Songs I Recorded For Mother's Day (May 8th, 2011)

Mother's Day (2nd Sunday in May in the US) is quickly approaching,
so I thought it an appropriate time to post the following 'four' songs I recorded for my Mom last year in honor of the occasion.
They simply feature my singing, accompanied by a backing track arrangement.
Ok guys, 'don't forget' to send your Mom a box of candy, flowers, or something else 'special' for her this year. - Scott

Papa Loves Mambo

The Best Is Yet To Come

What A Wonderful World

Nine Million Bicycles

Nice job Scott.....I would assume you would do these tunes live with your new T4?....Glad to see you broadening your act using backing tracks now.

Another great song is "MAMA" for Mothers day.

Beautiful singing, Scott...man, you do a great job on all those tunes.

Your Mum must be some proud, and honored.

Ian

My Mom didn't like me very much; said I reminded her too much of my Dad. I ran away from home when I was three. Nobody tried to find me. Oh well.

chas

Chas, funny thing is, I actually 'believe' you.

I can see why...you must have been a real little devil.

You're very lucky compared to my buddy next door...he tells me he never knew his parents...they both died a few years before he was born...

Ian

Very Nice Scott, your Mom must be proud.

I'm curious as to how you go about configuring your MP3's so that when I click on your song, Windows Media Player (I use version 12) displays your photo, and name [as shown below], rather than the default musical note icon?

Also your photo is the default WMP icon when it is saved to my computer. That's a cool feature as I can instantly see and know it's a Scott Yee MP3.

Beautiful song, yes ... but the English lyrics are quite sad ...
Momma
When the evening shadows fall
and the lovely day is through
Then with longing I recall
the years I spent with you

Mama, I miss the days
when you were near to guide me
Mama, those happy days
when you were here beside me

Safe in the glow of your love
Sent from the heavens above
Nothing can ever replace
The warmth of your tender embrace

Oh, Mama, until the day
that we're together once more
I'll live in these memories
Until the day that we're together once more



__________________

Donny, Ian, and Larry: Thanks for listening to my songs, as well as including your kind words of support.

Larry, I was able to add my picture to the Mp3 as "album artwork" in iTunes.
I'm pretty sure you could do the same thing using Windows Media Player too, but I've just not tried that.

Scott

First of all, very nice singing Scott. Your mom must be proud to have such a talented son.

On the subject of backing tracks, why do you (or anyone else on this forum) decide to use backing tracks as oppossed to auto-accompaniment?

I have been concidering adding some backing tracks for some songs that my wife wants to sing. I would be able to play them with styles but I have not found any suitable styles. She is very much againist the idea because she likes to strech out songs, have me play solos and feels like we are cheating... I used to hate the idea too but we are both getting frustrated with the lack of styles available to able to perform some comptemporay Latin music.

Sorry Scott, I don't mean to hi-jack your thread.

Scott enjoyed the tunes, especially "The Best is Yet to Come." Very nice!

Thanks Montunoman and Steve for your nice comments. I do believe there are both advantages and disadvantages to auto accomp mode and or utlizing backing tracks. I agree with you that auto accomp offers a lot more perf. flexibility, soloing, on the fly chord sub, etc. I think both have a place in live performance work though. On my solo perf gigs, I play in auto accomp/solo keyboard mode 95 percent of the time, reserving backing tracks for 2-3 songs to free me up to step from behind the keyboard and into the audience. I called upon backing tracks for these tunes because it was part of a production rec project that specically required these fixed arragements and song timing, plus it allowed me to focus on singing. In contrast, the MP3 song demos featured on my website were all performed and recorded live in auto accomp arranger mode. - Scott

Let's not forget the talent it takes to create good backing tracks also....Good job Scott!......I think your only "cheating" your self by NOT exploring all other methods of musical creation to widen your abilities. I try to do it all throughout my career as a pro musician and proud of it. Life is too short..

Donny, I agree !
The willingness to keep an open mind to experiment & try out different ideas, methods, and ways of doing things is an important ingredient to the creative music making process.
I certainly had fun recording the above songs.

Scott good thinking...we are very lucky in this day and age to experiment with so many musical creation options then ever before in our lifetime with new avenues being released every day. To be stuck and ignorant of opening up yourself as a musician to them would be a big mistake as we learn every day from what we see & hear, filtering in little bits of it all makes for a very special recipe that is unique to yourself and to your audiences. I'm glad to see your one of the people that "Gets It"....Good luck to you.

Heres Dante having fun with friends using a combination SFM backing track & a Hammond kinds frees you up to do other things while playing along.

I certainly agree, Scott,...we should always keep an open mind to new ideas.

Certainly, it is your delivery of these tunes that give them such quality. I've sent them to several people "in the business" and they all agree you have your own style, and you put your own stamp on a tune.

I wish I could sing half as good as you...you have a real talent, and I consider you one of the best vocalists here on SZ.

Plus, you can get down and play keyboards with the best of them.

Ian

Donny
That is a great example for the purists that think backing tracks are cheating and should not be allowed.

I enjoyed it.
Bernie

You're right Bernie, it sounded great indeed. That guy is a fine singer.

It just didn't look very good, in my opinion.

Ian

Bernie thats just ONE example...most people that claim to be purists couldn't hold a candle to that and are just talk anyway.....as I always say...what it sounds like with your eyes closed is all tat matters. It takes more experience and talent to be flexible in your playing ability & skills. There are no rules, I would assume looking at this guys gear that he made his own SMF tracks also...nice job.......enjoy what you do.. ...then if you can, make other people enjoy it also.

Just curious...have posts been edited and removed from this thread?
Something seems missing and different from just...yesterday.

BTW Scott,
First time I ever heard "Nine Million Bicycles"...

I liked it a lot!

Larry, I think there was a "Nigelectomy" performed sometime during the night...

I liked Nine Million Bicycles too, and it is my first time hearing it as well.

Did you write the tune, Scott?

Ian

Ian, I wish I could say I did, but it was written by Katie Melua and a big hit for her in the UK 2006.
Here's her version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTy3WA0Pq8M

I esp enjoy introducing my audiences to songs that are often big hits in Europe but virtually unknown here because it gives them an exposure to material they may have never heard before, and without a preconceived idea of how the song 'should' sound to them. For this reason, in addition to following the US charts, I also try to keep tabs on the European/Australian song charts for songs which might suit my repertoire style as well. Other European artists I especially like, and cover their song material, are Tom Gaebel (Germany) and of course Jamie Cullum (UK). You can listen to the music of all of them by simply doing a YouTube search on their name.

That is a great tune Scott, and you covered it very well, indeed.

That is a good idea to find relatively unknown, but successful elsewhere, tunes and introduce (or re-introduce?) them to your audience.

Ian

Scott - nice work on the songs! Your Mom should be very happy and proud! Keep up the great work!

Just listening to Papa Loves Mambo. Great song. And your vocal treatment works perfectly and sits very naturally with the Tyros 4 instrumentation. A truly polished result that is a pleasure to listen to.

Yeah it was the online version of having to pick up after your dog. The only difference being for my dog I will keep doing it and not make him eventually find a new home lol.

Ha ha...good one. This place can be a tad "Ruff!"

They say if you hang with the dogs long enough, you're bound to catch a few fleas...now, where is that flea powder?

Or rather, "dogs" and "them" not him, perhaps?

This classic Hoagy Carmichael tune, which I performed singing & playing 'live' on Tyros 2 in arranger mode a few years ago seems fittingly appropriate now.

Have a listen. WARNING: It's a jazz ballad:

I Get Along Without You Very Well

I hope we can finally put the arranger vs backing track debate to rest. Do what works best for the given situation, it's all about making music after all.

- Scott

Scott great tune ...excellent delivery & vocals!
I really enjoyed the buildup....is there a big difference when doing it now on your T4..style wise or new T4 styles ?
Hope to hear more sometime..

Thank you for sharing.

Very nicely done Scott, and my favorite way to use the arranger...in style mode.

What style did you use?

It sure gave the feeling and atmosphere of a small combo. The drums were excellent.

The jazz styles in the Tyros4 are really nice, but I'm still editing and giving them my personal touch, so that they work best for my way of playing.

Whether someone uses a SMF or style play has no bearing on that person's ability or talent...either way can be awful or superb, depending on the player's skill.

Both have their advantages, depending on the player's needs, the type of music, and what kind of gigs they do.

Lovely tune, and a favorite of mine...didn't Sinatra do that one?

Ian

Terrific tunes, well played and really well sung. gr8 phrasing and intent...especially the style track at the end.

A job well done m8!!! Bravo

Dennis

Scott ... good job as always ... and I don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but I would like to comment to montunoman:

MM ... I believe MANY arrangers have a 'marker' option which allows the player to mark certain locations in an SMF so that the song can be played with additional solos, extend or shorten the song if necessary, etc. (BTW ... this is one feature my technics kn6000 does NOT have, that I wish it did) ... but even without the feature, most KBs allow for editing, whereby you can 'copy and paste' parts of a song to extend for solos, etc. - I have done this with some SMFs that I use ... while you still might be 'locked in' to the length of the song, you can have SOME freedom of personal expression ...

Tony, I used to have a Korg N364 what could loop parts of a SMF. I have tried to do that on my Tyros 2 and haven't figured out how to.

Just got around to listening Scott. Great vocals!
I wish my mom was still around. She loved music, especially mine.
DonM

Randy: Good to hear from you, and yes my Mom is very pleased with these songs I recorded especially for her, so nothing could please me more than knowing that

Nigel, thank you for listening to my songs and esp for your comments about "Papa Loves Mambo".

Thank you Tony and DonM for your comments as well.
btw Don, your Mom up in heaven not only keeping an eye on you, but with both ears continuing to appreciate your music, and perhaps enjoying mine too so better behave.

Donny, Ian, and Miden:
Thanks guys for also listening to and including your comments about my live arranger played tune:
I Get Along Without You Very Well
of which I posted to merely contrast live "arranger mode" style playing to the four backing track created tunes I posted at the 'beginining' of this thread.

Sounding GOOD Scott! Thing I just realized is, when someone does multi-track work, the vocal is generally put on last. That means there is not much difference between recording a vocal using a separate backing track and doing a multi-track project; particularly when more than one person plays on the track.

While I'm going the "no automation" route right now, I certainly appreciate the options and quality of work like this.


Russ

Russ, thanks for listening and sharing your kind words + your wisdom too.
Realizing your appreciation for the older jszz standards, it meant a lot to me to hear from you on my music.
I'm not a jazz musician, but I had a bit of exposure studying and playing in jazz combos back in HS & college.

Scott

Great job on the songs. Very sweet singing with spot on pitch control. I think even Perry Como would have liked your rendition of Papa Loves Mambo.

Have a great lead up to Mother's Day!

Larry

Don ... apparently our moms had some things in common - like appreciating their sons' music ...
I have mentioned it here before, but my mom was a really good singer ... not being shy, she would sing anywhere, with anyone ... that's actually how I started taking accordion lessons, putting me on my musical journey - but that's a story for another time ...
It was our mom who gave me and my two sisters a great appreciation for music ... fortunately, our dad loved to listen ...

Larry & Brian, thanks to both of you for your listen and the nice comments, and Brian thanks 4 the heads up introduction to that James Taylor tune which I never heard of before. I'm going to add that one to my playlist too. btw: it was nice to receive your call on Skype a couple weeks back too.

Happy Mother's Day Mom !

Two Gigs today made alot of Mommies very happy!