No More Blues From This Moment On

About Michel Bonin recordings at the piano and keyboard

With a rich tapestry of American composers represented, traditional and cool jazz (with a touch of latin jazz influence) are the master keys at the hearth of NO MORE BLUES FROM THIS MOMENT ON. With Brazilian Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'Chega De Saudade' (No More Blues) and Cole Porter's 'From This Moment On' giving its name to the album, this 2010 release is LE MUST collection if one is looking for a serene blend of the genres. Album #1 is a reflective interpretation of over thirty tunes by Monsieur Michel Bonin at the piano and keyboard. For a limited time, one can subscribe for free to this podcast. Go to //www.pianoreflexions.com/album-1-liner-notes for more information on Album #1 and about the publisher MICHAEL BONIN AND ASSOCIATES.  The CD (Album #1) with the complete liner notes can be purchased at $14.95 CAD (plus $5.00 CAD handling charge when ordered online and mailed/shipped by regular post). Or order online the digital version of the album for only $9.95 CAD or individual tracks (#1 to #15) for $0.99, as of 2011. For each digital audio product ordered, the buyer receives an e-mail with a url link to safely download it in better mp3 format (192 kbps). One may share the same download with friends but episodes or actual tracks should NOT be broadcast (including on digital radio) or uploaded on the web including on social media, without written permission from the publisher, the tunes being copyrighted. Comments/reviews can be posted on Facebook, LinkedIn and others including Twitter where one can follow Michel Bonin @pianoreflexions. To contact him personally or to order online, visit www.pianoreflexions.com/hire-michel. Listeners and viewers are also invited to post comments, suggestions, etc. in the guest book hosted on the website. Self-trained in jazz with a classical music background, Monsieur Bonin's pianistic style and arrangements are fueled by his connection with French composers, from Darius Milhaud to Michel Legrand. Contrary to the jazz and blues idioms, rhythm often gets second place in ‘chanson’ behind the melody and the words. This is the first in a series of standards and recent tunes up to the turn of the 21st century newly recorded, titled PIANO RÉFLEXIONS - STANDARDS AND JAZZ CLASSICS. MUSIQUE D'AMBIANCE. Adapted from stylistic compositions as varied as swing, bebop and jazz improvisations of Tin Pan Alley songs and show tunes, such anthology is best presented in alphabetical order. The focus in this introductory release is on titles listed under A, B and I.

  • The 15 tracks on Album #1 offer a unique blend of keys, breathing and groove, rhythm and contour (the sequential ups and down of the melodies). Mostly medleys of over 30 tunes, many are played in the traditional jazz style, including over a dozen of the most popular tunes in stride piano style.
  • The piano/keyboard version follows the classic ‘final chart’ for American standards using the predominant key of the sheet music or an accurate transcription when no chart was available.
  • The urge of letting spontaneity in comes from the following key-characteristics of the interpretations, giving the soul more tunes to reflect upon. For instance, only what is essential is kept to recreate the lounge music style: From Spencer Williams’ “Basin Street Blues” dispensed with any Dixieland rhythm section, to Randy Aldcroft’s 1975 “Breakfast Wine”, relying for simple effect on the switch of keys.
  • Most tunes average under two minutes usually without the intros, endings, B sections, fills and in the absence of repeated chord extensions, like “It’s A Blue World” and “Jukebox Saturday Night”. Some tunes even play under a minute, like Turk–Ahlert’s 1931 “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do)” and Harold Arlen’s 1933 “It’s Only A Paper Moon”.
  • At its simplest expression, variety comes from the blue notes created by the alternate change of chords and keys, like Jerome Kern’s 1939 ‘medium swing’ show tune “All The Things You Are” and Hart-Rogers’ I Didn’t Know What Time It Was”. Or it may be an occasional change of time, like Frank Rosolino’s 1959 composition, “Blue Daniel”, from a medium jazz waltz to a ballad.
  • Easy listening of legendary tunes is a reminder that cocktail lounges, bars and clubs were once known as saloons. Shot down in the early 1920s, one could soon hear live music again amid the whispers at speakeasies: From Freed-Arnheim-Lyman’s “I Cried For You” released in 1923, to the Simons-Marks’ 1931 swing melody “All Of Me”.
  • A ‘slowly with much feeling’ time feel, is showcased, sometimes at half the predominant beat per minute metronome markings, like “Anthropology”, a fast bebop composed by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in 1946, turned into a languorous ballad at 112 bpm. For instance, “Black Narcissus” by Joe Henderson (1980), the second medium jazz waltz on the album, played at 66 bpm instead of the suggested 130 beat and Ornette Coleman’s “Blues Connotation” (1962) best known for a fast swing tempo rendition like 264 bpm played instead at 106 bpm.
  • Michel vocalizes to three tunes, two of them composed by Cole Porter and one by Charles Aznavour, in a special hommage to two masters with unique contributions to the popular romantic song repertoire coming from a different perspective:

    Charles Aznavour shows a sorrowful European style originating from France and beyond.

    “Aime Moi” (Love Me) shows Aznavour’s genius for the sad romantic composition style, with song lyric by Jacques Plante. It was produced in 1966 for the French Musical , after the end of the golden years of French popular music in America.

    Cole Porter represents the optimism rooted to the New World.

    The two tunes sung with English lyric, are from Cole Porter considered by many the master of the American Musical Theater between 1932 and 1954: “All of You” (from ) and (from ) “From This Moment On” flagshipped in the title of this album.

© 2010 MICHAEL BONIN AND ASSOCIATES

© 2013 MBA - Michael Bonin Associates. All rights reserved.

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