{"id":247,"date":"2014-03-14T04:48:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T04:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimalfredson.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2015-03-16T22:23:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T22:23:38","slug":"these-are-the-simple-days-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimalfredson.com\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"These Are The Simple Days – Excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last three years or so I’ve been working steadily on a collection of songs that can best be described as progressive rock. As touched upon in an earlier post<\/a>, I grew up listening to bands like Genesis, Yes, ELP, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, and others. When I was 16, I recorded an “album” of my own songs on a four-track reel-to-reel, with myself singing and doing all the parts on my trusty Yamaha SY77 (with a bit of acoustic piano thrown in). It was called Satori<\/strong><\/em> and included a 30 minute suite dedicated to the poet John Keats.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>

John Keats<\/p><\/div>\n

Yeah, I was\u00a0that<\/em> kid.<\/p>\n

The only people that ever heard that “album” were very<\/em> close friends, my siblings, and my mom and dad. And that’s probably the way it will always be. I don’t know if I can ever release what I’m sure are some real cringe-worthy moments.<\/p>\n

I got into jazz a few years after that and spent the next 14 years or so honing my jazz chops with organissimo<\/a> and others. I focused entirely on Hammond organ and left my synths in the corner, for the most part. When my father passed away in 2008, I was suddenly inspired to dust off the synths (including that same trusty Yamaha SY77!) and start making ambient \/ electronica music, which is a genre he loved. He made a lot of that kind of music himself. The result was my album ‘In Memorandom<\/a>‘, which was dedicated to my late parents and random memories from childhood.<\/p>\n

Diving back into synths inspired me to eventually re-visit progressive rock. I still love those classic Genesis and Yes albums. But I was disappointed with a lot of modern prog, which seemed to be almost all guitar driven and metal-based. I have nothing against metal and a lot of that stuff is really cool. But where are\u00a0the keyboard players who can stand with the gods of yore? Who is\u00a0the new Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman?<\/p>\n

Actually, there are a handful of modern guys that could possibly fill those roles. My favorite prog keyboardist, however, is much more underrated and subtle: Tony Banks. His compositions, melodic sense, lyrics, textures, and orchestrations, are all beyond compare. His approach to keyboards has always been a huge influence on me.<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/a>

Tony Banks of Genesis<\/p><\/div>\n

So I decided to start writing some material inspired by such an approach; not so much about technicality and flashiness, but melody, textures, and atmospheres. Sure, I play with some fun time signatures, but I try to avoid making them sound trite and instead feel natural. I also focused heavily on melody, both for my vocals and for the supporting parts.<\/p>\n

The album is coming along nicely. I hope to release it by the end of the year. Right now, two other fantastic musicians are involved; drummer Kevin DePree<\/a> and bassist Gary Davenport. Kevin played with my good friend Greg Nagy<\/a> for several years and is on Greg’s Fell Towards None<\/a> record. He’s got chops galore but is tasteful and sensitive as well. Gary is the bassist in Janiva Magness’<\/a> band, the group I’ve been touring with for the last four years. Gary is a monster player, educated at Berkeley. His first band out of college was a prog band that covered Genesis extensively. In the clip below, listen to his beautiful fretless bass work.<\/p>\n

The following clip is just an excerpt from one of the songs. It is called “These Are The Simple Days<\/em>“. This is just half the solo section. This is the first through-composed solo I’ve ever written. I usually just improvise and that’s that. But I wanted to approach this like Tony Banks, who admitted repeatedly in interviews that he was not an improvisor, and actually compose a solo part.<\/p>\n