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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Piano arrangements, part 2


I am very fortunate to have DougWilde playing with us on this recording. There are three songs he’ll be joining us for: “We Want Peace,” “Sinner’s Child,” and “Right Here.” Jane usually plays on these, but Doug’s knowledge of multiple styles—including the gospel/soul zone that these songs pull from—is something both Jane and I wanted his expertise on.

Doug got the charts and rough mp3 recordings in advance, and we needed to work out the particulars of the piano arrangements in person. “We Want Peace” is quite straightforward, and Doug holds down the main chordal accompaniment while I play lightly on my Yamaha and take a slide lead. “Sinner’s Child,” relies more heavily on piano—I don’t even play until the solo. Sometimes you need a break from guitars, guitars, guitars!

At one point, we called Jesse over to play his bass lines so Doug could be sure that his piano bass would not conflict. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and to top it off, I got Doug to tell Jane and Jesse about his involvement with the big Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa. Doug is working to coordinate, compose, and arrange the musical program, which is a mind-boggling feat. The opening musical extravaganza involves drummers, dancers, acrobats, a string quartet, singers, bands—and a perfectly timed flyover by the Snowbirds! The recently married royals Will and Kate will be there, with performances by many artists, including Great Big Sea, Dehli 2 Dublin, and Sam Roberts. Wow!

Doug acting out the Canada Day wing-ding!

Working out parts while the Mac laptop records. My electric slide guitar is a late-60s Teisco Gengakki Telecaster copy that I painted psychedelic back in 1978. I keep it tuned to open E with the action high. All the gritty stuff on Jude Vadala's CD was played on this one.

Doug playing some ultra-cool shit.

Woo hoo!

That's our little videocam capturing the arrangement of "Sinner's Child."

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