a nice long walk ,then he sticks to me like Velcro ...for the rest of the day into the night . I may have pick up a double neck guitar w one neck just for him and one neck for me ....

all the best ,

Kenny

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