My New Years resolution... try to record at least 1 song per week.

This week... "Baghdad Blues", by me, Steve Mohacey

In November 2005, I deployed with the 4th Infantry Division Band to Baghdad, Iraq as part of OIF 05-7. I post this information only to put in context where and when I wrote this song. I hope everyone will lay aside their personal feelings about the rightness or wrongness of the war. I do not want this post to become political fodder. It's just about this song and the guys whom I wrote it for and who first played it so long ago (almost 20 years now!).

While in Iraq, the band was tasked with many different duties and assignments. But the ONE assignment that kept us all going was this: we had a MUSICAL mission. Our little band of 37 (I believe that is correct... it's been a long time) musicians would head out to even the most remote Forward Operating Bases (FOB) and bring high quality, live musical entertainment, to our troops (the GREATEST audiences you could EVER play music for by the way). We wanted to bring them a few moments of peace, even if only for an hour. This was hazardous, as we had to get from point A to point B. During my time in Iraq, we travelled more than 25,000 miles, through the most dangerous terrain on Earth at the time. But.. I did it with some of the most talented, and certainly most committed to Soldier-Musicians ever assembled.

While many of our comrades were blogging about their time in Iraq, we decided to write music and create a musical blog of our experiences. My musical partners in jazz crimes, Joshua Distefano (keys), Chris Kerley (bass), Brian Archer (drums/sound), and I got busy writing music. We wrote so much music that we even recorded an album of Josh's music WHILE in Iraq during our scarce downtime.

"Baghdad Blues" was inspired by the sounds of the Mosque calls that we would hear in the mornings and evenings. Josh and I were always trying to figure out what notes they were singing. I'm sure we made everyone crazy while we were trying to put those sounds on our instruments and into our music. Those sounds, which I will NEVER forget, eventually made their way into our music. As you listen to this song, imagine you are starting your day in Iraq. You are prepping the people and the gear to move out and take music to one of the FOBs. You make your way through Baghdad. Soon, you are playing some banging jazz... but before you know it, the show is over. And then it's "rinse and repeat" time. Off to the next mission.

I hope you enjoy, "Baghdad Blues".

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I REALLY wanted to use real tracks to create the entire recording. But there were so many written lines that it proved impossible. So, here is what I did:

I wrote the song and used Finale to save and engrave it. I had Finale generate a drum groove over the "head" of my song. I saved the individual tracks from the arrangement in finale to .mid files. I recorded myself on Soprano sax throughout the song. I assigned the following sounds included in Logic Pro to cover the other "head" tracks (00:27 - 01:32 AND 03:12 - 04:16). I used the Turkish Saz Zither, Slap & Pop, British Stack Synth Lead, and SoCal sounds.

The morning call to prayer I got from this site: https://www.islamcan.com/audio/adhan/index.shtml, azan12.mp3

The middle, "weird and freaky" section was all Apple Loops.

The cool "funky" solo section is all Band in A Box:

Memo: This RealStyle features a tight and funky horn section playing over electric piano, guitar, slap bass, and drums. -Examples: Get Up Offa That Thing, Get On The Good Foot, Papas Got A Brand New Bag, Genre "Intensity" Score=82/100
_DUPER.STY. Duper Funky Horns
All RealTracks. Quintet. Tempo=110 (85-135)
Instruments: El.Bass, El.Piano, El.Guitar, HornSection, Drums
RD: FunkHalfNoteSync: a: Snare, Kick b: Busy Kick :Michael White
RT2607: Bass, Electric, ModernSlapFunkAlex Ev16 110 , Alex Al
RT2526: Piano, Electric, Rhythm FunkTremolo Ev16 100 , Jeff Young
RT2525: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm FunkWahWahChords Ev16 100 , Greg Moore
RT4416: Horn Section, Background Funk16thsChris Ev 110 , Chris West


The saxophone was recorded using a Sennheiser 441 with the "FETHEAD" to boost the gain. The Sennheiser 441 is a dynamic mic. The Fethead gives it a 27db bump via the pre-amp built into my Focusrite Clarett++ 2pre. Dynamic mics do not require phantom power. The FETHEAD uses phantom power to boost the gain and just plugs into the XLR out on my mic.

Backing tracks via Band In A Box 2025 Ultrapak Plus for Mac.

Recorded in Logic Pro 11.

Selmer Selmer Series III Soprano Sax.
Mouthpiece- Bobby Dukoff 8* .
Boston Sax Shop Black Box 3 reeds (the BEST REEDS EVER!).

Filmed on iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Sennheiser HD 620s closed back headphones (these things are AWESOME).

This video was edited using Final Cut Pro.

Last edited by Steve Mohacey; 07/22/25 10:41 AM.
Warmest regards,

Steve Mohacey
mohacey@satx.rr.com
https://www.reverbnation.com/stevemohacey