Key Witness

[Farmjazz]

Here's a tune I wrote that's a big nod to one of my favorite guitarists - Steve Khan.

I first named it Key Witness after Steve's album Eyewitness, featuring the great Anthony Jackson on bass, Steve Jordan on drums, and Manolo Badrena on percussion. After it began to develop I got some thoughts that I think will work. Picture this:

The key witness approaches the stand - 0 seconds to 11 seconds ( Jim, maybe you can have the Mrs. "swear you in" )

The key witness begins to give the testimony - 12 seconds to 59 seconds ( spoken with a HEAVY Scottish accent )

Some kind of sung melody over the B part - 1:00 to 1:23

Back to spoken testimony - 1:24 to 2:11 (the story thickens )

Back to sung refrain - 2:12 to 2:35

Vox lay out at 2:36 - Cuica "cross-examines" the guitar

1/2 verse at 3:49 - Maybe a surprise twist in the story.

4:37 - 5:00 - outro fade-out

It could be fun. Let your imagination take over, Prof. Higgins.

I used only one guitar - a mid-fifties Kay archtop - and a cheapo cuica. Internal mic only.

Anyone else have a different take on it?

 

[Oldrottenhead]

hahahaha, this is the kinda guidance i need,

The key witness approaches the stand - 0 seconds to 11 seconds ( Jim, maybe you can have the Mrs. "swear you in" )

The key witness begins to give the testimony - 12 seconds to 59 seconds ( spoken with a HEAVY Scottish accent )

Some kind of sung melody over the B part - 1:00 to 1:23

Back to spoken testimony - 1:24 to 2:11 (the story thickens )

Back to sung refrain - 2:12 to 2:35

Vox lay out at 2:36 - Cuica "cross-examines" the guitar

1/2 verse at 3:49 - Maybe a surprise twist in the story.

4:37 - 5:00 - outro fade-out

leave it with me, im currently working on a tune hoop sent me, and its taking up my time at the moment, looks like its gonna turn out nice, then , i'll be straight onto this one hal

[Oldrottenhead]

the good lady is on a girls night out so i have to swear myself in anyway its done will post after its mastered please be forewarned their is lots of bad language, saying that as it is spoken in broad west of scotland dialect most of you will not have a scooby (clue) what im saying anyway, watch this space

[Oldrottenhead]

here it is

[SteveG]

It was only the swear words that I understood! j/k. Enjoyed it. Nice backing and a well told story. Well done guys!

[Farmjazz]

Jim -

Great! I can't understand half of what your saying, but I love it.

You are a special talent. I thought this one would take a while, but you treated it like a side chore.

I got a lot more coming to you. This is a blast!

- Hal

[Oldrottenhead]

i followed your guidance to the letter, so you should uunderstand it lol.

[hooper]

Egad! There's so many creative juices flowing here that the floor is getting wet! 

Loved the guitar work. I had to Google up to see what a Cuica is.... and that's cool too.  And you're right, Hal: Plafessa Higgins has got something 'special' going. If he weren't so creative he might be insane.

I enjoyed listening to the good work on this one and got a good laugh too.   

[Oldrottenhead]

no lyrics but a precis of  them,
mr higgins  in court charged with assault and affray.
he cant remember what happened was long time ago and was drunk.
the story thickens as evidence is produced a shirt with blood on it.
mr h denies all involvement.
the cuica is the person who claims mr h assaulted him, he is a hooray henry (chinless wonder, privileged ivy league type) with a grating voice, he proceeds to give his evidence.
on hearing his evidence mr h, loses control and cant believe what he is listening to and sticks himself in it by justifying the assault by saying listen to him he deserved a beating for being such an a hole.
cuica pipes up offended at this mr h tells him to shut the f up and pleads guilty as charged and will gladly accept any punishment meted out to him as it was worth it.

the vocal from this was inspired not by my own life experience but by the inspiration farmjazz provided in the first post.

[Farmjazz]

Thanks, hooper. Hey, I love those headphones!

I really took a lot of time constructing those chord changes. I was somewhat going after the sound Steve Khan got on The Goodbye Look - on Donald Fagen's The Nightfly album. There's not a 'normal' chord in the whole bunch, except an Am7 in the 'B' section. Had to use it as a substitution chord, to mirror the first phrase, while keeping the same bass line.

I would have used an electric guitar, but my gear is in town at the studio and I can't leave and come back - we're under mandatory evacuation and I ain't-a-leavin' the farm for no high-falutin' USFS flunkies! So, I just used the archtop, including the 'bass' part - using the fake-bass effects settings I got from this site.

Anyway, Jim jumped on that thing like white on rice! It must have been the middle of the night in Scotland. Edit - I checked the time zones. Scotland is 8 hours ahead of California. That means Jim was working on Key Witness at approx. 1AM his time. I believe this confirms hooper's speculation that Mr. Higgins is, most probably, insane. It wasn't until I listened to it on headphones, (wished I had your co-pilot blisters), that I could understand the whole story. Edit - It wasn't until I read Jim's overview that I really understood the scenario. Now its over-the-top hilarious!! What a scrapper!

BTW, Jim emailed me your song Way Beyond Your Dreams. Very nice marketable piece! I'll have my wife put some harmony vocals on top of Jim's - she's a wizard at harmony work, vocal jazz, etc. I wish I had her ear.