10 Seconds: Lyle Barton

https://www.lylebarton.com/

1. Duke Ellington - Half the Fun (1'33" - 1'43")

from Duke Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder (1957)

"This is a piece from Duke Ellington’s album, Such Sweet Thunder - a suite based on the works of William Shakespeare. I performed this years ago with my university jazz orchestra and as we were being told the story behind it, I remember having such vivid images conjured up. I’ll set the scene: It’s Ancient Egypt, pyramids and palm trees line the river Nile and everything has this orange glow to it. Queen Cleopatra, in all her adornment is sailing up on her throne-like barge to seduce Mark Antony, in what will become a passionate and tragic love affair.

So, it turns out the scene from Shakespeare’s play, Antony and Cleopatra, is a little different to how I imagined it. But I’m not going to tell you how! Just picture the version I’ve had in my mind for all of these years, and appreciate how Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's stunning orchestration is the perfect musical accompaniment. And, in the spirit of Cleopatra, who better to seduce us on saxophone than Johnny Hodges."

2. Charles Mingus - Open Letter to Duke (3’20” – 3’30”)

from Charles Mingus - Ah Um (1959)

"A musical love letter from my favourite composer, Charles Mingus, to my other equally favourite composer, Duke Ellington. It’s hard to think of any song I’ve listened to as much as this one; for some reason I find it impossible to play it to death. In the years of my coming back to this tune, I always seem to discover a new detail hidden in the dense, melodically-rich textures. Compositionally it is perfect, so I find it incredibly hard to pick a single moment that stands out above the rest. However, this snippet is not a bad place to look. The groove feels so good, and every element feels as defined as each other. Just zoom-in to each instrument one by one, and you’ll find every part is so free and simultaneously complimentary to the whole."

3. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies (1’20” – 1’30”)

from Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Case of the Three-Sided Dream In Audio Colour (1975)

"There’s magic in this moment. The one and only Rahsaan Roland Kirk plays with so much spirit, freedom and expression. The slow bent notes, I find, are reminiscent of Johnny Hodges and early/blues saxophonists. I love the interplay between the band: the way the 2 saxes link up (though I don’t think at this moment he’s playing them both at the same time - something he was known for!), the piano flourishes, the brush flutters from the drums that mirror the sax, the rhythmic counterplay from the bass… Similar to Mingus, there is a simultaneous sense of individuality and togetherness - musical democracy in action."

4. The Ahmad Jamal Trio - You're My Everything (3’17” – 3’27”)

from The Ahmad Jamal Trio - The Awakening (1970)

"“The Awakening” has got to be up there as one of my all time favourite records. The inventiveness Ahmad Jamal brings to standards is unparalleled, and he has this way of reimagining covers to feel like wholly original compositions. Improvisations are never cliched or predictable, so much so that I often have trouble differentiating between improv and composed material. There’s just a vibe - understated, spacious and effortless - cool. I’m not surprised Miles drew so much inspiration from him. I love these 10 seconds where he plays this totally unexpected melody line in the bass register. Unlike the lighter touch he uses higher up the piano, the percussive bass line swaggers with a heavy swing and tone; just one great insight into his playfulness, spontaneity and phrasing."

5. Herbie Hancock - Sly (5’15” – 5’25”)

from Herbie Hancock - Headhunters (1973)

"The ultimate transition between solos. This feels like a nod to Herbie’s previous, more experimental “Mwandishi” band. Bennie Maupin on sax - a member of Mwandishi - builds his solo up to this disgustingly heavy moment of collective, psychedelic sound. A pause… and then we’re straight back in with the more grounded funk pocket we know of Head Hunters. The entry feels so good you don’t even notice that for a good eight bars afterwards, Herbie’s solo is a tritone out in Bb, as the bass grooves away in E."

6. Joe Thomas - Polarizer (1'35" - 1'45")

from Joe Thomas - Feelin's From Within (1976)

"Following on from the funk, I just had to include this tune. Never have I heard such a filthy, resonant squelchy synthesiser as this! It is so well suited to the style - I would love to know what it is! This track for me is all about the horn break into the synth solo. It’s such a fun surprise and the solo itself is so on point. The glides, rhythmic placement and language will have you scrunching up your stank face in approval."

7. Weather Report - Speechless (2’41” – 2’51”)

from Weather Report - Weather Report (1982)

"I’ll be honest, I don’t really listen to Weather Report unless it’s got Jaco on bass. This lesser known album “Weather Report” (1982) - not to be confused with the debut “Weather Report” (1971) - is Jaco’s last studio album with the group, and so marks the end of possibly my favourite band to have ever existed. It’s bittersweet. These 10 seconds of Zawinul’s distinct brand of jazz/rock/synth power ballad I find particularly cinematic and I’m immediately transported into the sci-fi, dystopian neon metropolis from one of my favourite films - Blade Runner; interestingly, released the same year as this album!"

8. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Simoon (1’36” – 1’46”)

from Yellow Magic Orchestra - Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978)

"We’re deep in the synthy section of my 10 Seconds now, and what a joy it is to continue with a track from Yellow Magic Orchestra. This “drop” at 1:36 is pure creative genius and just unapologetically playful. Lasers and resonant overtones ring out over an infectious drum groove that I can’t stop bobbing my head to. It sounds to me like the synths have all suddenly sprung to life and mischievously started whistling out of tune with one another, like an untrained children’s choir."

9. Einojuhani Rautavaara - Symphony No. 7 “Angels of light” (2’54” – 3’04”)

"I won’t pretend to be an expert on classical music but I will say, from my perspective, things get a bit weird around the turn of the 20th century, with the likes of Schoenberg and Stravinsky reacting to, I guess, the emotional excess of the late Romantic era - an era which I am very much unapologetically still stuck in. It was Chopin and Rachmaninoff who got me into piano after all. In recent years though, as I’ve tentatively developed a taste for more modern and contemporary classical music, I was thrilled to discover this great, modern symphonic composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara. His harmonic language is refreshingly unique. And as you’ll hear in these 10 seconds, his use of romanticism is married with a dark ethereal quality that makes the sweeter moments feel all the more rewarding."

10. Gustav Holst - Egdon Heath (6’04” – 6’14”)

"Holst, another classical hero of mine. The orchestration here is so stunning. Violas take the melody and are accompanied by plucked cellos and basses, bassoons on pads. Such a simple yet evocative melody over the unsuspecting 5/4 time signature. The piece is an homage to the author Thomas Hardy and Egdon Heath - a fictional location from his novels, said to be inspired by the Dorset Heathlands of England."

11. Vangelis - Memories of Green - Blade Runner (3’21” – 3’31”)

from Vangelis - Bladerunner OST (1982)

"So, I mentioned earlier that Blade Runner is one of my favourite films. That’s in huge part thanks to Vangelis’ brilliant soundtrack that makes full use of possibly the greatest synthesiser ever made - the Yamaha CS80. However, you won’t be hearing it here in this orchestral rendition of Memories of Green from the soundtrack. Just a great melody and great chords conveyed through a minimal but powerful orchestral arrangement."

12..Theo Parrish - Solitary Flight (9’14” – 9’24”)

from Theo Parrish - Solitary Flight 12" (2002)

"Theo Parrish was my gateway to falling in love with Detroit house, and much of electronic music in general. I was lucky enough as a teenager to sneak my way into a couple of his legendary performances at the Shoreditch club Plastic People before it closed down. This song heavily centres around a sample from the previous track “Memories of Green” and it wasn’t until years later that I discovered the full version above. These 10 seconds pretty much summarise everything I love about this track - the organic way in which the sample is placed within the mix and treated with the additional bass and drums. There is an inherent human-ness to it, in a way that I find house music can sometimes lack. As tempted as I am to go down a nostalgic rabbit hole of influences that followed…that’ll have to wait for another time."