Last year, my New Year's resolution was to try and record 1 song per week. I'm happy to announce that I was able to get that done.

I'm gonna keep it going in 2026.

This week... "Amira's Coffee Shop", by me, Steve Mohacey.

20 years ago, I was deployed with the 4th Infantry Division band to Iraq for OIF 5-7. 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 duty 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 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.

I wrote "Amira's Coffee Shop" after we made a trip to Camp Prosperity. We went to Camp Prosperity for a 72-hour mission at the site of Saddam’s trial, but the war had other plans. When our return transport was diverted, 3 days stretched into 5. In the sudden, unexpected stillness of those extra days, we found Amira’s. It was a small coffee shop run by an Iraqi woman who, we were told, made the best Turkish coffee in the country. For the first time in nearly a 100 days, the clock stopped. We sat, breathed, and found gratitude in the steam of a cup of coffee. It wasn't just the best coffee I’ve ever had—it was the first time in months we felt human again.

I don't know what happened to Amira, but I truly hope she is alive and well.

I hope you enjoy, "Amira's Coffee Shop".

I REALLY wanted to use real tracks to create the entire recording. However, I wasn't able to find a bass track that would play what I wrote on the intro and head of the song. I did have Band in a Box play the bass part during the sax solo and right at the very end of the song. So, here is what I did:

I wrote the song and used Finale to save and engrave it. I saved the individual bass track from the arrangement in finale to .mid file. I recorded myself on Tenor sax throughout the song. I assigned the following sounds included in Logic Pro to cover bass on the intro, head on the way in and out: Punchy Bottom

Here's the Band in the Box info:

906:Piano, Electric, Rhythm SmoothCool Sw16 100
1437:Piano, Electric, Rhythm JazzFunkGroovin EV 1 110
1080:Piano, Electric, Soloist SmoothJazzCool delay SW16 100

The drum part came from this:
Memo: This is a slow 50s pop 12/8 Style with acoustic piano & nylon guitar in triplets. Very simple bass & brushes. '!' smart guitar voicings, brushes. 5 instruments: piano, bass, brushes, guitar, strings. T=62 -Examples: Memories, Impossible Dream, Genre "Intensity" Score=70/100
-PERCY~.STY. Percy-Slow 12/8 50s Pop
Real and MIDI. Quintet. Tempo=65 (50-85)
Instruments: M-Acoustic String Bass, M-Ac.Piano, M-NylonGuitar, M-Strings, Drums
RD: CountryShuffle: a: SideStick, HiHat b: Snare, HiHat :Shawn Soucy
M33: Acoustic String Bass
M1: Acoustic Piano
M25: Nylon String Guitar
M49: Strings

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 Reference 54 Tenor Saxophone.
Mouthpiece- Dave Guardala Michael Brecker 1 (handmade).
Boston Sax Shop Black Box 3 reeds (the BEST REEDS EVER!).

Filmed on iPhone 15 Pro Max.

This video was edited using Final Cut Pro.

Last edited by Steve Mohacey; 01/04/26 08:51 PM.
Warmest regards,

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