It's school half term so...
TomO
169 Posts
... I managed to record this earlier on today :D
TomO
169 Posts
Comments
did you work it out by ear or did you have a transcription?
Thanks man, well here's the stuff from youtube as I wrote it:
'The first time I heard this section of Chameleon was the single most formative, inspiring, life-changing musical moment in my life so far. When I was younger, I got the Headhunters CD out of the school library (a friend suggested it and the artwork looked cool). I picked the CD up and headed off to a brass ensemble rehearsal (that was the kind of music I was listening to / playing in those days). Nobody else had arrived yet so I decided to play the first track 'Chameleon' from the CD. I loved it right from the first note, but little did I know what was coming nearly 8 minutes into the tune. The synth growled into space and left the drummer on his own, to create the funkiest groove I had ever heard. The bass joined in and then came this amazing keyboard solo. It wasn't until afterwards that I realised that I'd turned the volume right up and been oblivious to the entire brass ensemble turning up (plus the conductor) and witnessing me freak out to this. I never looked back after hearing Chameleon - as soon as we got a computer and dial up internet at home, I used to pay my Mum 20p to allow me to use the internet long enough to play some of the 30s snippets of Herbie's music I could find on line - I'd then tape them direct from the computer speakers using a ghetto blaster and its internal microphone, it sounded awful! I finally managed to get hold of some of Herbie's 70's CDs and it opened a whole new world for me. In my third year at University I sold off the stage Rhodes I'd acquired after months of searching and used nearly my entire student loan to import this beautiful suitcase Rhodes from the US, all because I wanted that Herbie sound. This passage of Chameleon is incredible - Harvey Mason's drumming is the most stylish and funkiest I've ever heard, Herbie's use of the Rhodes, Clavinet, Prosoloist etc is so earthy and funky, Paul Jackson's bass is perfect and the composition itself transitions seamlessly from an out-and-out funk jam to a bridge that has compound time, 7/8 bars and really complex harmony in it. The original recording was 23 min but the producers cut it down to the album length by removing Bennie Maupin's solo. Somewhere in Sony's vaults those original tapes exist and I can't believe they haven't been released as part of the 'Headhunters' sessions - there would be so much demand for it! The Headhunters sessions consisted of 8 tracks; the 4 on the album, the Spook Who Sat By The Door theme (recorded as in quintet form with Harvey Mason on drums), Butterfly, Shiftless Shuffle and one other. You can hear the first 4 minutes of 'The Spook' on side 2 of the 'Herbie Hancock Demonstrates The Rhodes Piano' flexidisc; it then fades out but the track was actually well over 10 minutes. Nobody has heard the take of 'Butterfly' with Harvey Mason on drums. 'Shiftless Shuffle' was eventually released on 'Mr Hands' despite having been recorded during the 1973 Headhunters session. The unknown track is most likely to be a version of 'Palm Grease' - if you watch the film of 'Death Wish', there is a 'Palm Grease' type groove played with Harvey Mason on drums, in the scene where Charles Bronson escapes unnoticed from his apartment in order to retrieve a gun from his office.
For reference, I used the Quadraphonic recording of Chameleon to back this video; that's why the drums and percussion sound different; there's much more reverb and the synths are higher in the mix. You should be able to pick out my Rhodes playing above all this, but there are a couple of phasing issues where my playing was marginally out of time with Herbie's... I'm only miming on the Clavinet because I'd run out of inputs on my Apogee Duet, but the suitcase Rhodes is all me, recorded direct to Logic.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this track as much as I do!
Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.'
I always do my own transcriptions for lots of reasons; it's nice to feel like I'm really breaking down what's going on in the music if I have to listen to it closely enough to notate it. It's definitely a great way to learn - I think everybody who plays an instrument should transcribe music...
If anybody wants the dots just let me know!
Hey thanks! I hope you enjoyed watching it too. Yes, I truly love this piece and it has shaped the course of my life in some ways since I first heard it (even if my day job is being a Maths teacher - which I also enjoy btw).
I can't remember how long it took - I did it a few years ago, only thought to look for it the other day and then practised it yesterday evening and this morning before recording. It usually takes a day or so to transcribe a solo like that, but sometimes it's hard going if the sound quality of the original is bad (live recordings for instance). In this case, it's obviously much easier to pick out the notes because it came straight off of my quadraphonic copy of the record.
This is his YT channel (hope you don't mind me posting it here, Tom).
Nice to hear Toby Smith getting some love...