JazzManJim
On the Downbeat
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2001
- Posts
- 27,360
I"m not talking about horn sections here. There are many good ones and more than a couple great ones. I'm talking about horn parts in songs which are just so well done that they seem to jump out at you. I have a few, all of which I love hearing, and a couple of which I've played,which are my favorites, though.
"South California Purples" - Chicago (From their first album): This is a song that never got any appreciable air play and is buried deep on a superlative album. As such, it doesn't get much attention. But the horn part is powerful and musically sophisticated and it accomplishes both in relatively few notes.
"Let Me Talk" (by Earth, Wind, and Fire): Another rarely-played tune. This is one of EWF's more complicated pices, with a hard groove, and ahorn line that's damned difficult. It requires absolutely perfect timing (a hallmark of EWF tunes) and that each part take a different line through the part. A couple good runners-up here ares "In the Stone" and "Getaway". Here's a music-geek tidbit for you, too. EWF's horn section is a master of playing on the shortest possible entrance - slightly ahead of the expected beat (on the 64th note, for those musicians here) - and they do so in perfect unison.
"I Wish" (By Stevie Wonder): This is probably the most heard, but most anonymous horn section in popular music. There's more horn power here, with stabs on the off beats that just shiver your spine, and precision that rivals EWF. "Superstition" is a very close second of Stevie's
"God Bless the Child" (By Blood, Sweat, and Tears): A rock group takes a jazz ballad and turns it into a work of art. The vocals tend to grab all the attention, but listen to how three horns play with the volume and fullness of a full jazz band. BST is perhaps the most "classical" of the big horn sections (for good reason. The horn arranger was a classically trained musician about whom I've heard some great stories from a college friend of his).
"South California Purples" - Chicago (From their first album): This is a song that never got any appreciable air play and is buried deep on a superlative album. As such, it doesn't get much attention. But the horn part is powerful and musically sophisticated and it accomplishes both in relatively few notes.
"Let Me Talk" (by Earth, Wind, and Fire): Another rarely-played tune. This is one of EWF's more complicated pices, with a hard groove, and ahorn line that's damned difficult. It requires absolutely perfect timing (a hallmark of EWF tunes) and that each part take a different line through the part. A couple good runners-up here ares "In the Stone" and "Getaway". Here's a music-geek tidbit for you, too. EWF's horn section is a master of playing on the shortest possible entrance - slightly ahead of the expected beat (on the 64th note, for those musicians here) - and they do so in perfect unison.
"I Wish" (By Stevie Wonder): This is probably the most heard, but most anonymous horn section in popular music. There's more horn power here, with stabs on the off beats that just shiver your spine, and precision that rivals EWF. "Superstition" is a very close second of Stevie's
"God Bless the Child" (By Blood, Sweat, and Tears): A rock group takes a jazz ballad and turns it into a work of art. The vocals tend to grab all the attention, but listen to how three horns play with the volume and fullness of a full jazz band. BST is perhaps the most "classical" of the big horn sections (for good reason. The horn arranger was a classically trained musician about whom I've heard some great stories from a college friend of his).
