Weather or Not w/awigze

Jim Bouchard

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Description

I started this inspired by another piece that had used the EZ Drummer Jazz Kit and some ambient conversation as it's main focus which sounded vaguely Weather Report-ish and so this is another in that series which I'm calling "Ambient Talking" I laid down the drums and some electric piano and found a bass part to go along with it. Andy was very kind to help me out here and he really gave it his all supplying the sax (which is really the hook and the melody), a bunch of tracks of hand percussion and a great feel for what I was getting at. He sent his tracks back to me and after it sat for a long time, I recorded the final bass guitar and synth parts and added at the last minute a track of mandolin. I hope you like it! It's another in one of my many directions...and major props to Andy!

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Song Stats

Hits: 361
Comments: 42
Fans: 26
Plays: 76
Downloads: 18
Votes: 4
Uploaded: Nov 01, 2009 - 09:21:40 PM
Last Updated: Nov 01, 2009 - 09:43:23 PM Last Played: Nov 19, 2009 - 04:54:31 PM

Song License

Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

Song Actions

Hardware:

Logic Pro, Synthplant, Epiphone Thunderbird bass, Michael Kelly Legazy mandolin, Cascade Fathead II mic, Joe Meek OneQ, MOTU Ultralite 3, whatever Andy used to record his parts...

Software:

Comments

magnatone	magnatone said 19 days ago (November 1st, 2009)
	Weather or Not well first of all, is there NOTHING Andy can't play to??? secondly, this is SO COOL! wow - what a wild conglomeration of well put together sounds - i really really like this a lot! extremely interesting, intriguing even - beautifully done - congrats guys! Check out my latest song called Symphonic Smackdown

Jim Bouchard

Jim Bouchard said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

Andy
I've dug everything Andy has posted here from the very start, ever since he first showed up but especially http://www.macjams.com/song/47830 "An Offering to The MacJams Community" which was the sort of ambient walla recording I really like, very generously offered, and I figured he'd dig that I was trying to incorporate that sort of walla in my jazz-inspired direction like this piece is. And I guess I was right. I had some other samples in here but I ended up using a much less obtrusive one that is people walking on a beach and it's sort of processed so it's very subliminal and textural. And that's just the non-musical elements! Andy really did all the heavy lifting here, and for that I am extremely grateful!

Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

johnwhitehead	johnwhitehead said 19 days ago (November 1st, 2009)
	Weather Sweet collab. Great genre exploration, sound canvas, bass part and cool sax. Enjoyed this lots. Check out my latest song called I'm Pluggin' In

PaulaMunk	PaulaMunk said 19 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Remarkable. Certainly one of the best pieces of its kind I've ever heard. You two are magic together. Thanks. Check out my latest song called The Conqueror Worm

Feter	Feter said 19 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Weather or Not I m speechless ...the sound bed you lay for Mr.Andy just awesome ...the mandolin is magic ...the sax work is so moody ...characteristic speaks by it self ...so thrilled by your huge talents ...Deepest bow !!!! Check out my latest song called A Night With Feter feat'(Roxylee sloparts crissew johnwhitehead and Yamin AL Yamani )

awigze

awigze said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

Jim Bouchard
I really like the way this came together. You have a great sense of this style of music. Am very humbled that you saw this as a possible collaboration. I vaguely remember that we were talking about the inspiration piece, either in chat or comments and how it had a Weather Report feel and I joked that it would be cool to create one. When you commented back that you would be open to the idea, I flipped. I asked my wife, Maureen, one night while doing the dishes... 'how do you write a Weather Report song, if you are not Weather Report? To answer me she started banging on some pots and pans. I must admit, this is the first time I ever played a turtle shell (clave rhythm). Your addition of mandolin is genius on this and makes the song. So, to validate, this is not Weather Report, but classic Jim Bouchard at it's finest.

Check out my latest song called We got to Jive in Blues by (Feter)

Daugrin

Daugrin said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

Heavy WX
Great job fellas, threw together a storm, and Andy as usual is blowin his head out, but never red lining-just cool blowin. The strangeness in the keys really works as well, playing against the percussion. Those little guitar bits are nice as well.
You guys have four more elements to cover, I'm really looking to your next outing...

Daug

Check out my latest song called Daphne w/ Andy Wigzell

Char	Char said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Thoroughly enjoyed. Fuze my jazz anytime you want. Thanks. Check out my latest song called Break Away (Mark Holbrook & Awigze)

davajonah	davajonah said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Wowser Fabulous fusion sound. Really like this. Terrific bass and sax playing over a wonderful soundbed of percussion and other instruments. The mandolin is a stroke of genius; it sits in there so well. Lovely music, downloaded thanks. Check out my latest song called Pavlov's Dog

Jim Bouchard

Jim Bouchard said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

thanks!
Re; the mandolin; I tried guitar but it didn't really do it for me, but I wanted to have a little higher-end chinka-chink in there with a tiny bit of melody, and luckily that's about all I can do on mandolin anyway, so that I could manage. All I can hear in that part is variations on "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from the musical "Oklahoma" but that just strikes me as hilarious.

Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

maxruehl	maxruehl said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Hey I wasn't sure weather or not to listen, but I'm glad I did! Terrific collab--an already great track made even better by Andy's soulful sax work. Good job, guys.:) Check out my latest song called Shaolin Munk Funk (w/ musichead & awigze)

Rocha Malhada

Rocha Malhada said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

headphones
Great stuff guys. Nice work on the bed of this and the sax is very well played. I love all that "stuff" going on inside, clean and with a feel like after most of the rain stopped.

- A nit: it really takes a listen on headphones, or loud on the stereo system to catch the whole body behind the sax at beginning and end, the middle is more balanced with the guitar coming up, but still all that other cool stuff is a little low in the mix, to me. Try listening on the laptop speakers or at lower volume.

. - Harold

Check out my latest song called Kanun Oud Rock (LIOLI9)

Jim Bouchard

Jim Bouchard said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

thanks!
Good point; I rarely listen on laptop speakers and just mix for my studio monitors at a pretty decent volume. This was almost a matter of the process for this song going back many months and I might have gotten a little ear-tired of it and didn't mix this as well as it could be. I don't go nuts on some of this stuff, unless I know it's going to go on a CD. But I admit the mix is odd because the drums seem to disappear, but they are peaking out in the Mixer window on the drum track, while sonically it's clear they lack the presence of the sax or mandolin. Very odd and I don't run into this problem all that often so I don't know how to solve it. I tried a bunch of things and then just gave up trying to solve that dilemma. It doesn't bug me too much because maybe I just don't have a great feel for mixing a Jazz drum kit.

And a couple people mentioned the guitar in this song. The problem is that there's no guitar. Maybe there's a part of the electric piano that sounds like it might be guitar? I have a ring modulator effect mixed into it a bit, and the Logic Pedalboard makes it easy to bring it up in the mix at parts so the character of the e-piano changes at times, especially in the middle section.

Thanks for your close listen and the comments!

Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

jiguma

jiguma said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

As usual, clean and clear
and some fine playing /writing involved too. Andy's contribution is excellent - the way he's recorded and mixed is quite astounding (maybe a little too loud in the mix at times, but that's just a minor nit). I too would like to hear more of the percussive instruments - but maybe a little less of the instrument that plays on the beat all the way through (wood block?). The mandolin doesn't get in the way for me at all - I'm sure Weather Report would have used one if they knew how ;)
These small nits aside, this is a really first class post (and collab). Congratulations to you both - you must be very pleased with it.
Neil

Check out my latest song called Lost In Translation (w Mike Watkins)

Jim Bouchard

Jim Bouchard said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

Woodblock?
Not sure what the woodblock sound is, but maybe you mean the sidestick in a track of Ultrabeat jazz drums that isn't quite regular but is pretty constant. That's the one thing that seemed sort of Weather Report-ish to me, which sort of inspired this. But I just tried it without that Ultrabeat track and with the EZ Drummer kit track tweaked a little maybe it does sound better. I also tried the sax track using iZotope's Alloy instead of Ozone and found some nice balance to the track that way. Maybe I should re-post this with those changes...hmmm

But you're right, I'm pretty pleased with this! Thanks!

Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

awigze	awigze said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Turtle Shell ? Turtle Shell? I bopped away on a turtle shell on one of the tracks... When I sent the percussion files to Jim, they were kind of 'tennis shoes in the dryer' sounding... that might have been it or something in EZ like Jim said. Check out my latest song called We got to Jive in Blues by (Feter)

Jim Bouchard	Jim Bouchard said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	it's not the turtle shell that's sort of far down in the mix, but Andy's right about the tennies in the dryer sound of it. It's the Ultrabeat kit. Ultrabeat is good in small doses, I think...It was definitely the sidestick that was the culprit. Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

kassia	kassia said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	weather very cool soundscape, lots of textures and incredible mixing/production. andy, you are the saxman. this is great. Check out my latest song called Deep Majesty

egobandit	egobandit said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Its like smothered biscuits the kind that makes you lick your fingers! Awigze is smoking on this. Everything is great on this I enjoyed the trip! Check out my latest song called when its love

Ed Hannifin

Ed Hannifin said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)

Your atmospherics...
...are REALLY three dimensional on this one, Jim, and actually the whole mix has a round, full, three dimensional quality to it... Whatever it is you do, between reverbs and compression and whatnot, it's all working for you...

I love the phrasing of the bass part, and right along with that I love the mandolin bits...

Ed

Check out my latest song called Next Time Around (w/jiguma)

Ed Hannifin	Ed Hannifin said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	And also... ...Andy's sax is awesome, well played and phrased, and really huge sounding in the recording.... Huge, but sweet in tone.... Check out my latest song called Next Time Around (w/jiguma)

Outtaorbit	Outtaorbit said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Nice roll on the sax...... Reminds me of of something...hmmmmmm......have to remember......??? Oh yes nicely done.......... Check out my latest song called Sea Shell Blues and Alannah

Outtaorbit	Outtaorbit said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Nice roll on the sax...... Reminds me of of something...hmmmmmm......have to remember......??? Oh yes nicely done.......... Jazzy downtown....hmmmm Check out my latest song called Sea Shell Blues and Alannah

tonestones	tonestones said 18 days ago (November 2nd, 2009)
	Great team effort You two work together really well. Check out my latest song called Damballa

guitapick	guitapick said 18 days ago (November 3rd, 2009)
	I like the mandolin line... ...very nice soft touch. Kudos to Andy...sparing when needed...sweet. Synth sounds are subtle...like the voices at the end. A gentle city scene in my mind...enjoyed this, very much, Jim. Check out my latest song called Outside the Corral

MarkHolbrook	MarkHolbrook said 18 days ago (November 3rd, 2009)
	Wow... This has a very cool feel to it for sure! Great sax work Andy... Wow... Excellence all around. Check out my latest song called Never Say Goodbye - Bond Challenge

Alannah	Alannah said 17 days ago (November 3rd, 2009)
	Very Nice ..... ... thanks for the pimperoonie Andy ..... always luv the sax .... nice bass .... mellow and comfortable. Check out my latest song called I'm Drownin' - Smokey VW (feat Alannah) + Outtaorbit

richard13	richard13 said 17 days ago (November 3rd, 2009)
	Hot summer night music This is such a great track, you guys. Well done. Check out my latest song called Dancing on the Head of a Pin

Roxylee	Roxylee said 16 days ago (November 4th, 2009)
	Oh, wow... You guys are great. I love the sounds in here, from the wailing sax to the percussion to the fx. Check out my latest song called Sweet Grace

Boundless	Boundless said 16 days ago (November 5th, 2009)
	Ah, so here it is just as I happen to be back too - funny life. Sounds wonderful. What soundscape. So creative. Light and lush. A true delight. Merci ! PS : If ever you would fancy a remake, Jim. . . Check out my latest song called Here to Hear - collab

Jim Bouchard

Jim Bouchard said 15 days ago (November 5th, 2009)

And there you are!
Just as I thought you had moved on...I hadn't heard from you for a while and I thought Andy would like it if our collab had gotten posted...even as it was.

I have been tweaking this song a bit based on some comments here and maybe I should send you the new version if you like to add whatever you thought might fit. I think remake or different version might be worthwhile!

Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

awigze

awigze said 15 days ago (November 5th, 2009)

A resounding YES
Jim, if you had not posted then Mr B would not have returned when he did... like washing your car, it rains. Getting up to leave the restaurant, he walks in, posting our collab sans Boundless, he emerges from the depths of crashing sound cards. Hearing what you have to put in the mix will be great. I am looking forward to it... .Carry on, gents!

Check out my latest song called We got to Jive in Blues by (Feter)

Boundless	Boundless said 14 days ago (November 6th, 2009)
	Jim, Andy If you'd like, I'm in. Yeah Andy, synchronicity. . . Amazing life. Check out my latest song called Here to Hear - collab

FrankAxtell	FrankAxtell said 14 days ago (November 6th, 2009)
	very nice composition...really sends you on a journey... Check out my latest song called Zevatron

Bob6stringer	Bob6stringer said 14 days ago (November 7th, 2009)
	The change-up This seems a lot cooler than Weather Report. Almost.. blue. Nice change-up on the ambient thang you're into. Check out my latest song called Yours and Mine

dave_b	dave_b said 13 days ago (November 7th, 2009)
	Weather or Not w/awigze The natural sounds at the beginning are a nice touch. Drums and percussion are first rate. Very laid back and relaxing feel. Sax is killer. Check out my latest song called October Project (2)

mikkinylund	mikkinylund said 13 days ago (November 7th, 2009)
	Nice Collab Andy's pipe is way cool. This song is cool. I love the bass! The guitars, although laid in the back, lift the song. Awesome. Check out my latest song called Fairyland (Satumaa)

Jim Bouchard

Jim Bouchard said 13 days ago (November 7th, 2009)

There's no guitars!
Every so often someone compliments me on the guitars, and it's truly a mystery to me. There's electric piano with a wah on it, mandolin, bass, some synth pads, sax, and percussion and drums along with the ambient sounds but no guitar. I'm perplexed what people are hearing as guitar but I guess that's just the sonic stew I'm stewing up here. Thanks for the comment!

Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

bud

bud said 12 days ago (November 8th, 2009)

Could have sworn I commented a while back
Just stopped back for another listen and again - I'm really impressed with the work on this all around. Great atmosphere and mix and the addition of Andy's sax is perfect. Excellent job of complimenting his lines in the bass. I also really like the acoustic guitar in this context. Wonderful collab.

Check out my latest song called eye for you (w/particledots and michael2)

Jim Bouchard	Jim Bouchard said 12 days ago (November 8th, 2009)
	There's still no guitar! And that includes acoustic! I swear! Thanks for the comment! Check out my latest song called Weather or Not w/awigze

lengold	lengold said 12 days ago (November 9th, 2009)
	Just fantastic Downloaded. Thanks. Cheers Len Check out my latest song called Dodgy Doughnut

michaelkoppenheffer	michaelkoppenheffer said 3 days ago (November 17th, 2009)
	Love the soundscape here This is such an evocative combination of sounds--between the ambient noises, the hand percussion, the mandolin, the sax, I feel like I'm at a really hip, invite-only jazz festival in a Central American jungle. Check out my latest song called Alma Mahler Sings to P. Diddy

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Artist Info

Name: Jim Bouchard

I have been playing music a long time. When I was growing up my brothers had a band called the Regal Tones which was quite popular in our little town in upstate New York State. They got bitten by the music bug and later went on to found the p... [see more]

Check out some of my other songs:

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More songs in Jazz Fusion:

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