Natalie Cole

AESTHETICS OF MUSICSONG ANALYSIS PRESENTATION: TODD MARTIN

NATURE BOY by Eden Ahbez • Natalie Cole “Unforgettable”• A 20th Century Jazz Standard• Pop icon as a songstress ~ 3 Grammys• Classical, and Romantic era orchestrations• Recorded as a Pop hit and film score…

NATALIE COLE, NATURE BOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uu9_1_BDcs

Produced by Andre Fischer Arranged by Michel Legrand Piano: Alan Broadbent STUDIOS: Capitol Studios, Conway,

Group IV, Hit Factory, Hollywood Sound Recorders, Lighthouse, Oceanway, Pacifique, Schnee Studios, Tracks, Twentieth Century Fox Scoring Stage, Westlake Audio, and Johnny Yuma

Mastered by Doug Saks at Mastering Lab

NATALIE COLE

Born 1950 in Los Angeles. Natalie is an American singer, songwriter and

performer. The daughter of Jazz Legend Nat King Cole, Natalie rose to musical fame in the mid-1970s as a Pop/R&B

Star with hits like “This Will Be”, “Inseparable” and “Our Love”. In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable, with Love,

which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She has sold over 30 million records worldwide.

(1)Wikipedia

ENGINEERS: AL SCHMITT, WOODY WOODRUFF, ARMIN STEINER & (ADAPT.) JOHNNY MANDEL

Tommy LiPuma David Foster

The BandPersonnel includes: Natalie Cole (vocals); Johnny Mandel, Ralph Burns, Marty Paich, Michel Legrand, Bill Holman (arranger); John Chiodini, Alfred Viola, Dennis Budimir, John Pisano, John Collins (guitar); Gary Foster (alto saxophone); Pete Christlieb, Don Menza, David "Fathead" Newman (tenor saxophone); Conte Candoli, Chuck Findley (trumpet); Dick Nash (trombone); Clare Fischer, Joe Sample, Ike Cole, Brad Cole, Alan Broadbent, Mike Lang, Michael Melvoin, Monty Alexander (piano); Andrew Simpkins, John Patitucci, Ray Brown, James Hughart, Chuck Domanico, John Clayton (bass); Harold Jones, Dave Weckel, Jeff Hamilton, Sol Gubin (drums).

The OrchestraPersonnel: Natalie Cole (vocals); Dennis Budimir, John Collins, John Chiodini, John Pisano, Al Viola (guitar); Jo Ann Turovsky, Katie Kirkpatrick, Gayle Levant, Dorothy Remsen (harp); Raymond Tischer (violin, viola); Gerald Vinci, Assa Drori, Nathan Kaproff, James Getzoff, Anatoly Rosinsky, Harris Goldman, Barbara Porter, Ken Yerke, Ronald Folsom, Dorothy Wade, Edith Markman, Ezra Kliger, Mari Tsumura-Botnick, Lily Chen, Rene Mandel, Michael Ferril, Ralph Morrison III, Gail Cruz, Henry Ferber, Murray Adler, Dixie Blackstone, Alexander Treger, Irma Neumann, Stanley Plummer, Sid Sharp, Karen Jones, Bernard Kundell, Diana Halprin, Yoko Matsuda, Pavel Farkas, Isabelle Daskoff, Sid Page, Israel Baker, Marilyn Baker, Arnold Belnick, Jacqueline Brand, Stuart Canin, Bonnie Douglas, Bruce Dukov, Julie Gigante, Clayton Haslop, Kathleen Lenski , Brian Leonard, Paul Shure, Armen Garabedian, Darius Campo, Michael Markman, Berj Garabedian, Miwako Watanabe, Endre Granat, Haim Shtrum (violin); Carole Mukogawa, Kenneth Burward-Hoy, Dan Neufeld, Kazi Pitelka, Myra Kestenbaum, Alan DeVeritch, Mike Nowack, David Stockhammer, Myron Sandler, Don McInnes, Pamela Goldsmith, Roland Kato, Milton Thomas, Harry Shirinian, Samuel Boghossian, Denyse Buffum (viola); Paula Hochhalter, Dennis Karmazyn, Jodi Burnett, Armand Karpoff, Ronald Cooper, Anne Karam, Nils Oliver, Antony Cooke , Stephen Erdody, Armen Ksadjikian, Daniel Rothmuller, Frederick Seykora (cello); Gary Foster (flute, woodwinds, alto saxophone); Louise di Tullio (flute, woodwinds); Susan Greenberg, Ronald Langinger (flute); Gene Cipriano (oboe, woodwinds); Tom Boyd (oboe); Pete Christlieb (woodwinds, saxophone, tenor saxophone); Jack Nimitz (woodwinds, baritone saxophone); Steve Kujala, Sheridon Stokes, Ronnie Lang (woodwinds); Dan Higgins (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); William Perkins, Lanny Morgan (alto saxophone); David "Fathead" Newman , Don Menza, Rick Mitchell, Richard Mitchell (tenor saxophone); Bob Efford, Bob Tricarico (baritone saxophone); Chuck Findley, Conte Candoli, Gary Grant, Larry Hall , Nolan Andrew Smith, Oscar Brashear, Rick Baptist, Steve Huffsteter , Warren Luening, Frank Szabo, Charlie Davis

INSTRUMENTATION & ORCHESTRATION

Mancini Rimsky-Korsakov

INSTRUMENTS OF THE BAND

Seating Chart Mic flow chart

Orchestra Strings: Violins, Violas,

Cellos, & Basses Brass: Trumpets,

Trombones, Horns & Tubas

Winds: Clarinets, Flutes, Bassoons, & Oboes

Percussion: Timpani, Bass drum, Snare drum, & Cymbals etc…

Big Band Saxes (5) Trombones (4) Trumpets (4/5) Rhythm section:

bass, drums, guitar, piano (3-4)

Conductors…

INSTRUMENTATIONS

Symphony Orchestra Jazz Rhythm Section

ORCHESTRAL VS. BIG BANDCLASSICAL VS. JAZZ

R&B VS. POP

Theme and variations with repeated motifs.

Irregular phrases, drama, chromaticism, embellishments and short cadenza.

SONG STRUCTURE 32 Bar Form, four 8-bar sections

A-B-A-B Jazz Standard 4/4 Rubato’ Intro – 4 bars w/fermata Orchestral Passages

[A] – Vocal lead [B] – B section

[A’] – A prime vocals [B’] – B prime or chorus

4 Bar intro ¾ meter change pre-solo (Solos/A’’) – ¾ Trumpet solo with Piano & jazz rhythm

section accompaniments Fermata cadenza flourishes back to 4/4 rubato

[B’’ Tag to Coda] – 4/4 Vocals last chorus Coda – Orchestral Coda with small Piano cadenza/fills

fermatas

PRODUCTION

Studio: Live Studio Recording Genre: Jazz Ballad Released: USA 1991 Album of the year Formats: CD, Album, & Cassettes

(wav/mp3s) Label: Electra, BMG marketing Style: easy listening, smooth jazz, big

band, contemporary jazz, swing and possible film score orchestration…

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

Decca Tree ‘micing’, 3 omni-directional mics in an upside down “T” formation @6’-3’ apart respectively, fits on a tall boom high up in the air @above the conductor…probably Neumann M-50s small diaphragm pressure transducer tube condensers

The rest of the orchestra & rhythm section are spot ‘miked’ individually and in sections for full stereo effect, could be AT2020s, APEX 190s, or Rodes 2000 could be some AKG’s?

Winds and other solos are panned according to the sections the traditionally play in, and are mixed a little higher than their orchestral accompaniment, because they are solos…

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

High strings to low strings tend to move from left to right…

The brass, French horns, low brass t-bones and trumpets are placed in the rear of the mix like a live performance and how they are placed geographically in the orchestra…

Vocals move from the left to the right sometimes but always fuller & with more gain in the mix

The woodwinds float around above in the mix, with a light ethereal feel (hi-center-rear)

The rubato feel lends itself well to the story telling style of this ballad, with pauses and flourishes between each Lyric as afterthoughts to this gripping poetic tale of a young boy’s journey…or message!

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

When the trumpet and piano solos come in at the last verse, the rhythm section of the jazz band come in with a steady medium slow 3/4 swing grove for 4 bars before the solos…swinging all the way (old school jazz)…then back to 4/4 rubato for the chorus/end

muted trumpet solo is lower and more distant in the mix with some room reverb

The piano is a little higher, in the front of the mix, and sounds like it’s recorded in stereo or with omni-directional mics…

When the vocals come back in with the last chorus, the time stops again, and goes back to the rubato out of time ballad feel with flourishes reminiscent of …Sibelius Symphony No. 7 or maybe Claus Ogerman (German 20th century) of present…?

Now when the vocals take over, they are panned and mixed front and center as they should be with the orchestra & jazz rhythm section in the background

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

It sounds like there is only a little natural large room reverb on the orchestra like in a big church…

There is very little or no compression, EQ or effects at all, most of it sounds like ambient room, and natural acoustics effects from the recording studios they’re recording in

The vocals on the other hand, sound a little dry with a hint of reverb, some delicate EQ, a touch of compression and maybe a little expansion, not much if any…[thickening/fattening]

Most of the vocal panning is a very precise stereo image occasionally moving from left to right but always; full, round, and up-front in the mix

MIX MAP CHART

-40-35-30-25-20-15-10-50

Fade

rs/P

anni

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LYRICAL CONTENT The orchestration reflects a more tonal version of

Stravinsky or Tchaikovsky and Debussy that explore neoclassical (return to order) themes ranging from the Romantic periods through to Impressionism/Expressionism~rubatos with advanced harmonic and melodic devices (evoke~poetic images) very dramatic!

The solos in the introduction capture the individuality of a strange, lonely and exotic boy through the drama the music provides with light airy woodwind solos, flourishing around overhead

The rich harmonic and melodic textures express the magic of a sad, shy, and possibly melancholy boy who has gained incredible wisdom in his journeys…and about to share all this with us in a simple & straightforward message.

LYRICAL CONTENT The melancholy of the parallel musical textures with a

little chromaticism, lend themselves well to the ‘past-tense’ and sadness that, maybe the boy passed away or disappeared…

The orchestral mix and panning have an ethereal wandering feel, like the boy’s journey over land and sea

Another interesting feature is that the solo section is in a medium slow ¾ swing and the rest of the song is in a relaxed 4/4 rubato tempo/non-tempo

The song was originally written and played in both meters: ¾ or 4/4…time signatures!

On the magic day they met, the musical score reflects a cheerfulness with flourishes of light and happy excited flute solos…

The brass and strings bring the solemness of the boy’s message home with full swells and long whole tone homophonic chordal tonal textures

SONG LYRICS"Nature Boy“

There was a boy...A very strange enchanted boy

They say he wondered very far, very farOver land and sea

A little shy and sad of eyeBut very wise was he

And then one dayOne magic day, he passed my way

And as we spoke of many things,Fools and kings,

This he said to me

"The greatest thing you'll ever learnis just to love and be loved in return"

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

LEAD SHEET

NATALIE COLE, NATURE BOY

Album, CD, Cassettes & YouTube

FILM SCORE & TRIP-HOP

Moulin Rouge Massive Attack