video: after six
Another entry in the loop-based funk category. I deliberately didn’t point out the distinguishing characteristic of this tune.
I just had the urge to play in an odd meter. However, I was kind of hoping that the odd meter wouldn’t be totally obvious to people either, and I deliberately did not point out in my YouTube description that this is 7/4. The title is a subtle hint. I think it flows pretty well, so my “experiment” is to see how long it takes for someone to first point out the oddness of the meter in a comment. If you read this, please don’t spoil the fun.
Note of marginal historical interest: I wrote and recorded a tune in 1990 called “after six” that was an entry into a competition for tunes created entirely on a Korg M1 sequencer. Since that board had a pattern based sequencer, and the only numerators available for time signatures were 2,3,4,5,6, and 8, I thought it would be amusing/clever to write a tune in 7/4 for the competition. That earlier tune was based on a Montuno pattern with the last eighth note chopped off, and had a melody that outlined four major triads. It also had a form that was seven, seven-bar sections. I sequenced it on a peecee running Cakewalk (version 2 in DOS!) and then played it into the M1 with the M1 just set to record the input. So maybe I bent the rules a touch, but I’m like that. Anyhow that tune sucked–all the cleverness was in the title and the concept. So I reused the title for this tune. It’s also an allusion to the idea that you only wear black tie formalwear after six in the evening.
