"Transitions - Full Album" by DaveKempGroup

From the CD release Booklet Liner Notes :

1. Dutch

This composition is the result of listening to heavy doses of 1970's era Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis, early 2000's "Drum 'n Bass" electronica and generally too much music with strange timings like 13 beats per bar. The music is built from the hypnotic bass line which helps keep the momentum going throughout. From the vibes solo onwards the piece is improvised to the very end, with only the rhythmic framework and a general harmony indicated. I really love Josh's drumming on this track as he captured those skittish breakbeats of electronic music really well. Lucky we recorded it first thing in the morning, right when the coffee was kicking in.


2. Attention Disorderly Deficit




This somewhat strangely titled composition is an ode to anyone out there who has found themselves listening to live music (or even, dare I say it, playing it) and discovered their mind wandering to such exciting matters as "how much milk is left in the fridge....should I pick some up on the way home from this gig?" Musically, the deficit referred to is in the overall groove of this music, which starts out in a fairly regular pattern, only to start having little holes appear in the pulse - try tapping your foot along with the beat through the vibes solo section and you'll see what I mean. 


3. Blues Oddity




Ahh, the Blues form - usually the same number of bars and usually pretty much the same chord progression ..... This is my take on it and as the title suggests, it's a little odd. With a definite nod to the Frank Zappa school of composition, there are melodies in groups of five over four beats, rhythmic shifts between polite swing and asymmetrical weirdness, and an ironic use of a standard minor blues progression for the solos. We refer to this tune on gigs as "The easy one .... You know it's just a blues", but the truth is some dark force must have possessed me the day I wrote this, resulting in some fiendishly difficult to play rhythms. 


4. Delicate




This is a different piece to the others on this album .... It's much slower, has a pop music style of chord progression and a mostly steady beat .... So I guess it's as close a contribution to "Smooth Jazz" as I get. It is contrasting in the use of a nylon string acoustic guitar, a lyrical melody and overall a much more subdued mood. I still managed to sneak in an irregular timed bar here and there, so it's still of the same kind of compositional language I'm developing in the other works, but a little less obviously ..... Or more delicately.


5. Bent



This is the longest piece on the album and probably has the most obvious title (no it's not a drug reference!). The "bentness" is in reference to the special effect heard on the vibraphone at the very beginning. This is created by hitting a note with one mallet, then immediately sliding the other mallet along the length of this note as it sounds with pressure to effectively dip the pitch downwards. You'll have to come to one of our gigs to see what I mean (shameless plug!). I've ended up calling the style of this piece "Suspenseful Funky Latin" as it's an attempt to write music with that sense of anticipation of a car chase in one of those 70's era blaxploitation cop movies which gradually morphs into a happy Songo feel - the funky cops must have got their man ... And then went on vacation to Cuba?


6. Matrix



What do you get when you cross the John Coltrane harmonic progression known as the "Coltrane Matrix" and the kind of otherworldly synthetic sounds just right for science fiction films (the movie "Matrix" comes to mind)? Also add in some passing references to heavy metal and a static section awash with ethereal echoes and mild references to melodies found in relaxation music? You get this mixed up composition. 


Liner notes and cover design by Dave Kemp © 2014. No reproduction allowed without written consent.



More info at www.davekemp.info

Contains tracks

• 01 Dutch by DaveKempGroup
• 02 Attention Disorderly Deficit by DaveKempGroup
• 03 Blues Oddity by DaveKempGroup
• 04 Delicate by DaveKempGroup
• 05 Bent by DaveKempGroup