I don't know what it's been...the financial hardship my wife and I have been facing for the past year, some new genres of music I have been exposed to that I didn't used to listen to, a special alignment taking place within the universe, or all of the above, but I'm finding myself with no shortage of ideas for songs to write. In fact, I've been feeling so inspired that I actually have a different kind of problem: Are these songs lacking a "homogeneous" sound that will keep them from making sense together on the playlist of a CD?What do I mean by a homogeneous sound? Well, when you purchase the album of your favorite band, you pretty much have some idea of what the overall sound of that album will be, even though you may not have heard the songs yet. You know that "X" band has a guitar player that plays a certain way, a vocalist that has a particular sounding voice, and songs that have a certain style to their compositions. The problem with the tunes that I have been in the process of committing to paper (there are currently four), is that, although the musicians will all be the same and they all have a playing style and sound familiar to most of my fans, the compositions are all very different in style.
For example, on one tune I'm hearing a light hearted blues structure, with a slight funk twang to the swing feel, over a more modern and hip sounding set of chord changes. Meanwhile, on another tune, I'm hearing a more "epic" sort of sound with orchestral backgrounds, an electric guitar, and a driving rock beat...sort of like the sound towards the end of "Kashmir" off of Led Zepplin's "Physical Graffiti" album. Yeah, I know...go figure!
Well, now that I've probably scared off anybody who may have had an interest in adding this album to their jazz or music collection, let me temper all that I just said by saying that I am actively trying to pull in the reigns a bit on my creativity! I certainly don't want an album that sounds like some sort of "hodge-podge" of music.
At any rate, I guess the good news is that I'm feeling very creative and inspired!
Written by Shenole Latimer
