Some songs I like.
Oslo | Oslo.mp3
By Hakon Kornstad
Friendly Night | Friendly-Night.mp3
By Gerardo Frisina
Breathe | breathe.mp3
By Nicole Campbell
I Can’t Get Next to You | I-Cant-Get-Next-to-You.mp3
Al Green version of the Temptations song.
Araras | Araras.mp3
Nice repetitive groove with layered changes. But how do you pronounce it?
Bossa Nova
There are so many worthwhile things to play with in Bossa Nova — simple syncopated rhythms, seemingly sophisticated chord progressions that actually follow a simple lead note, temporary key changes in the middle of a passage, and all that tension and release of suspended chords. And the best thing is you really don’t need to know what any of that means to pick up the rock and sway of the rhythm and play with it.
Below is the orginial “Girl From Ipanema” with Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz, along with a simple chart. Weird key, yes, and very complex chord names, but if you just key into the root notes (Db Eb Ab, etc.) it’s fairly easy to pick your way around.
As for the rhythm, there is a lot of sweet syncopation going on, but the foundaion is solid on the downbeat 1-3. So if you ever get lost in all the alteranate voicings on tonal suspensions, you can always come back home by finding the 1-3.
Girl From Ipanema | Girl-from-Ipanema.mp3
Dancey minor key instrumentals
All of these pieces stay interesting through layering of repetitive elements
Light-On-Light.mp3 Whitetree
Moody, atmospheric, ambient. In Ebm — i.e., all the black keys (and 70% of all jazz)
Secret-Lies.mp3 Manual Diaz Grey
Extended groove with a Bossa Nova feel, repetitive simple rhythmic melody, swelling keyboard overlay/underlay. In Gm, rocks the i-IV from the “i” (G minor) to the “IV” (C major). The i-IV is used a lot, as in Summertime (Am-D), She’s Not There (Am-D), When the Music’s Over (Em-A)
Bring-It.mp3 Kevin Yost
Funky, spacey groove rockin the aforementioned i-IV in Fm. Quiet but intense. Nice slappy hand drumming, lots of sizzle onthe high hat, simple rhythmic organ, funky punchy bass groove.
Some miscellaneous songs
Isabella.mp3 | Ronnie Earl
Hypnotically smooth — a study in how minor variations in structure can keep a simple song interesting for nine solid minutes
Thank-You-(Falettinme).mp3 | Sly and the Family Stone
Oh, I think this is compulsory…
Feeling-Right.mp3 | Guy Monk
Stone cool, bass-driven, boppy groove
Tell-Me-Something-Good.mp3 | Rufus
We floundered with this one night, but I think we can nail it
Use-Me.mp3 | Bill Withers
I’m actually not all that fond of the instrumentation of this (I always hear it in my head darker and heavier), but the rhythm gets me every time — and the sentiment, of course, is right up my alley.
Summertime.mp3 | Booker T and the MGs
My favorite version
Temptation.mp3 | Diana Krall
Another study in smooth; I think she must occasionaly do opiates for recreation. What sounds like a muted guitar lead at the end is actually Diane reaching into her grand piano to mute the strings with one hand while she plays with other.
Voodoo-Doll.mp3 Dr. Lonnie Smith
Happened across this in iTunes — I think one has to play for two or three hours before something like this comes trotting out.
DOWNLOAD
To download these files to your Mac for more convenient playback, hold dow the CONTROL key and click on the link — a menu will open that gives you the option to “Save linked file to DOWNLOADS” which will do just that, or “Save linked file AS…” which will allow you to specify the folder you want the file in and/or change the name of the file.
I don’t know the precise process for Windows, but it’s similar — generally right click and SAVE TARGET.