There’s nothing you can’t do Rachel. BRAVO ! Amy would be proud.

*Really nice* in every regard, Rachel - Great vocals (lead and harmonies), instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement - "the whole enchilada"!

Soulscapes

Portraits in Jazz: Blue-Bird

I thought I would like to share with you my cover of an Amy Winehouse song from her posthumous album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures. “Halftime” is one of a couple of songs whose lyrics reflected the crucial role music played throughout her tragic life. I wanted to warn you a little about the third verse: Amy had a very unique way of describing her love for traditional jazz, completely different from my own songs. However, it’s the drum patterns of Questlove that led me to cover this song. 

During her life, Amy longed to make a jazz album with Questlove, and sadly, her team wouldn’t allow her the opportunity. So after she passed, her producer Salaam Remi reached out to Questlove, so that the world could hear kind of the direction she wanted to go with that supergroup. However, I later found out that she wanted to perform a wild Duke Ellington album, which is a 180 from this song. I’m currently in the process of making an album inspired by that particular story, and would love to find some way for Questlove and the rapper Mos Def to record those Ellington songs with me, along with my own songs featuring a style like “Halftime.” Anyway, hope you like it. This was a fun cover to do!

Halftime  - Amy Winehouse cover

As some local thunderstorms rolled through the south of France, I left a drop rig overnight. This short recording captures a few claps of thunder before the rain arrived.

Recorded 17.08.2022
Sony PCM A10 + 2 x LOM MikroUsi

Summer Thunderstorm - Barbentane, France

Continuing my Elton John repertoire, I decided to cover “Madman Across The Water.” I was inspired by not only the album version, but also the piano demos, the live Australia performance with the orchestra, and Bruce Hornsby’s jazzy version. I ended up with kind of a quartet version with a guitar part during the chorus, but for most of the song, I chose to have only piano, bass and drums. For the piano, I used Nord’s “extra large” version of their Grand Imperial, than turned the bright filter on my Nord Grand to get more of that Elton-type sound. I played my five string bass, and keyboard drums using one of Sonar’s non-accessible libraries. This ended up being a lot of fun to cover!!! Hope you enjoy it! (Smile)

Madman Across The Water - Elton John cover

I thought it would be fun for you to hear me cover a little future soul repertoire by Hiatus Kaiyote. They’re an Australian band combining elements of jazz, soul, hip hop, and electronic sounds. This song is originally off of their first album. The song also has a wild remix featuring the rapper Q-Tip from the hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest. I chose to do the band only arrangement. Their music also got noticed by several people from the soul, and hip hop community including Questlove, Erykah Badu, and especially Prince. I really like Hiatus’ second album, because there’s more of a jazz meets hip hop sound. Next time, I’ll share you my cover of one of those songs. Hope you enjoy it.

Nakamarra - Hiatus Kaiyote cover

I thought it would be exciting for you to check out a Phish cover I did around 2016 or so. This is before I began mixing final versions at a good volume, which started around 2020. Anyway…

When I was in my Frank Zappa phase, I would check out plenty of guitar driven bands, from The Grateful Dead, to Phish. I was fascinated by the improvisations that took place in their live performances. I was inspired to cover “Divided Sky” after listening to their Halloween concert in 1994, where they performed the entire Quadrophenia album by The Who. The album is called, Live Phish Volume 14. What I love about the live renditions are the expansion of the song. A personal favorite part about studying the live jams are the interaction between all four members. I would often memorize some of my favorite solos from their guitarist Trey Anastasio, learning about vibrato, when not to use vibrato, etc. Just a lot of fun stuff!!!! Having listened to a bunch of other live versions, I thought about covering it in the spirit of the band on stage. I began with the drums, played live on the keyboard using my Yamaha for midi, and the drum samples from Sonar’s Session Drummer Andy Johns kit. I think I did the piano and organ next, then the bass, and guitar. I played on my short Ibanez with a sustain switch, so I can extend notes without having to crank up the amp, plus, I love feeling the vibration of the string while the note keeps playing! I wish I knew the name of the sustain pick up… Anyway, it was an exciting piece to cover!

Hope all of you enjoy it! (Smile)

Divided Sky - Phish cover

I was fascinated by the music of Amy Winehouse. Once I started diving into her influences which include jazz vocalists Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, and especially Dinah Washington, I wanted to challenge myself and write songs, imagining what would happen if those singers made a hip hop soul record.

One difficulty I had while listening to Amy, is that she mumbled her words, and forced the jazz vibrato. While listening to Frank and Dinah, I learned a lot about vibrato control (for that style of singing), as well as enunciating the words! So when I covered this song from Winehouse’ first album, I wanted to channel a hint of Frank and Dinah, while taking an Ella (Fitzgerald)/ Sarah approach in the scat singing.

The fake sample of the Nas song “Made You Look” wasn’t looped, and was played live from start to finish. Every instrument except the guitar or flute were played on the Korg Grandstage 88. The drums and congas are from Sonar’s Session Drummer’s library, and the fake trumpet and saxophone solos were from Garritan’s Jazz and Big Band library.

Recreating Amy’s approach to playing jazz guitar was kind of a challenge: less harmonious like Joe Pass, and more like written chord charts. I wanted to make my flute solo more expressive than the original, and it was just fun!!!

Hope you like this cover.

In My Bed - Amy Winehouse Cover

I thought I’d like to share with you a cover I did back in 2021 while in the process of making my close-to-finished fourth album, "All That." 

One thing that gets me motivated to write songs in many styles are covering repertoire I’ve been checking out. I wanted to make my next album towards a jazzy, soulful edge like my favorite singer, Gino Vannelli. His early ‘70s albums from "Powerful People" to "Gist Of The Gemini" feature some jazzy, soulful, at times progressive combinations.

I first heard Vannelli’s song “Powerful People” in an archived stream DJ Questlove did on The Roots YouTube page. I then listened to the full Vannelli album, and thought about covering the title song, including the jazzy instrumental break. A lot of the orchestral synth sounds were played on my Nord Grand 88. The synth bass was played on my Moog Little Phatty, the organ on my Nord C2D, the chimes on my Korg Grandstage 88, the drums using Session Drummer’s Modern Basic kit (I can’t remember if I played the midi drums on my Nord or Korg…) The drums were first, as I often changed tempos throughout the song, not only to give the music a live band feel, but to make sure everything is played tight like having an incredible band!

I also studied a live recording of this song, which gave me the idea to extend the end of the vocal before the jazzy instrumental breakdown.

Anyway, covering this song helped me write “If I Could Change The Past,” which is going to appear on my next album. I hope you enjoy this cover.

Powerful People - Gino Vannelli Cover

FIRE

Composed, orchestrated, and performed by Rachel Flowers on piano, keyboards, voice, flute, and fretless bass

Copyright Rachel Flowers 2015

Away

Away - Rachel Flowers

'Sidenote: Piano Baps' ..in similar fashion to our earlier tribute projects, the Jousters were challenged to compose or flip some Jazz Piano and conjure up a piano driven Hip Hop Jazz instrumental in their own style.

This resulted in eighteen Piano Baps to stream, download or play on cassette tape.

https://millenniumjazz.bandcamp.com/album/sidenote-piano-baps

Sidenote: Piano Baps

CASSETTE/STREAM/DL

Bones The Beat Head - Inner Conflict - Sidenote: Piano Baps

You can now purchase Rachel's solo albums "Bigger on the Inside" (2021), "Going Somewhere" (2018), and "Listen" (2016) along with "3x2," Rachel's collaboration EP with Michael Sadler of Saga!

From the first moment she touched the piano, Rachel Flowers has been consumed by music. Like a sponge she has spent her life absorbing every kind of music she encounters. This channel is her outlet where she gets to play, creating covers of the music she loves, and sharing that music with the world.

Now you can also hear Rachel's original music! Just visit shop.rachelflowersmusic.com

In My Bed - Amy Winehouse Cover

RachelFlowers

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