This morning, I was listening to Rod Steward's rendition of Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's 1947 classic "Time After Time" (from Stewart's album "The Great American Songbook Vol. 2". It's a beautiful version of a timeless classic that has also become a jazz standard.
While Stewart's crooning voice was certainly a nice touch to the song, what actually intrigued me today was the accompanying background instrumental music - the piano, the percussions and the saxophone.
If you have a chance to listen to this wonderful version of a real timeless classic (on auto-replay!), then just for a moment (and no disrespect meant to Rod Stewart here!), block out the singer's voice and just concentrate on the background music itself. No, you will not hear the principal melody itself; but what you will hear are the complementary harmonics. Savour the delicate notes of the piano interspersed between the verses, and feel how they mesh so well with the principal melody.
Another beautiful example of a song with beautiful background piano accompaniment - and one that I have grown to love - is Kenny G's version of Duke Ellington's "In A Sentimental Mood". Again, try blocking out the saxophone in your head, and concentrate on Randy Waldman's delicate fingers on the piano.
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This weblog entry is dedicated to those musicians in the background of the singers' voices - the unsung heroes whose music is "often more felt than heard" (Joe Goldberg, taken from the liner notes of Bill Evans' album "Moonbeams"), but without them, those beautiful melodies would sound so empty and lonely.
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