• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Extended Liner Notes to Tricia and Dana Countryman’s “In Harmony”: This is the album that almost never was! Although Tricia and I have been in two bands together, and I’d been the music director for three of her stage musicals, we had never done much actual recording together. We first met in 1989, when I was the leader of a popular Seattle-area comedy cabaret act called The Amazing Pink Things. The often-told story is that when Tricia came to audition, upon first sight of her, I privately said to my music partner, “Well, she’d better not get into this group, or I might fall in love with her!” Wouldn’t you know that Tricia did get into the group, and I DID fall in love with her. We married in May of 1991, shortly after The Amazing Pink Things disbanded, after a fruitful 6-year career. A few years later, Tricia and I started a new band called Moonlight Express - a jazz vocal group patterned along the lines of the Manhattan Transfer. I was the leader, arranger, bass player and tenor vocalist, and Tricia was our alto, and choreographer. The band played a fair amount of gigs, parties and conventions, but its popularity never really caught fire the way I had hoped it would. Moonlight Express was a lot of fun, but when key members moved away, Tricia and I let it end. Besides, we had a baby by then, Matthew, born in 1996, who occupied much of our time. After a 7-year hiatus into print publishing, and not playing music at all, I fell into an amazing musical partnership with legendary French electronic music composer Jean-Jacques Perrey in 2005. We recorded two CDs of original, playful melodic electronic music, and did many concerts, both in Europe and in America. I followed that with a solo CD of my own similar electronic music in 2009, and I immediately followed that by writing a book on Jean-Jacques’ life during 2010. Jean-Jacques Perrey and me, performing in Berlin. 1 It was also in 2010, that one of Jean-Jacques’ and my songs was used on the Comedy Central TV show, “South Park”. With the money from that, I was able to purchase all new recording studio gear, which we ultimately used on this project. While our son was growing up, Tricia was also busy being involved in several theatrical productions as a singer, actress and dancer. She conceived, wrote and starred in a musical based on the life of Mary Martin: “I’m Flying!,” which premiered as part of the Burien Little Theater New Works Festival. In 2009, she revived and co-starred in a little- known Canadian musical, “Jubalay!,” which was performed to Dana and Tricia with Matthew in 2003 full-house audiences in the Seattle-Everett area. During the years that I was doing instrumental music with Jean-Jacques, I had occasionally brought Tricia into the studio to sing a few background vocals for our electronic pop albums, but other than that Tricia and I had only recorded a couple of full songs, and a couple of radio station jingles, in all our years together. The idea for this album came about when I posted onto my Facebook page the two old songs that Tricia and I had recorded so many years before. With just our two voices, Tricia and I had recorded a multi-track choir, with us layering eight to twenty-five different vocal harmonies on each song. The response to these two songs on Facebook was great. People really seemed to enjoy them. One of my friends, Yvonne Hendrickson heard the songs, and sent me a note saying, “You guys really need to record an album together. I know I’d buy a copy!” That really started me thinking. I remember walking upstairs and asking Tricia if she’d consider recording a whole CD of vocal music with me. She responded with an instant “Yes!” We began working on this album in April of 2011, shortly after celebrating our 20-year anniversary, and having just returned from a romantic two-week vacation in Italy. We finished work on the album in March of 2012, after almost a year of very intense musical work. I have to say that this has been a very rewarding project. Working so closely, musically, with my wife has been a great experience. I think it’s really enriched our relationship, as we both share a deep love for music, and for singing. Tricia and Dana in Venice, Italy, 2011 She’s also amazed me with her expressive vocals for this new album. Little did I know that I’d been living in the same house with a virtual Karen Carpenter! 2 I’m also amazed and delighted how well our two voices blend together, as we actually sing quite differently separately. But when we harmonize, and double the vocals, there’s this SOUND that is really rich and rewarding. Well, at least I like it! I also really liked working with all the musicians and recording engineers involved with this album. Everyone was so cheerful and fun to work with. Tricia and I drafted quite a few of our musical friends to contribute either their voices or their instruments, and we made some new friends when we hired some of Seattle’s top jazz musicians for this album project. In fact, this album should really be credited to “Tricia and Dana Countryman, and FRIENDS”! The music on this album will never be any big threat to Justin Bieber, or whoever the current popular singers of the day are. Nevertheless, Tricia and I had a ball working on this project, and we hope that you have as much fun it listening to it, as we had making it. Adding vocals at David Lange Studios Dana Countryman March, 2012 Thanks to our “cheering and enthusiasm” team: Vinnie Bell, Bonnie Loan, Dick Hyman, Dorothy Buller, Leila Realiza, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Dr. Bob Agnew, Ike Reeves, Kurt Uhlig, Darrell and Marion Countryman, Rev. Steven C. Hill, Chelsea and Rob Johnson, Melissa and Jeff Thirloway, and Frank M. Young. Special thanks to Michael Andrew, Robert Kechley, and Nick Moore for their musical advice. Album produced by Dana Countryman. 3 Notes on the songs of “In Harmony”: WELCOME TO THE CLUB Dana: I first heard this song a long time ago when Tricia and I were once driving in her car, and we heard it on an old Nat King Cole album. I had never heard the song before, and I loved it immediately. I knew I had to do a vocal group arrangement of it! Tricia and I had our vocal jazz group Moonlight Express at the time, and once we learned this song, we began all of our shows with it. Our pianist Steve Rice blew everyone away with his amazing piano solos on this tune, so we had to bring him back all these years later to recreate one of his smokin’ solos for this recording. Mark Ivester played drums, and Jon Goforth and Brad Allison played the overdub equivalent of four saxes and four trumpets. I played electric bass, and “Wild” Bill Johnson played guitar. This is the one tune that uses the most musicians. Super-Fun! Tricia: This is the last song that we recorded for the album, and interestingly enough, it’s the first track that starts the album! Steve Rice One year after starting this project, “swing” is still a challenge for me, but not as much as it was in the beginning. Also, a year later, Dana and I are very much in sync, concerning what is a good vocal take or not. My famous comment (when I don’t like a vocal I’ve just done) is “EE-er!”, or simply: “Let’s try it again!” Dana’s response is always “It’s getting there!” I love that! How sweet is that guy! THE THREE BEARS Dana: I’d never heard this song, until some friends of my parents gave me a box of old records, back in 1980. “The Three Bears” was one of the dusty old 78 records in that box, and I was charmed by The Page Cavanaugh Trio’s recording of it. I like the jivy-ness of it, and its references to bebop. I wrote the “Goldilocks Baby” section in the shower. (I write some of my best stuff in the shower!) This is another Moonlight Express song. Unfortunately, we never recorded it with the band back then, so this was Tricia and my chance to do it right. We can’t say enough good things about the jazz trio that Nick Moore backed us up on this: Chuck Deardorf on bass, Nick Moore on piano and Mark Ivester on drums. What a thrill it was to record with them! Tricia: I’ve always loved this song, and Dana’s amazing addition of the “Goldilocks” section sends it through the roof! As Dana said, that jazz trio is amazing! How fortunate we were to have them play on this album. 4 PRETTY WORLD Tricia: This was one of the first songs we recorded for this album. Dana gave me a Brazil ’66 recording of this song to listen to, and to learn it from. I was really nervous about singing this one, because Brazilian music was a genre of music that I had never attempted before. However, after we started working on it, I loved the style. Now it’s one of my favorite tracks.

Load more

  11

Copy Link