The Elysian Fields

It's funny, because I added this tune to the play list way back in late July or early August. At the time, I was planning to go see the Philadelphia Funk Authority at MusikFest. It's now nearly December, and most of my R&B and funk discs have been put away for warmer weather.

So it's a rather cool day out there, but we're going to get the funk out (okay, there's the link to yesterday's video... =) and heat things up a bit.



It's not the best video ~ lots of audience chatter, kind of broadsides the first tune instead of starting at the beginning and cuts out on the second, limited camera angles ~ yet it still gives you an idea what PFA is all about.

As for Brick House, you can grab the original tune (MP3) as heard on the Commodores collection Brick House. There's also an MP3 of Lionel Richie's performance of Brick House. Skin Tight (MP3), by the Ohio Players, is from the album surprisingly titled Skin Tight.

3 out of 4 of the active members of the Lefty Valdez Band got together last night to work further on The Tune.

We started out on the front porch, until it got dark, and Deb unlocked the door and let us back in. After a few rounds of practice, some playing around on other potential themes, we got to work on The Tune. A second riff for the bass introduced itself to me, and so I played it for noone234 and Rachel. Once we came back inside, we set to work devising the sax part for the transition and the new riff, and, by the end of the night, we had it.

We refined the existing parts by following the lead Justin had accidentally set when he first transcribed The Tune, and we don't give the horns a measure off between each of their lines. Now, we come in pretty much at the same time with only a quick slide on the last bit of the 4-e-and-a, so, boom, we all start at 1. Four measures of intro, then we segue to the new bit, which, on its own is 12 measures of bass. The final holding note of the intro hangs over that first measure (so we have 5 measures of the horns) and we've got the sax part for the next two measures, completing the first figure of the new part. We'll tighten that up once Justin gets back from vacation and writes his trumpet part - posibilities are: harmonizing the sax part, sitting out for a short sax solo and coming in after, or doing something completely different. In any case, the tune is shaping up nicely.

We met, briefly, our temporary percussionist - Korg, his name is - although we couldn't hear a beat he played on account of a distinct lack of RCA plugs (or 1/4" to RCA conversion cables). noone234's cousin sounds like he'd be a good fit, although he'd have some difficulty commuting down from Buffalo. So the position is still officially open.