Here's one from 1940 by Matt Dennis and Tom Adair for all us hard luck guys and gals on the Forum. On this one, I play a brand-new instrument: The
PUCKERTRON. This instrument is played by few performers, but there's no doubt who's the boss: It's Ron McRoby and I don't dare put down a link to him because you'll never come back to listen to
me!
..................Everything Happens to Me Aleck Rand: Keyboard, guitar,
puckertron, various editings of Neil Swainson's RealBass. Bass players, check out my favorite intervention at 1:44 using the Sampletank Upright #2.
RealDrums: Jazz brushes
Sounds great to me! Your guitar is always top notch.
Ps - I also play a Puckertron but I can only use it when the wife is near!
Hi, Dean ! :))
Did you really mean that that
whistling sound was an instrument ?
I thought it was you, my friend !!!:))(lol)!!
In any case, this was a very beautiful
tune with wonderful progressions so
delicately played and produced by you !:))
Cheers
Dani
Hi Dani,
The "Puckertron" is just an invented joke name. That really is me whistling. And thank you for the beautiful remarks. I worked a similar reharmonization of the piano voicings on this one too.
Dean
This is my favorite of your productions yet. Great mix, arrangement, performance and production. I'm thankful the Puckertron is an invented joke name, I was pulled in and about to go to Wikipedia to learn more about it. I'll put it on the shelf with my old helmet stretcher from high school days.
Charlie
Dean,
this is very creative on several levels. I like the whistling... er, the puckertron... but, having heard your actual vocals, I liked them too!
Your chord interpretation sounds totally classy and top-notch, as usual! And the little bit of upright fanciness at 1:44 was indeed cool!
Once again, after hearing you play I've decided to abandon music ... which, given my current track record, requires no change whatsoever. ;-)
Thanks for working to keep Jazz alive in the forum!
Hi Dean. Good to hear from you again. Loved your puckertron, although I think your guy may be seriously challenged by one of my picks. James Taylor plays the instrument beautifully on 2 or 3 tracks on his October Road CD. It is absolutely one of the best CDs I've heard in my life. Youtube "Fourth of July" or "Whenever You're Ready" and "James Taylor" and check it out. Fun listen! Take care. Greg
Hi Dean,
the kettle is on!
That's really something new. Referring to the length of the song I would have liked a guitar solo.
Nice guitar and piano. I like your bass "interventions".
Guenter
A good listen, Dean. Though a tad long for a puckertron song...
I especially liked your keyboard work on this.
fj
Hi Dean. Good to hear from you again. Loved your puckertron, although I think your guy may be seriously challenged by one of my picks. James Taylor plays the instrument beautifully on 2 or 3 tracks on his October Road CD. It is absolutely one of the best CDs I've heard in my life. Youtube "Fourth of July" or "Whenever You're Ready" and "James Taylor" and check it out. Fun listen! Take care. Greg
I watched JT's group perform some of those songs on a PBS special. The whistle was a synth patch. (at least on the performance I watched... )
Dean's puckertron is the real deal. ;-)
Check out the album tracks Pat. They are bona fide puckertron! I imagine it is tricky to mic for whistling in a live show. Take care. Greg
Very neat song. Background music was excellent. Really enjoyed your whistling a nice change.
Mario!
You mean, you use the Puckertron for THAT?
Alek,
I've tried recording whistling with no success. Bravo performance.
That was much enjoyable!!!
I spent 30 minutes trying to find us a puckertron at SweetWater.
Bud
Dean, You're right 1:44 is very cool. I also love the bass doubling of the melody at around 2:55. Excellent job. The mix sounds just right. Tom
Tommy,
Now, what you said about the mix is just what I'm looking for. Bad or good. I might just be getting better at the mixing game.
Dean
Hi Janice and Bud, you nice people
Y'know, I intended that some be convinced, at least at first, that the Puckertron was a real instrument or real software, like Melodyne.
Some folks have mentioned James Taylor as having produced some tunes where he whistles very well. So, certainly, I am far from the first to do it. In my view, the master will always be the highly obscure Ron McRoby (search YouTube). He can whistle Charlie Parker solos at full speed and his range makes some of his musical ideas available only to dogs!
And, I'm glad you liked it.
Dean
Greg,
You mentioned the mike. Ron McRoby uses a special mike to filter out the blowing noise. What I did was to use the pop-stopper, but whistle at the mike sideways. Even so, there's lots of noise.
If you know "Toots" Thielemans - the world's greatest harmonica player - you may not have known that he's a great jazz guitarist and the equal of anyone as a jazz whistler.
But let me check out those recommended albums. And thanks for the info.
Dean
Haaaaaaa! Charlie. I knew more than one person would be taken in by the "Puckertron." And thanks for your kind remarks.
Dean
Hey Jim,
Don't get the impression that it was a walk in the park for me. So many times I'd hit record and all I hear is air through my lips. It seemed to depend on so many weird things - the time of day, whether or not I was dehydrated, ...
Deab