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Hi you all

Well I'm going to start posting the first series of jazz tunes that I've been writing since 2007. The accompaniments are all RT. I imported the accompaniments tracks in Garage Band and then recorded myself playing my themes and improvisations on tenor sax. That's mainly what I've been doing with BIAB since 2007 : accompaniments tracks to jazz standards and writing my own jazz themes. Can't say that I write progressive jazz. If I'd have to categorize it, I guess it's rather in a cool jazz vein. I try to explore different styles : songs in the path of Porter and Washington, blues, bossa, jazz waltz, ballads.

I've been studying (and still studying) classical clarinet for almost 20 years. Around 2005 I started to get interested in playing jazz. Tenor sax seemed to be the right instrument for me to play jazz. So in september 2006 I bought a tenor sax. I learned to play jazz by myself. Now I need to play both classical and jazz. Since my main activity in music is to compose, it seemed natural to try my hand at writing some jazz.

If some of you are interested in RT specifics, I'd have to check in detail. Usually I try and use the jazz styles as is, but some times I mix up a basic style with different real tracks.

I think the recordings are acceptable. Mostly, what I'd like are your impressions on the music and the playing. If you give me sound tips, don't give me complicated explanations. Don't get me wrong, it can only help to have the best recording possible, but I don't have the patience or the knowledge to make professional recordings like most people do around here. I really get lost in all the parameters that can be applied on a single recorded track, and I'm only working with Garage Band ! I mainly want to write and play. So I stayed basic. For those of you who know Garage Band : I chose “solo sax” to record myself and what they call a “lounge” sound for the general ambiance and normalized the sound when converting to mp3. So it doesn't sound, to my ears at least, like I recorded myself in my living room, in front of my MAC. I guess I'd need a real microphone in front of my sax, which I don't have.

That's as far as I went in “sound tweaking”. I did leave here and there some very small “glitches” (don't know how to call them). Seemed like they didn't interfere with the overall atmosphere of the tunes. All the few distortions, dissonances and sometimes “forced” sound, were done on purpose. On some tunes, when taking my breath before hitting a note, I could hear the “click” of the sax keys way too loud, so when I could, I erased a few of those. On some tunes I was wondering if the sax shouldn't be a bit louder, but then again sometimes I think it's ok.

The themes and improvisations were played in one take. I mean, not just once, but themes + improv always in one take. Since I try to be as accurate as possible when I play the in and out themes , I started over some tunes several times, mainly because some themes were not as I wanted them to sound. But I never workout an improv before playing. What I redid though, were some codas. Sometimes after starting over some tunes a couple of times (theme + improv) and if I seemed satisfied enough and missed the coda, I really didn't feel like redoing the whole tune. So some codas were directly re-recorded on a different track and pasted on the original.

I put a link to 5 audio files. If somebody is interested in seeing the lead sheets, there's also a link that contains the sheets (in concert pitch) to each tune. I use Overture for scoring everything I compose. This past month I recorded all I wrote up to now in jazz. I think it would be too much to put everything at the same time, so once a month, if people don't get bored, I'll put another link to 5 new tunes, without writing this much. That's about it. Hope I wasn't to long.

audio : http://www.box.net/shared/an9n9c1jtq

scores : http://www.box.net/shared/0c9oe3ou70

Hi Pierre Julien,

I'm listening to "Uncle Mongnon's Blues" as I type. I know nothing about tenor sax but I am thoroughly enjoying the listen. You have a very smooth and engaging sound happening. To my ears this sounds excellent. The mix works for me.

Your work was a pleasure to listen to.

Regards,
Noel

Hey Noel

That was fast ! I thought everybody was still sleeping. Don't know what time it is in Australia... Thank you very much for comments. Very encouraging, as this is the first time I put my jazz playing on a forum. Glad you liked it.

Bonjour Pierre
Wow - it is very nice to hear you playing the sax. Very nice playing I must say. My favourite track is the up-tempo "sunny side up". The mix works for me too. But yes, the sax "could" be a tad more forward, but it works like it is very well. I hope you don't mind me suggesting to you to control the low end very carefully. The bass comes through here quite strong (but this could be my setup here, don't know). I enjoy listening to your jazz and am looking forward to hearing more....
Avec mes meilleures salutations
Daniel

Sälü Daniel

Thanks for your comments. Really don't mind your suggestions on the bass. It doesn't seem that strong over here, but I will try and check it out as best I can. Thanks for listening.

Guete Tag

Pierre, this is really great stuff! I completely enjoyed your music.

Bob

Hi Bob

Thanks for the listening and your comment. Glad my music provided you some enjoyable moments.

Hi Pierre
i have to say this is excellent ,i am not a huge lover of jass but this is so professional and one amazing sound .you must have spent years getting this good ,a standing ovation for you my friend,best wishes Brian.

Good stuff Pierre - looking forward to hearing more.

Brian

Thanks for listening, even if jazz is not your cup of tea. Hey, we all have are own preferences. Well I've been at it for 5 years, but I play, listen and study as much as I can. It's not truly a "real" jazz session, since I'm the only one doing the solos. I wouldn't see myself improvising with BIAB. But I'm not trying to recreate a "make believe" session. I made these to have recordings of my pieces and a document of how I thought them out.

Lawrie

Thanks for the listen. And yeah, I'll have some more coming to the showcase next month. I'll start putting some bossa too. Glad you liked it.

Pierre,

I enjoyed these songs - very pleasant listen. I think they turned out well, especially for "recording your playing in front of your Mac in the living room"! Obviously, with a good quality mic, and so on, you would be able to do more, production-wise. But you got a good representation of your playing and that's what counts. Band in a Box is a great tool for what you are doing. Gives you a good solid platform to develop your chops, and you are doing just that. Keep up the good work!

Steve

Hi Steve

Thanks for your nice comments. It's encouraging coming from you that always produces quality work, I may just run out and go buy myself a mic ! No, I think I'll stay an endless amateur in sound production. Like you said BIAB is great tool for me, but also for many different music horizons. We have proof of that in the showcase. Keep up the good work on your side too !

Very impressive considering you used your built-in computer mic!....Yes go get yourself a good quality microphone and interface....You play great....might as well make your recordings even better....
Len

Nice work Pierre!

Thanks Peter for listening.

Thanks also to you Len. Yeah, guess one of these days I'll put a post in off topics to ask for some pointers on buying a mic. But I'm not there yet...