This Masquerade (Leon Russell & George Benson)

Описание: "This Masquerade" is a song written by Leon Russell, performed by many artists, including the Carpenters. The most famous version is probably George Benson's, however.

I've played this song for years both on gigs and also with students. It's a really nice groove with some lovely key changes in the bridge. The main melody is in F minor while the bridge modulates to Db major and then C major before going back to the bluesy A section.

People play this song with a long vamp after the melody - that's in fact how George Benson himself played it, where he did his legendary scat singing/guitar solo. For this version I didn't really plan too much, I just let the arrangement take shape as I was playing.

The process:
1) I recorded the vibraphone part along with a cheesy "funk" groove in Logic, just to keep the time. I think the first take was really sloppy, so I actually did a second take (gasp! WHAT??? nO!!) I did, and it was fine.
2) Usually I would add keys second, but this time I added the bass part second. The tempo and groove are in my wheelhouse on bass, so I only needed one take for that (I did punch in a few notes after the fact).
3) Then I added the piano part - that was in one take.. all of the octave riffs that I play at the end were spontaneous.. I wasn't sure if it would sound good after the fact, but I think it works.
4) I decided to add a fender rhodes (*ahem*, the Logic cheesy fender rhodes sound, but hey that's what I got). The intro was kind of spontaneous as well.
5) Last thing I did was record the drums - this time I put the Zoom H4 recorder as close to the drum set as I could, and I think it sounds much better than my previous videos. Until I get a new recording setup, this will be my go-to method.

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