Broadway classics, cover songs, and all-stars: Cool (Patti Austin)
This week, we review a fresh take on a classic as this episode dives into the all-star rendition of "Cool" from West Side Story, featuring powerhouse musicians like Patti Austin, members of Take 6, Branford Marsalis, Jerry Hey, and Bruce Hornsby. From lush vocal textures and a beat-heavy instrumentation, this track bridges the original musical's intent with a contemporary, funk-infused sound. We cover the creative process, the significance of each artist's contribution, and the broader context of the benefit album celebrating Bernstein's legacy.
In the Mailbag segment, the conversation shifts to the evolving landscape of music production, sparked by a discussion about preparation in the context of modern recording. Trist and Elaine share real-world studio experiences, discuss the balance between preparation and technology, and reflect on how accessibility to recording tools shapes today's music.
Listen to the song
- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3MfF3J-HwE
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/2qh6LKRa61QMKupv6DoZlH?si=0f7dcd3255cf4cf9
- Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/song/cool/298515474
- Amazon - https://music.amazon.com/albums/B073HH293K?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_nDOb5fb1JaFZRgwjEAbqMEW9t&trackAsin=B073HFBFQ5
Other links
- Playlist of the songs we’ve reviewed
- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5bn23baJ4xQ1t0TMqukELY5W95HwuMoT
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4uCOVpr4NcWT5SGWlZEnnw?si=8j8p7QwlQxmTNNFwFMvCeg
- Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/songs-reviewed-on-the-musicians-loupe/pl.u-V9D7maah06JNo
- Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/57132299c0b9470dbd67fcab0b41db79sune?ref=dm_sh_LYPlw2RWiTdf09DUmvLHjqGve
About us
Trist Curless is a Los Angeles-based vocalist, educator, and sound engineer. As a performer, Trist has toured worldwide as a co-founder of the pop-jazz vocal group m-pact and a 10 year member of the Grammy-award winning The Manhattan Transfer. In addition to these two vocal powerhouse groups, he’s also performed with Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, New York Voices, Vox Audio, Naturally 7, and The Swingle Singers. His latest venture, The LHR Project, is a new vocal group collective celebrating legendary jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.
As an audio engineer, Trist has toured nationally with several vocal groups and bands in a large variety of venues, working for Grammy award winners Pentatonix and Take 6, as well as prominent a cappella vocal groups Straight No Chaser, VoicePlay, and Accent.
Elaine Chao, M.Ed is a San Francisco Bay Area-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, vocal percussionist, and songwriter whose career spans a cappella, contemporary worship, and classical music. She has leveraged her training in classical and choral music over the course of her contemporary performance, including in orchestras for musical theatre and in sacred spaces. In addition to music, she also is a martial artist and published author. She currently leads a product management team at a major software company dedicated to creative expression. All statements in this podcast are her own and do not reflect the opinions of her employer.
Transcript
Elaine: Hey, Trist!
Speaker:Elaine: What do we have this week?
Speaker:Trist: Oh. Today we have a song that's
Speaker:Trist: kind of has a collection of
Speaker:Trist: people we have talked about
Speaker:Trist: before.
Speaker:Trist: I think this is the amalgam of that.
Speaker:Trist: There are at least five artists
Speaker:Trist: that are on this particular
Speaker:Trist: track that we have discussed in
Speaker:Trist: previous episodes.
Speaker:Trist: How about that?
Speaker:Elaine: All right.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, is this a pop quiz for all
Speaker:Elaine: of us, including our longtime
Speaker:Elaine: listeners?
Speaker:Trist: Well, maybe.
Speaker:Trist: We'll probably get into it.
Speaker:Trist: But, this happens to come from a musical, a
Speaker:Elaine: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: musical that, mostly everyone
Speaker:Trist: has seen, from the musical "West
Speaker:Trist: Side Story."
Speaker:Trist: And of all the great songs, this
Speaker:Trist: is a version of the song,
Speaker:Trist: "Cool."
Speaker:Elaine: Hm!
Speaker:Elaine: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: And it features a lead vocal by the great singer Patti Austin.
Speaker:Trist: She's not someone we talked
Speaker:Trist: about before, but many of the
Speaker:Trist: others that are on this track
Speaker:Trist: are.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. I am familiar with her.
Speaker:Elaine: I am not as familiar with this track.
Speaker:Elaine: But before we get into this, can
Speaker:Elaine: you remind our listeners how we
Speaker:Elaine: should be listening to music as
Speaker:Elaine: a part of the Musician's Loupe
Speaker:Elaine: community?
Speaker:Trist: Oh on The Musician's Loupe, we strongly, highly recommend,
Speaker:Trist: encourage you to take that extra moment and just upgrade.
Speaker:Trist: Give yourself an upgrade of listening situation.
Speaker:Trist: You know, get the good headphones, put it on the good
Speaker:Trist: stereo, get a nice quiet spot that you can enjoy the song that
Speaker:Trist: we're going to discuss and just take it in.
Speaker:Elaine: All right.
Speaker:Elaine: So with that, we are going to pause and come right back.
Speaker:Elaine: We will have links to the songs in our show notes.
Speaker:Elaine: So take a listen, two, or three, and we'll be right back.
Speaker:Elaine: And we are back.
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. This was something that I was not really expecting, but
Speaker:Elaine: there were elements of it that sounded very familiar, but
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: I also realized that I did not know the base song, and so I had
Speaker:Elaine: to go and look it up.
Speaker:Elaine: And then when I watched it, I was like, I have no idea what's
Speaker:Elaine: going on right now,
Speaker:Trist: Oh.
Speaker:Elaine: because I had never watched the musical all the way through.
Speaker:Trist: Ohhh-kay.
Speaker:Trist: You know, that's one of those
Speaker:Trist: things, Elaine, that I'm
Speaker:Trist: supposed to give you a hard time
Speaker:Trist: that you've never seen "West
Speaker:Trist: Side Story," but there are
Speaker:Trist: probably 20 things very
Speaker:Trist: similarly that you could throw
Speaker:Trist: out at me that I just haven't
Speaker:Trist: seen.
Speaker:Trist: We all have those little spots, like, "Oh my God, you've never
Speaker:Trist: seen Star Wars?!" So wow.
Speaker:Trist: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: Well, then... actually, I think that's even more fascinating
Speaker:Trist: because a lot of the things that interest me is its relationship
Speaker:Trist: to the original.
Speaker:Trist: So actually, this is even cooler than I planned.
Speaker:Trist: I would love to just have you continue telling me just your
Speaker:Trist: thoughts about it in general.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. So I did go back to the 1961 version of it, and
Speaker:Elaine: apparently there was a newer version of it in, I don't know,
Speaker:Elaine: somewhere in the 2000s or so that I didn't watch.
Speaker:Elaine: It made a lot more sense to me after I watched the 1961 version
Speaker:Elaine: because – and then also I had to look up on Wikipedia like, what
Speaker:Elaine: is this entire piece about?
Speaker:Elaine: Because they're just basically dancing and people are shouting
Speaker:Elaine: "cool" at random times.
Speaker:Elaine: And I just couldn't figure out what was going on.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think after I read the article and then listened to it
Speaker:Elaine: again and watched it again, it started to make a little bit
Speaker:Elaine: more sense to me.
Speaker:Elaine: I think, though, that listening
Speaker:Elaine: to it for the first time just
Speaker:Elaine: completely raw, I had not
Speaker:Elaine: listened to the 1961 version as
Speaker:Elaine: context for what I was listening
Speaker:Elaine: to.
Speaker:Elaine: I was familiar with Patti Austin, but I've only really
Speaker:Elaine: seen clips of her singing.
Speaker:Elaine: I actually hadn't heard her sing an entire song.
Speaker:Elaine: And then I heard a lot of stuff in the background that sounded
Speaker:Elaine: very, very familiar.
Speaker:Elaine: So I was like, I don't know, is this The Manhattan Transfer?
Speaker:Elaine: Is it like this arrangement?
Speaker:Elaine: And I looked at I'm like, oh yeah, two members of Take 6.
Speaker:Elaine: And I'm like, okay, that's at least two people that I know.
Speaker:Elaine: And those people were Merv
Speaker:Elaine: Warren and Mark Kibble, of
Speaker:Elaine: course, who are both brilliant
Speaker:Elaine: and longtime members of Take 6,
Speaker:Elaine: people who you know pretty well
Speaker:Elaine: because the Manhattan Transfer
Speaker:Elaine: and Take 6 spent a few years
Speaker:Elaine: touring together.
Speaker:Elaine: But the things that I was really kind of confused about: there
Speaker:Elaine: sounded like there were female vocals in there, but I didn't
Speaker:Elaine: see anyone credited in the link that I had.
Speaker:Elaine: And then I was like, oh, well, wait a minute, that horn sounds
Speaker:Elaine: very familiar, too.
Speaker:Elaine: And of course, it was Branford Marsalis who we had had in a
Speaker:Elaine: track late last season.
Speaker:Elaine: And then I also saw Jerry Hey,
Speaker:Elaine: who we'd had a conversation
Speaker:Elaine: about.
Speaker:Elaine: And I can't even remember whether it was the Michael
Speaker:Elaine: Jackson track or the Paul
Speaker:Trist: It
Speaker:Elaine: Simon
Speaker:Trist: was.
Speaker:Elaine: track.
Speaker:Trist: It was
Speaker:Elaine: It
Speaker:Trist: Michael
Speaker:Elaine: was okay.
Speaker:Trist: Jackson.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. So we did talk about him as well.
Speaker:Elaine: So really, I was like, okay, this is an all star group that
Speaker:Elaine: we have talked about.
Speaker:Elaine: There are a lot of very familiar names here.
Speaker:Elaine: It sounded very familiar.
Speaker:Elaine: There were a lot of really
Speaker:Elaine: interesting musical elements of
Speaker:Elaine: it.
Speaker:Elaine: But from a musical structure perspective, it didn't really
Speaker:Elaine: make sense until after I watched the original musical.
Speaker:Elaine: And then I was like, oh, okay, I
Speaker:Elaine: understand where all of these
Speaker:Elaine: random, "cools" and "heys" and
Speaker:Elaine: stuff
Speaker:Trist: *chuckle*
Speaker:Elaine: were coming from because it didn't make sense to me.
Speaker:Elaine: And even watching the video, I was like, what's going on?
Speaker:Trist: Mhm. That's really interesting.
Speaker:Trist: Yes. All of those things.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Trist: Branford Marsalis was on the track with Kurt Elling.
Speaker:Trist: And Jerry Hey is really just an incredibly well known trumpet
Speaker:Trist: player and horn arranger and his horn sections, which this
Speaker:Trist: includes most of the guys that usually play with him on the
Speaker:Trist: hundreds and hundreds of albums and songs that we've all heard
Speaker:Trist: in our lives.
Speaker:Trist: And so they're a part of this.
Speaker:Trist: And Greg Phillinganes plays some keys who was also a part of some
Speaker:Trist: of those same sessions that we've talked about.
Speaker:Trist: And another one that I actually usually forget and we haven't
Speaker:Trist: covered him yet is that the piano on this track was played
Speaker:Trist: by Bruce Hornsby, of all people.
Speaker:Trist: Also, a super interesting thing.
Speaker:Trist: Really all those background voices are all Mervyn Warren.
Speaker:Elaine: Interesting.
Speaker:Trist: They're all him.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah. Co-arranged with Mark.
Speaker:Trist: It was a long time ago.
Speaker:Trist: I talked to one of them and maybe if one of them hears it,
Speaker:Trist: they'll chime in and let me know, but it feels like either
Speaker:Trist: Mervyn or Mark said it was more of the other guy, I forget.
Speaker:Trist: I think I was talking to Mervyn's like, oh, I got
Speaker:Trist: credited, but really Mark did all those arrangement vocals,
Speaker:Trist: and Merv sang them.
Speaker:Trist: But yeah, Mervyn sang those, and he's got quite a range, so he's
Speaker:Trist: covering all those parts as far as I know.
Speaker:Trist: It's
Speaker:Elaine: well.
Speaker:Trist: very Take 6, of course, the
Speaker:Trist: sound is very much of that
Speaker:Trist: thing.
Speaker:Trist: Especially when it's just in a
Speaker:Trist: texture like that, it's easy to
Speaker:Trist: not necessarily pick out that
Speaker:Trist: it's just one person
Speaker:Trist: multi-tracked.
Speaker:Trist: It almost as easily could be all of them.
Speaker:Trist: If you aren't as fine aware of
Speaker:Trist: exactly those voices and the way
Speaker:Trist: they sound when they're all
Speaker:Trist: together, as opposed to one of
Speaker:Trist: them multi-tracking when the
Speaker:Trist: arrangement is as such, it kind
Speaker:Trist: of lends itself to just that
Speaker:Trist: style and what that sound is, no
Speaker:Trist: matter who's really replicating
Speaker:Trist: it.
Speaker:Elaine: One of the things that really
Speaker:Elaine: threw me off was that they
Speaker:Elaine: didn't have as much of the
Speaker:Elaine: brassy tone that Take 6 will go
Speaker:Elaine: into sometimes when they're
Speaker:Elaine: trying to replicate horns, for
Speaker:Elaine: instance, and instead it had a
Speaker:Elaine: much more lush, laid back sound
Speaker:Elaine: that I more associate with The
Speaker:Elaine: Manhattan Transfer and other
Speaker:Elaine: types of things that they've
Speaker:Elaine: done, because most of what I've
Speaker:Elaine: heard from them in these more
Speaker:Elaine: lush orchestral things, like,
Speaker:Elaine: for instance, the latest album
Speaker:Elaine: "50," which you sang on, was
Speaker:Elaine: very much this orchestra, but
Speaker:Elaine: the voices were also very
Speaker:Elaine: textural.
Speaker:Elaine: Nothing really stood out in
Speaker:Elaine: terms of brassiness or a
Speaker:Elaine: different placement.
Speaker:Elaine: A lot of it was really focused
Speaker:Elaine: on the blend and really the
Speaker:Elaine: voices coming together as one
Speaker:Elaine: sound.
Speaker:Elaine: And that's really what I heard in this one as well.
Speaker:Elaine: And I don't know whether it's the additional voices or what,
Speaker:Elaine: but the arrangement was definitely very clearly Take 6.
Speaker:Trist: That would definitely explain
Speaker:Trist: just the difference in the sound
Speaker:Trist: where it sounds the same but a
Speaker:Trist: little different, is that it's
Speaker:Trist: one person's voice, recorded
Speaker:Trist: over and over and over, rather
Speaker:Trist: than the whole group of them and
Speaker:Trist: all of their different sounds
Speaker:Trist: together.
Speaker:Trist: So that's what that is.
Speaker:Trist: And then of course, just the horns are the horns.
Speaker:Trist: And also having the little solo things from Branford, like the
Speaker:Trist: licks that they all kind of play together, especially at the end.
Speaker:Trist: And a lot of that stuff, the big
Speaker:Trist: cacophony of sound, it's really
Speaker:Trist: interesting to me now to even
Speaker:Trist: think about, okay, if I'd never
Speaker:Trist: seen or heard this original
Speaker:Trist: track, what do I think of all of
Speaker:Trist: that cacophony of sound at the
Speaker:Trist: end?
Speaker:Trist: Because I relate it to what I've seen.
Speaker:Trist: So that's an interesting point to bring up.
Speaker:Trist: Like if you're doing a cover of something like that, how much
Speaker:Trist: are you relying on the listener knowing the original material?
Speaker:Trist: Or do you want to present it as if it can stand alone?
Speaker:Trist: Now I will say, here's the other
Speaker:Trist: caveat to this is, the song is
Speaker:Trist: featured on an entire album
Speaker:Trist: that's a collection of people
Speaker:Trist: doing songs of "West Side
Speaker:Trist: Story."
Speaker:Trist: So even contextually, sure, I
Speaker:Trist: suppose it could break out on
Speaker:Trist: its own.
Speaker:Trist: Like if you're listening to a
Speaker:Trist: random podcast where two people
Speaker:Trist: talk about songs and suddenly
Speaker:Trist: the song shows up and you don't
Speaker:Trist: know that it's from "West Side
Speaker:Trist: Story," you might be like, what
Speaker:Trist: is this?
Speaker:Trist: But the project that it comes from isn't as out there.
Speaker:Trist: It's loaded with all kinds of artists.
Speaker:Trist: We've got Trisha Yearwood, Tevin Campbell, Little Richard, Aretha
Speaker:Trist: Franklin, Kenny Loggins, Brian Setzer Orchestra, James Ingram,
Speaker:Trist: Michael McDonald, Phil Collins.
Speaker:Trist: So it was done in the late 90s, '96, I believe.
Speaker:Trist: And it was actually a big benefit project involving the
Speaker:Trist: Leonard Bernstein Education through the Arts and the NARAS
Speaker:Trist: Foundation – that's basically the folks who do the Grammys.
Speaker:Trist: So it was a big production taken on by David Pack.
Speaker:Trist: And, yeah, it's involved a lot
Speaker:Trist: of really amazing artists,
Speaker:Trist: probably many of them even
Speaker:Trist: donating time to this charitable
Speaker:Trist: cause.
Speaker:Trist: So pretty cool thing.
Speaker:Elaine: It was definitely very interesting.
Speaker:Elaine: Now I have another question for
Speaker:Elaine: you, which is much more related
Speaker:Elaine: to the original question that
Speaker:Elaine: you had around: how do people
Speaker:Elaine: think about covers and how do
Speaker:Elaine: people think about referencing
Speaker:Elaine: the covers.
Speaker:Elaine: There was something about Patti
Speaker:Elaine: Austin's placement in her voice
Speaker:Elaine: that seemed a little bit
Speaker:Elaine: different, and I'm wondering how
Speaker:Elaine: much of that placement, the
Speaker:Elaine: swallowing of certain words is
Speaker:Elaine: more her.
Speaker:Elaine: Because I don't know as much of her discography or how much of
Speaker:Elaine: it is reference to the musical and the piece itself, because in
Speaker:Elaine: the context of this musical, they're trying to tell each
Speaker:Elaine: other not to go out and fight the opposite gang.
Speaker:Elaine: This is the dance number of the
Speaker:Elaine: Jets as they have just lost to
Speaker:Elaine: the Sharks.
Speaker:Elaine: And they're trying to not go out for revenge because they could
Speaker:Elaine: get caught by the police.
Speaker:Elaine: And so really, it's a conversation between two of the
Speaker:Elaine: characters just to say, let's cool it off.
Speaker:Elaine: And they're popping off in the midst of this.
Speaker:Elaine: So I just wonder, you with your
Speaker:Elaine: knowledge of Patti Austin and of
Speaker:Elaine: West Side Story and the various
Speaker:Elaine: recordings, how much do you
Speaker:Elaine: think it influenced each other
Speaker:Elaine: and how she interpreted the song
Speaker:Elaine: being the primary vocalist on
Speaker:Elaine: this?
Speaker:Trist: In something like this, she's
Speaker:Trist: going to be featured on this one
Speaker:Trist: track of this compilation, at a
Speaker:Trist: point in time, I don't recall
Speaker:Trist: whether she was necessarily
Speaker:Trist: recording another album right at
Speaker:Trist: this moment.
Speaker:Trist: You're catching someone at a
Speaker:Trist: time where there's not an entire
Speaker:Trist: album to listen to what like her
Speaker:Trist: sound is.
Speaker:Trist: What is her sound now?
Speaker:Trist: What is she doing now?
Speaker:Trist: So, I think a little bit of all of those things.
Speaker:Trist: She's probably a little bit into
Speaker:Trist: character, especially with the
Speaker:Trist: way that the track is, knowing
Speaker:Trist: some context about what her
Speaker:Trist: character is.
Speaker:Trist: She's playing a character in
Speaker:Trist: this show that she's likely seen
Speaker:Trist: and understands what the role of
Speaker:Trist: that voice is, not to mention
Speaker:Trist: all those other vocals and horns
Speaker:Trist: and all the stuff in the track
Speaker:Trist: around it.
Speaker:Trist: It might be easy to feel more
Speaker:Trist: chameleon like and try to fit in
Speaker:Trist: to what your ear hears about
Speaker:Trist: what that sound is rather than,
Speaker:Trist: oh, I need to bring Patti Austin
Speaker:Trist: to this and trying to be herself
Speaker:Trist: in it, like trying to almost be
Speaker:Trist: an actor in this new version of
Speaker:Trist: this show and playing that
Speaker:Trist: character.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, I think everyone probably goes about that differently.
Speaker:Trist: I think the next time I listen to this whole album, I'll
Speaker:Trist: probably consider that.
Speaker:Trist: How many people are singing this just like it's a song they could
Speaker:Trist: add to their repertoire and doing concerts, and how much of
Speaker:Trist: it is more like, ooh yeah, what is that character in the show?
Speaker:Trist: And what if I were playing it?
Speaker:Trist: How would I sing it?
Speaker:Trist: etc. So I think they're both valid ways to do it.
Speaker:Trist: But that's probably what I think you're hearing.
Speaker:Elaine: Let's switch over also to the
Speaker:Elaine: orchestration because obviously
Speaker:Elaine: this is not a classic
Speaker:Elaine: interpretation of the
Speaker:Elaine: orchestration.
Speaker:Elaine: I'm interested in hearing your thoughts around the
Speaker:Elaine: percussiveness of it, because as I was listening to the 1961
Speaker:Elaine: version, there is a lot of percussiveness in these
Speaker:Elaine: characters first getting angry and then also telling themselves
Speaker:Elaine: to keep it cool.
Speaker:Elaine: And so there was this back and forth between it where there are
Speaker:Elaine: these dance numbers.
Speaker:Elaine: And then the emotions would get high and then they'd reassure
Speaker:Elaine: each other that it was cool, that they should stay cool.
Speaker:Elaine: But each time they did that, it was incredibly percussive.
Speaker:Elaine: And I'm interested in hearing how that came out in this
Speaker:Elaine: version of it.
Speaker:Trist: Well, I think the main difference is in being instead
Speaker:Trist: of a little bit more like the original, where it's a little
Speaker:Trist: more just swing oriented.
Speaker:Trist: It doesn't have like a big backbeat to it.
Speaker:Trist: This is more like a funky pocket, has this heavier
Speaker:Trist: backbeat to it.
Speaker:Trist: And everything then plays off of that different groove.
Speaker:Trist: So I think the way that it comes off and the way that it's
Speaker:Trist: percussive varies because of the very nature of the difference of
Speaker:Trist: the feel of the two.
Speaker:Elaine: So we've been talking a lot
Speaker:Elaine: about my impressions of it, as
Speaker:Elaine: someone who has come into it
Speaker:Elaine: from a brand, brand new
Speaker:Elaine: perspective.
Speaker:Elaine: I'm really interested in hearing
Speaker:Elaine: why did you choose this
Speaker:Elaine: particular song from Patti
Speaker:Elaine: Austin or choose this song
Speaker:Elaine: altogether?
Speaker:Trist: I gave zero thought or consideration that it was Patti
Speaker:Trist: Austin singing it.
Speaker:Trist: Like the fact that it was Patti
Speaker:Trist: Austin had zero to do with my
Speaker:Trist: choosing it.
Speaker:Trist: I think she's amazing and she does a great job.
Speaker:Trist: But that wasn't like, oh, everyone needs to hear this
Speaker:Trist: performance from Patti Austin.
Speaker:Trist: No, just the whole thing.
Speaker:Trist: I wanted to share the entire
Speaker:Trist: concept in a little bit of a
Speaker:Trist: way, much like we do here on The
Speaker:Trist: Musician's Loupe.
Speaker:Trist: Another example, there's a whole bunch of artists that people
Speaker:Trist: might have heard of, but there's this thing that maybe you
Speaker:Trist: haven't heard before.
Speaker:Trist: So twofold.
Speaker:Trist: You might have heard of Patti
Speaker:Trist: Austin before, but you never
Speaker:Trist: heard this.
Speaker:Trist: And we've talked about Jerry
Speaker:Trist: Hey, we've talked about Take 6
Speaker:Trist: and both Mervyn and Mark Kibble,
Speaker:Trist: we've talked about Branford
Speaker:Trist: Marsalis.
Speaker:Trist: In all of those cases, did you
Speaker:Trist: know that they worked on this
Speaker:Trist: thing?
Speaker:Trist: And then also, oh, you've seen West Side Story.
Speaker:Trist: Did you know that there was this version of that song?
Speaker:Trist: And subsequently, did you know there was this recording, this
Speaker:Trist: benefit that was put together to commemorate and celebrate the
Speaker:Trist: songs of the musical?
Speaker:Trist: And of all of them, it's my favorite.
Speaker:Trist: Because we've talked about all
Speaker:Trist: those artists, it's obvious that
Speaker:Trist: those are all artists that I'm
Speaker:Trist: interested in.
Speaker:Trist: So having them be all together was fascinating.
Speaker:Trist: And I wanted to share that.
Speaker:Trist: And the very thing we just mentioned, the fact that it's
Speaker:Trist: the song we know, if you've seen or heard the show before.
Speaker:Trist: And so I like to point out the
Speaker:Trist: cool differences, excuse the
Speaker:Trist: pun, the differences in the
Speaker:Trist: recording, the different feel of
Speaker:Trist: it.
Speaker:Trist: Bringing it to the late '90s instead of the '60s.
Speaker:Trist: So I just like the collection of all of those forces that I love
Speaker:Trist: so much together, the great vocal arrangement, backgrounds.
Speaker:Trist: And I can envision it in a contemporary version if I like
Speaker:Trist: went to a local playhouse that was maybe doing a version that
Speaker:Trist: was set in the late '90s, I could hear that as that version
Speaker:Trist: of the song.
Speaker:Trist: I think it does a good job of
Speaker:Trist: painting what that would sound
Speaker:Trist: like.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, is there anything else that you want to mention about
Speaker:Elaine: the song before we move on?
Speaker:Trist: Not really.
Speaker:Trist: This is definitely one of the
Speaker:Trist: weeks that it's not really too
Speaker:Trist: deep.
Speaker:Trist: It's mostly like, hey, are you aware of this very hip thing
Speaker:Trist: exists, joining forces of some favorites that we've covered
Speaker:Trist: over the weeks, and just bringing you an enjoyable
Speaker:Trist: alternate of this tune.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, thanks for bringing it to us.
Speaker:Elaine: And with that, we're going to
Speaker:Elaine: transition to our next segment,
Speaker:Elaine: which is.
Speaker:Trist: Mailbag.
Speaker:Elaine: That's right. The Mailbag.
Speaker:Elaine: And if you have something that
Speaker:Elaine: you'd like to share with us,
Speaker:Elaine: please feel free to email us at
Speaker:Elaine: themusiciansloupe, that's L o u
Speaker:Elaine: p e, @gmail.com, or feel free to
Speaker:Elaine: send us a message on either
Speaker:Elaine: Instagram or Threads at
Speaker:Elaine: @themusiciansloupe.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, that's a good opportunity to let us know your thoughts, if
Speaker:Trist: you've seen West Side Story and have some other versions that
Speaker:Trist: you might want us to check out or recommend or just any other
Speaker:Trist: comments or thoughts that you have about the things we discuss
Speaker:Trist: or if you need to correct us on something we ran afoul of, let
Speaker:Trist: us know there.
Speaker:Elaine: All right, so this week's
Speaker:Elaine: Mailbag is a message once again
Speaker:Elaine: from Threads.
Speaker:Elaine: This is by a musician named Dan Bailey under D Richard Bailey.
Speaker:Elaine: And he is the drums and music
Speaker:Elaine: director for Father John Misty,
Speaker:Elaine: who's a currently touring indie
Speaker:Elaine: musician.
Speaker:Elaine: So he writes: "Most modern
Speaker:Elaine: records are overproduced and
Speaker:Elaine: underperformed.
Speaker:Elaine: Instead of tweaking with audio on the back end, why not just
Speaker:Elaine: capture a more important performance on the front end?
Speaker:Elaine: Twenty hours of well spent tracking time will yield a
Speaker:Elaine: better result than two hundred hours of post-production.
Speaker:Elaine: If you want to know the
Speaker:Elaine: difference between quote
Speaker:Elaine: unquote, those artists and most,
Speaker:Elaine: albeit talented, modern artists,
Speaker:Elaine: it's the amount of takes
Speaker:Elaine: performed and pre-production
Speaker:Elaine: rehearsals held."
Speaker:Elaine: So the question that I have here, because, obviously this is
Speaker:Elaine: his opinion here, is how have you seen this intersect with the
Speaker:Elaine: change in music technology?
Speaker:Elaine: And I know that you and I have talked a bit about how much more
Speaker:Elaine: accessible music recording is to most people, now that we all
Speaker:Elaine: have our fancy microphones and our home computers that can run
Speaker:Elaine: digital audio workstations.
Speaker:Elaine: The question is now: how much of this is driven by the fact that
Speaker:Elaine: it's so accessible?
Speaker:Trist: Yep, all of the things that that engineer said were spot on.
Speaker:Trist: Just because you can fix it in post production doesn't always
Speaker:Trist: mean that you should.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, I think you have to be careful.
Speaker:Trist: I think as that changes, you
Speaker:Trist: always have like a rebellion
Speaker:Trist: against that.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, oh, it's become so easy.
Speaker:Trist: I don't want to become lazy and
Speaker:Trist: not, hey, that whole line was
Speaker:Trist: great.
Speaker:Trist: There was that one little phrase
Speaker:Trist: that I think I should sing
Speaker:Trist: better.
Speaker:Trist: Let me just do it again right now, and that'll save you the
Speaker:Trist: time of a) trying to remember it later and then having to go back
Speaker:Trist: and fix something.
Speaker:Trist: Again, just because you can.
Speaker:Trist: To me, the post-production and the fixing of mistakes, I think
Speaker:Trist: the ability to do that is great, and it's nice to have.
Speaker:Trist: I like to think it should get
Speaker:Trist: used more when it's absolutely
Speaker:Trist: necessary.
Speaker:Trist: There's an artist that has a
Speaker:Trist: small amount of time, oh, I've
Speaker:Trist: got to sing these three lead
Speaker:Trist: vocals today.
Speaker:Trist: I leave for tour tomorrow.
Speaker:Trist: I don't want to make any time on tour to do these.
Speaker:Trist: I don't want to fix any.
Speaker:Trist: So I have limited time.
Speaker:Trist: I've prepared as best I can.
Speaker:Trist: I don't really want to do stuff over and over and over.
Speaker:Trist: Also sometimes frankly, the
Speaker:Trist: range or what's required of a
Speaker:Trist: particular lead vocal just won't
Speaker:Trist: allow a performer to do it six
Speaker:Trist: times.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, I want this according to have all of me.
Speaker:Trist: There are stories about some of
Speaker:Trist: the classics, some old Mariah
Speaker:Trist: Carey tunes.
Speaker:Trist: Those early recordings, there's so much power and there's so
Speaker:Trist: much in a certain part of her range that you're like, she had
Speaker:Trist: to have done that once or twice and then called it a day.
Speaker:Trist: There's no way we got her to do
Speaker:Trist: that six or seven times in a
Speaker:Trist: row.
Speaker:Trist: I think there are just factors where, oh, great, we have the
Speaker:Trist: ability to do this.
Speaker:Trist: That's awesome.
Speaker:Trist: But not relying on it as the way
Speaker:Trist: that we're going to fix
Speaker:Trist: something.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, okay, I sang it twice and you can spend the rest of
Speaker:Trist: the week now tweaking it and making it sound like it should,
Speaker:Trist: rather than me just being prepared and singing it well.
Speaker:Elaine: So let me ask you about your more recent studio experiences.
Speaker:Elaine: How much and what did the preparation look like?
Speaker:Elaine: Because your most recent big studio experience was with the
Speaker:Elaine: Manhattan Transfer, I think, although you've done some other
Speaker:Elaine: things recently, right?
Speaker:Trist: I've been on a few album
Speaker:Trist: projects for people where
Speaker:Trist: there's a group of ten to twelve
Speaker:Trist: singers that come in, in the
Speaker:Trist: middle of the summer for
Speaker:Trist: somebody's vanity project for
Speaker:Trist: Christmas.
Speaker:Trist: And they want the old timey choir.
Speaker:Trist: Those I walk in, I've never seen
Speaker:Trist: the music before, but I know
Speaker:Trist: "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,"
Speaker:Trist: or "Jingle Bells," and there's
Speaker:Trist: some version of it that's on the
Speaker:Trist: stand and we get the headphones
Speaker:Trist: on and we look at the music and
Speaker:Trist: we kind of play back the
Speaker:Trist: orchestra we're singing along
Speaker:Trist: with.
Speaker:Trist: We listen to it a couple of times while we're getting the
Speaker:Trist: levels, and then we sing it.
Speaker:Trist: And I don't know that there's a lot of fixing.
Speaker:Trist: It's in a room with a lot of very good singers that we find a
Speaker:Trist: pretty good blend.
Speaker:Trist: It's maybe twelve of us on four or five microphones.
Speaker:Trist: So it's a bit group miking.
Speaker:Trist: It's not one on one where if one
Speaker:Trist: of us makes a pretty egregious
Speaker:Trist: mistake, you flag it down
Speaker:Trist: because it's going to be on
Speaker:Trist: there.
Speaker:Trist: There's no way to fix it.
Speaker:Trist: So everybody has to be on their game.
Speaker:Trist: So those are the probably the
Speaker:Trist: most recent recordings I've
Speaker:Trist: done.
Speaker:Trist: Haven't really had anything.
Speaker:Trist: I think if there's any quote unquote fixing in that, it's
Speaker:Trist: probably some balancing of those microphones where maybe we as a
Speaker:Trist: group didn't blend or balance exactly as they want, but they
Speaker:Trist: can at least balance the microphones that are there.
Speaker:Trist: But there's probably not a lot
Speaker:Trist: of fixes, because the singing
Speaker:Trist: that's done is usually pretty
Speaker:Trist: spot on to what they want, or
Speaker:Trist: they wouldn't let you leave if
Speaker:Trist: they didn't have what they
Speaker:Trist: wanted.
Speaker:Trist: That's the most recent thing I've done.
Speaker:Elaine: And that's actually much more of
Speaker:Elaine: the session singing experience,
Speaker:Elaine: right?
Speaker:Elaine: Where you walk in, the expectation is that you would be
Speaker:Elaine: able to sight read the music, and that you'd be able to work
Speaker:Elaine: with whatever voices are there, and that you'd find a blend
Speaker:Elaine: pretty much immediately.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: So I think my question is much more along the like, let's take
Speaker:Elaine: "50," which was the album that you did with Manhattan Transfer,
Speaker:Elaine: what, four or five years ago at this point now?
Speaker:Elaine: And so as you were preparing for that, there must have been a lot
Speaker:Elaine: more of rehearsal and planning, that went into this project that
Speaker:Elaine: you did in the studio with an orchestra and with each other,
Speaker:Elaine: something that you were doing as a professional project.
Speaker:Trist: So there, all of the rhythm section and the orchestral parts
Speaker:Trist: are recorded separately.
Speaker:Trist: And then by the time it gets to us to put the vocals down,
Speaker:Trist: that's all there.
Speaker:Trist: And we even did all of our parts individually.
Speaker:Trist: This is also coming off the end of Covid where I don't think a
Speaker:Trist: bunch of us could be in the studio at the same time anyway.
Speaker:Trist: Regardless, we would have done it this way, usually from the
Speaker:Trist: top part down.
Speaker:Trist: So by the time I got in, most of the other voices are there.
Speaker:Trist: So I'm matching the other voices that I'm hearing on the track.
Speaker:Trist: I do have the music already, so I have plenty of time to have
Speaker:Trist: looked at it.
Speaker:Trist: I know what it is.
Speaker:Trist: Then it's just do the best performance I can.
Speaker:Trist: And that's the situation, too,
Speaker:Trist: where the producer, they're
Speaker:Trist: balancing out.
Speaker:Trist: Okay, if they hear me deliver the line that I'm recording 99%
Speaker:Trist: exactly what they want.
Speaker:Trist: And there's like literally maybe
Speaker:Trist: one note that dips a little
Speaker:Trist: lower than it should be, but
Speaker:Trist: they've got the performance and
Speaker:Trist: the sound and everything is
Speaker:Trist: great.
Speaker:Trist: They probably even don't say anything out loud to me.
Speaker:Trist: They put a little note there,
Speaker:Trist: hey, that one note, we're going
Speaker:Trist: to go in and just go doop and
Speaker:Trist: make it a little higher because
Speaker:Trist: we liked everything else about
Speaker:Trist: the performance.
Speaker:Trist: And then on the next line, oh,
Speaker:Trist: I've kind of got everything
Speaker:Trist: right, but I'm not quite giving
Speaker:Trist: the tone that they're looking
Speaker:Trist: for.
Speaker:Trist: So I get the tone and the
Speaker:Trist: excitement and the energy and
Speaker:Trist: the performance.
Speaker:Trist: That's harder to fix.
Speaker:Trist: So any other little things?
Speaker:Trist: Oh, I sang that one thing just a touch early.
Speaker:Trist: If it's enough that they can go in and just literally nudge it
Speaker:Trist: over, then there's no need for me to recreate the entire thing.
Speaker:Trist: If there's one little thing they wanted to get.
Speaker:Trist: But if the whole thing just has
Speaker:Trist: lots of, I imagine it's the
Speaker:Trist: producer in their mind keeping
Speaker:Trist: like a point of diminishing
Speaker:Trist: returns.
Speaker:Trist: Okay, there's one little thing I heard.
Speaker:Trist: Oh, there's another one.
Speaker:Trist: Okay, there's a third one.
Speaker:Trist: Now you're starting to get into "okay..."
Speaker:Trist: That's what I would do as a producer.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, okay, now I've got a list of too many things I would
Speaker:Trist: have to fix.
Speaker:Trist: Please just sing it again.
Speaker:Trist: So if it goes through that and it's like, oh man, even if there
Speaker:Trist: were two, it's like, boy, I loved the way you sounded.
Speaker:Trist: You haven't sounded that way yet.
Speaker:Trist: Just in case you don't do it again, just keep that.
Speaker:Trist: I'll fix these little things and let's move on.
Speaker:Trist: Or, oh, I can hear you've got a bit of a cold.
Speaker:Trist: Who knows how much longer I'm going to have your voice.
Speaker:Trist: Let me not have you do that one line over and over and over.
Speaker:Trist: Let's just keep going and get it as good as we can.
Speaker:Trist: So there's always a variety of ways to do it.
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah, it sounds like we have a
Speaker:Elaine: very nuanced answer here to the
Speaker:Elaine: number of different things and
Speaker:Elaine: the considerations into when you
Speaker:Elaine: track and when you choose to do
Speaker:Elaine: post.
Speaker:Elaine: So
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: thanks for bringing all this expertise.
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: I learned a lot during this section.
Speaker:Trist: No problem.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, do you have anything to
Speaker:Elaine: say about this before we wrap
Speaker:Elaine: up?
Speaker:Trist: Oh, no. Other than just sometimes when we get to these
Speaker:Trist: you read the topic.
Speaker:Trist: And I just think, well, what else is there to talk about?
Speaker:Trist: They're right on.
Speaker:Trist: I agree.
Speaker:Trist: Done.
Speaker:Trist: So I still manage to ramble on about it a bit, but yeah.
Speaker:Trist: I concur with this post.
Speaker:Elaine: All right.
Speaker:Elaine: So with that, we will see you next week.
Speaker:Elaine: But before we do, we want to
Speaker:Elaine: remind you that we have
Speaker:Elaine: playlists.
Speaker:Trist: We have playlists, we have playlists.
Speaker:Trist: They're even recently updated.
Speaker:Trist: I updated a few of them and made
Speaker:Trist: sure that all of the songs from
Speaker:Trist: the previous season are
Speaker:Trist: available.
Speaker:Trist: And you know what?
Speaker:Trist: There's even a song that was in
Speaker:Trist: last year's list of songs that
Speaker:Trist: was not available on most
Speaker:Trist: streaming platforms when we
Speaker:Trist: talked about it, and voilà, it
Speaker:Trist: appeared.
Speaker:Trist: It's there.
Speaker:Trist: So even if you've looked at it
Speaker:Trist: before, check it out again
Speaker:Trist: because all of the songs are
Speaker:Trist: there now.
Speaker:Trist: So please check out on whatever platforms you get our tunes from
Speaker:Trist: and share them with others.
Speaker:Trist: Just share the playlist and let them see the variety of music
Speaker:Trist: that we talk about.
Speaker:Trist: And who knows, maybe they have a song that they're interested in
Speaker:Trist: hearing what we have to say.
Speaker:Elaine: And don't forget, you can always share an episode if what we're
Speaker:Elaine: saying resonates with you or is something that you want to talk
Speaker:Elaine: about with a friend.
Speaker:Elaine: So with that, we will see you next time.
Speaker:Trist: Thank you.
Speaker:Elaine: You know, I'm cutting all that out,
Speaker:Trist: no,
Speaker:Elaine: right?
Speaker:Trist: you can't, You can't.
Speaker:Trist: No. You gotta leave the funny in,
Speaker:Elaine: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: we'll get into that.
Speaker:Trist: Elaine.
Speaker:Elaine: you
Speaker:Trist: good.
Speaker:Elaine: imagine my first time listening to this?
Speaker:Elaine: I'm like, what am I listening to?
Speaker:Trist: No. Again.
Speaker:Trist: That makes it interesting
Speaker:Elaine: how we should be listening to music on the West?
Speaker:Elaine: Sorry.
Speaker:Elaine: On the west side.
