I was scrolling through my email today I saw a headline from the New York Times: Breaking News: Pop musician Burt Bacharach is dead at 94
For as long as I can remember music, Burt Bacharach has been present. As a child, before I even purchased my first record his music was in steady rotation on my father’s turntable. If it wasn’t one of his own records it was one of Dionne Warwick’s classic recordings or the Promises Promises soundtrack, or the soundtrack to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. His music was so engrained in me, that I can remember the lyrics and melodies to songs of his that I haven’t heard in years, many of which still loop in my head from time to time. Things could be worse.
I remember his appearances on the ever-so-popular TV variety shows of the late 60s and early 70s as well as seeing Isaac Hayes performing Walk On By with an arrangement, I didn’t quite get at the time but, has since become my go-to version of the song. It seemed like his music was omnipresent. I had the sheet music to "Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head" and learned the chords on guitar, I played it well enough, or at least in my mind, well enough, that I performed it for a 4th-grade talent show. My guess is, it wasn’t a memorable performance. AND lets not forget the film Alfie.
Fast forward a few years, I’m starting to buy my own records, my collection is building with artists like Pink Floyd, Yes, Queen, 10CC and eventually Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, then Weather Report, Return to Forever, Miles Davis, The Pat Metheny Group and John Coltrane. I Kinda forgot about Burt, and his music also took a back seat to newer records in my parent’s rotation.
It wasn’t until my 3rd year at the Berklee College of Music where my love for his writing started to get rekindled. I remember one of my harmony professors playing some really cool hybrid chord that the whole class was impressed with (damn I wish I could remember what it was) and saying Burt Bacharach uses this a lot. Suddenly memories of all those songs came back to me. My friend Wendell was sitting next to me in that class and I remember him shaking his head and saying ”yeah Burt is cool.” I was happy not to be alone in appreciating this, 60s mainstream pop composer's work.
Shortly thereafter I picked up a record because I found out that one of my favorite bass players was on it. A guy I had just seen perform with Miles Davis, Marcus Miller. The record was “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross. I put the record on totally content that I had a whole album of new Marcus Miller bass lines to learn and then the last song came on. A House is Not a Home.” It brought tears to my eyes. The performance was one of the most perfect examples of ensemble playing I had ever heard. This band interacted perfectly. To this day I play it for students as an example of how a band “breathes” together. Luther's vocals didn’t suck either. This whole Bacharach thing was coming full circle. Luther would later cover some other Bacharach classics including, “Anyone Who Had a Heart.”
Fast forward a little bit more….I started doing studio work with a number of Hip Hop and R&B artists. The great jazz pianist McCoy Tyner had just released an album of Bacharach songs and once again I became aware of his music. When called upon to create tracks or collaborate with artists I found myself stealing, we’ll call it borrowing, snippets of Burt’s chord progressions for my compositions. Just for the record, this is totally legal in terms of copyright law. I must have worked in the modal interchange of the first four bars of ‘You’ll Never Get To Heaven” in at least five things that I created during that time. I was pretty sure I had the secret formula to creating super cool chord progressions for Hip Hop and R&B, just paraphrase Burt.
But!!! then I found out I was not alone, Ronnie Isley recorded a whole album of Bacharach songs and my mentor, my north star, my idol: J Dilla, chopped a sample of “The Look of Love” for his group Slum Village. Dilla’s concept was reimagined by the amazing jazz pianist Robert Glasper and shortly thereafter Anderson.Paak joined Glasper for a live performance of it. AND while all this was going on Jack White was covering “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With My Self” with the White Stripes and Burt Himself did an album with Elvis Costello.
At this point, I think I’ve stated my case. I’ve left a lot out. But hopefully, from reading this you can see how Bacharach’s music has not only spanned time, but it has also spanned genres and continues to do so. I also hope that if his music was a part of the soundtrack of your life that I have jarred a pleasant memory and that you too will revisit his genius.
Thank you for the music and the inspiration.
One final thought: A few years ago I recorded a cover of “The Look of Love” that has yet to be released. I plan to put it out on some upcoming compilations for Spotify, Apple Music and the likes as soon as I get the vocals recorded.
Cheers
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