The main loops are 2 bars long, so I set the click track to the right tempo and set it up with a bar rest between each loop. The way to do it was to play each style in C then C#, D, D# etc but do it in real time in order to save time. I prepared 15 templates in Logic Pro, my music software. In order to be ready to record effectively in the time available, things needed to be organized in advance. The Bunker Studio in Welwyn Garden City was booked for 3 days in January.
#Session band app plus#
These of course would have to be played in all 12 musical keys, therefore that was at least 120 loops we would have to record for each of the 15 styles! I later discovered that for each style we had to record a 2 bar loop PLUS a single beat chord AND an ending chord! So that was a total of 360 loops for each style, a grand total of 5400 AUDIO LOOPS! I knew this would take some high level of focus and concentration but confident that it could be done. The chord types are maj7, maj7#11, 7, 7b9, 7#5#9, 7sus, m7, m7b5, m maj7 and diminished. I had to choose only 10 but felt that it was enough to covered any jazz standard. This offered a good cross section of tempi ranging from 60 to 220 bpm. The final list was as follows jazz ballad, slow, medium, medium up and up swing in 2 and 4 feel, medium 3/4, afro jazz, bossa nova, fast latin and shuffle. I was a bit sceptical because I knew that the app would be used for mainly a play along but then I thought more about it and decided that Andy Panayi would be the perfect choice, a multi-instrumentalist fluent on all saxophones and a master flautist.īecause of size limitations of the app it was decided that 15 different jazz styles would be right so I started to listen to my iPod and making lists of the tempos and styles that I liked. It was also suggested to me by Paul Sissons that a solo instrument would be a big asset to the product. Pianist Tom Cawley also is a great musician who can play so ‘in the pocket’ that I knew it would reduce my editing time later on, plus I knew that the piano player would have to be able to play EVERY CHORD IN EVERY KEY IN ANY STYLE which is not an easy task. Ralph has had so much studio experience I knew he had to discipline, accuracy and of course the swing feel to do what I needed. I was given the role of producer and had some big decisions to make before we could begin the recording process.ĭrummer Ralph Salmins is someone that I have known since my pop touring days with ‘Everything But the Girl’ back in the nineties. I was quite openly critical to Paul at the time, possibly putting my job at risk, but he was very open to my idea of creating a dedicated jazz version of Session Band which would be much more authentic.įorward to January 2013 and planning began on the new jazz edition of Session Band. My part on this session was to simply play acoustic bass on the jazz style part of it which was frankly not very good, the bass lines were all written down and did not fit together well. The session was for 2 brothers Paul and Martin Sissons who had devised an app called Session Band which featured a dozen or so music styles including R and B, rock, funk, garage etc which would play back pre-recorded audio loops by simply inputting chords in a simple block form. This happened again last year on Facebook from someone I hadn’t heard from for years recommending me for a recording session playing bass on a new iPhone application, or ‘app’ as it is called.
Because I meet a lot of people, I get occasional random messages from people I may have only met once.
#Session band app professional#
I have been a professional musician for over 25 years. If you are an improvising musician this is quite frankly essential.” It offers an absolutely brilliant way to practice and write. Bassist GEOFF GASCOYNE tells the story of the Session Band – Jazz Edition app, of which his one-time bandleader JAMIE CULLUM has written: “This is an extraordinarily useful tool for jazz musicians of any ability, from the very beginner to the gigging professional.