Background:
Here is an upbeat arrangement inspired by love between a man and his woman walking amoungst the autumn leaves.

Technicals:
I tried to apply some new found knowledge from my newbies theory book regarding binary forms:
AB(Intro) AB AB AB AB Outro

BiaB Style 1: Karma - New Age Smooth Jazz
BiaB Style 2: Be Cool Soulful Smooth Cool Jazz
My first time trying to sequence 2 different styles

Me: Bass Guitar and Vibraphone via the Korg Keyboard

The vibraphone was an afterthought, I hope there is not too much sonic overlap between it and the e-piano.

Recorded and mixed in Studio One.
I tried to utilize some panning but the right-hand pan seems inoperative, so everything is centered.

Autumn Love

Bass Thumper,

I'm a big fan of smooth jazz and really liked this piece you've put together! Your contributions musically to this are excellent! It's a feel-good song that I enjoyed!

Thanks, Torrey

Hi Bass Thumper,

Very nice chord progression.

Also very tasty Bass playing.

Best Regards
Nigel

Hi Bass Thumper ...

Like Torrey, I'm a huge fan of Smooth Jazz. My wife and used to write and perform quite a birt of Smooth Jazz before she became very ill and can no longerr sing. I need to get back to doing a little more of it instrumentally.

I really enjoyed this. I found no conflicting overlap of the various tracks.

Take care ...

Alan

Torrey, this coming from a 5 star guy like you means a lot.
Thanks for the listen, thanks for the feedback.

I too am a big fan of SJ. I discovered it about 5 years ago. Not exactly sure what the appeal is (probably several appeals) but this genre speaks to me. I hope PG Music continues to offer more styles in this genre.

Nice relaxing smooth jazz tune. I like, for example, David Sanborn and this is not far from his works (excluding his sax).
Enjoyed the bass playing and the vibraphone works also very well.
Certainly has autumn mood, that harp introduces it beautifully and the chord progression is very streamlined like maple leaves gently falling on the ground. Maybe the organ is bit too loud.

Janne

Thanks a bunch for commenting on this Nigel.
Glad you enjoyed my efforts on this.

Thanks a bunch for the comment Alan, glad you enjoyed this.

Sorry to hear your wife no longer sings. Hopefully she will collaborate with you on your next arrangement in some other capacity.

Oh yeah, David Sanborn, "Mr. Saxophone", very talented indeed.
I wasn't sure if the vibraphone was distinguisable in the mix to others. Glad you enjoyed this.
Duly noted on the organ.

"Maple Leaves Falling"? Sounds like a song title

Bass Thumper,
Neat instrumental, New Age Jazz feel. Nice chord progression and playing. Thank you for sharing,
Misha

Pleasant and upbeat - in addition to being smooth.

Nice arrangement of instruments to keep things fresh.

BT,

A nice listen.
Good Bass sound. Well played.
Vibes sound good.
Mix has a good balance.

The transition at :42 could use some "smoothing out". Maybe allow some note to carry over?....

fj

Excellent smooth jazz.

Super instrumentation - no overlap that I could hear.

Your best bass playing to date - excellent chops.

I didn't care for that ultra quick transition. FWIW I don't think you even need that intro section. The rest of the track is brilliant.

Your best to date.

Hey Misha, appreciate your listen and comments.

Hey Mario, really appreciate your comments, especially on my bass playing. Coming from a master of music like you means a lot.

As of about 2 or so months ago I needed a chord sheet for every song and days of laboriously working out a bass line. Now it seems I don't need the sheet in front of me anymore (at least for the stuff I write) and the bass lines seem to spring up organically. I feel some chains are dropping off me and I can taste freedom. I hope that's called progress. Indeed, the melody (if that's what it is) on the vibraphone came to me within just 5 minutes. I can't imagine being where I am as a bass player without BiaB.

I thought I needed the intro to give it some variation since it's an "AB" form. But then again smooth jazz is quite repetitive and predictable. I need to think more about this.

Hey Floyd, you are another musical giant I admire on this forum. Thanks for the kind words.

The creative thinking at :42 was to have a gap between the 2 styles as some artists do, the intent is to produce a bit of musical surprise when the 2nd style comes in. But I can also see smoothing it out as another way to do it, perhaps with the strings sustaining a note. Thanks.

Wow Steve,
your bass playing is moving ahead in leaps & bounds.
This is a nice piece with some cool instrumentation decisions.
The panning - seemed okay.
Often panning is a problem when using a stereo source a lot of signal can be lost depending on how it was recorded. If I don't specifically want the left & right hand stuff spread across the stereo image usually render a stereo source to mono, (organ, piano etc.), before mixing and panning it.

Your bass playing really stood out to me and I would have mentioned it even if your user name wasn't Bass Thumper. Nice tune all in all, ended a bit quickly for me. Good work!!

Hey Ray,
Many thanks for the kind words regarding my playing. I figure that after 7 years on this instrument it's time to up my game. I may be at the beginning stages of understanding how this instrument can contribute to the band and over the last 24 months BiaB has helped me achieve the little that I've accomplished.

The only real instrumentation decision I made was to select the vibraphone voice on the Korg and work out a riff that hopefully worked.

As for the panning, I'm experiencing technical difficulties. I get zero output when I pan hard right. It used to work fine. Not sure if it's Studio One, my Tascam Interface, a Windows issue or operator error . . . probably the later.

Many thanks for the kind words and constructive criticism.

In my humble opinion the intro and outro of an arrangement can influence the entire piece and I try to pay attention to these bookends. I agree, I didn't give the requisite attention to the outro on this one. Thanks for pointing that out.

Yes, I saw the leaves tumbling down in the beginning of the song.
Very cool music.
The vibraphone worked out fine to my ears.
Nice composition.

Anne-Marie

Great afterthought, Steve. The vibraphone adds the perfect touch. Man, I really enjoy your bass playing. The tone is strong and every notes owns the right feel and volume. I also like your creative bass lines. Hey, I think you married those two styles very well.

Thank you Anne-Marie for listening and commenting, glad you liked it.

Hey Marty,
You are another creative giant I admire here.
Thanks for the listen and kind words.
Keep plucking those fat strings

Hi Steve,

A very swinging Jazzy lovesong you made!
I liked the intro and bass guitar the most, but read in the posts I'm not the only one.
To me all instruments sound clear enough and don't get in each other's way.
So, a very nice lovesong, without words...

Hans

Hey Hans, many thanks for the kind words. Glad you liked it and that the e-piano and vibraphone didn't step on each another.

Janice said she thought of this song while we were hiking our leaf filled trails with our dog today.

Very smooth jazz indeed. The vibraphone fits in very nicely and your bass sounds great ... a happy bass vibe

Enjoyed it,

J&B

Enjoyed the song, the bass playing and the vibes.

Well composed and evocative.

Peter

Hey Bud, thanks for listening and tell Janice that was one big appreciated compliment. Glad you enjoyed the happy bass.

Enjoy those crunchy fallen leaves with her, especially the lovely aromas. I love the smell of freshly fallen leaves.

Hey Peter, many thanks for listening and the words of encouragement.
Glad you enjoyed it.

Hi Bass Thumper,

I like the blend of the two styles, and the transition works well between them I think. I like the chord progression too. Lots of movement to keep things interesting, not that easy to do in an instrumental.

Good, solid playing on the bass, nice tone too. I also liked the vibraphone part.

Enjoyed the listen, well done!

Hey Dave, I'm glad you enjoyed this and that it all worked. To be sure, when composing my arrangements, I'm never sure if much of anything will work. Lately I find myself not being too satisfied with "playing it safe". So I mess around with stuff that I haven't necessarily heard before, like 2 different smooth jazz styles mashed together.

Isn't BiaB a great creative tool?

PS> If you haven't already, check out the Ron Carter film on PBS, a great source of inspiration.

Very nice! The entire tune just has a feel good vibe to it. You knocked it out with that bass, I really liked. I liked your ideas throughout and a really good production and mix.

I appreciate the kind words Brad; you are one of several artists here I admire.

If October Never Came and The House Built By Ruth are just 2 gems of yours I like.

Lovely piece. Excellent bass lines. Love how the bass setup the arpeggios. Very cool jam. Hammond was a nice touch

Much appreciated Scott.

PS> I like your song Changes