Burt Bacharach RIP

[jazztrain]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/arts/music/burt-bacharach-dead.html

[JSngry]

That's a significant legacy. RIP and so many thanks.

[sonnymax]

For those of us who don't have a NYT subscription: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/09/burt-bacharach-

So many great tunes - easy to sing, interesting to play. RIP, sir.

 

[John L]

Wow - a living legend songwriter of the 20th century.  RIP Mr. Bacharach

 

[Brad]

The partnership with Hal David and Dionne Warwick produced memorable songs.

RIP. 

[Dan Gould]

Sad news, I recall that my older brother, who had strong opinions about music would diss Bacharach and because of what I learned here I had to tell him how much jazz guys respected him and enjoyed blowing on his tunes.

Didn't really change his mind about the guy but at least he found out something more.

 

RIP.

[HutchFan]

Thanks for the music.

R.I.P.

 

[ghost of miles]

Listening right now to one of the “Blue Note Plays Bacharach” compilations. His music always seemed to be around when I was a kid. Another tough loss.

[Ken Dryden]

He appeared as a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. I may upload the show to archive.org if it is not still available to stream on NPR.

[Teasing the Korean]

22 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

His music always seemed to be around when I was a kid. Another tough loss.

When I was a little kid, I thought the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Stones were the sound of the '60s.

But the subliminal soundtrack of my childhood was Burt Bacharach.  So that is the real sound of the '60s.

I thought Burt's music was perfect for the generation that was too old for rock, but too young for WWII.

It was the sound of crying housewives whose husbands were having affairs with the secretaries.  The secretaries operated huge keypunch Bendix or IBM computers, and wore mini dresses.

RIP.

ALSO:  Burt Bacharach is great name to refute the argument that the general public likes only simple music.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Dan Gould]

18 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

 

ALSO:  Burt Bacharach is great name to refute the argument that the general public likes only simple music.

Yet his success with the general public was predicated on being heard as simple music.

[Teasing the Korean]

7 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Yet his success with the general public was predicated on being heard as simple music.

I wonder how he pulled that off.  His tunes are deceptively complex, all sorts of strange melodic jumps, extra beats thrown in here and there, and chord progressions that don't necessarily go where you would expect.  We take that complexity for granted now, because we have heard those songs for decades.  

[Dan Gould]

The quality of the songwriting rather than the specific guts inside?  It just appealed to pop ears and certainly didn't hurt to have people like Dionne Warwick singing his songs.

[Teasing the Korean]

1 minute ago, Dan Gould said:

The quality of the songwriting rather than the specific guts inside?  It just appealed to pop ears and certainly didn't hurt to have people like Dionne Warwick singing his songs.

I'm saying, from a technical standpoint, that Burt's songs - and Jobim's songs - were more complex than what was typically heard in US pop music during the 1960s and 1970s.  For example, if you took a songwriting 101 course and brought in "I Say a Little Prayer," you would get knocked for having too wide of interval jumps in the first few bars. 

[AllenLowe]

I think the song Alfie (not to be confused with S.R's Alfie's Theme) is one of the best songs ever written; multi-sections yet all unified musically; complicated yet accessible:

 

[HutchFan]

That apparent simplicity masking hidden complexity was likely a big part of his success, no? 

The brain, on some level, may say to itself, "Hey, this is a little different" -- but it's also familiar enough to be immediately appealing.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

9 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

I think the song Alfie (not to be confused with S.R's Alfie's Theme) is one of the best songs ever written; multi-sections yet all unified musically; complicated yet accessible:

A very talented and prolific songwriting friend of mine thinks that Alfie is the greatest pop song ever written.

7 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

That apparent simplicity masking hidden complexity was likely a big part of his success, no? 

Probably. 

I am obsessed with this track. 

 

And with this one, which sounds like the soundtrack to a travel montage in an early-70s made-for-TV movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpJwRy70xZM

Speaking of made-for-TV movies, Bacharach's "Nikki" was the theme to the ABC Movie of the Week.

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[clifford_thornton]

Wow. Major loss -- RIP.

"My Little Red Book" (as recorded by Love) was my first conscious exposure to his craft, and is still a favorite.

[Daniel A]

In the late 1990s I found a used Bacharach casette tape for around 50 cents. I became totally obsessed with this version of Wives and Lovers, to the point that I started a jazz group which (at least initially) performed only Bacharach tunes:

 

Another tune we played was the under-recorded Promises, Promises:

 

I definitely agree about the hidden complexity of his compositions. There's really nothing like them in the history of popular music.

[JSngry]

 

[Dub Modal]

48 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

That apparent simplicity masking hidden complexity

Calling card of a genius, no matter the subject. RIP 

[GA Russell]

RIP.

Last night I dreamed about a bunch of kids singing Alfie!

I remember a Cilla Black interview in which she said that Burt made her record Alfie over and over, and neither she nor George Martin had any idea what he was looking for.

The original recording of My Little Red Book was by Manfred Mann for the What's New, Pussycat? soundtrack.  Manfred couldn't get the hang of the rhythm of the piano part, so Burt played it himself while Manfred played the organ.

When he married Carole Bayer Sager, instead of vowing "I do" he said, "I'll try!"

I always enjoyed the Butch Cassidy record.

[trane123]

Really loved the Bacharach stuff from the 60s.  Especially the songs done by Dionne Warwick.  Always loved this one (talk about complex but accessible)

 

[danasgoodstuff]

1 hour ago, trane123 said:

Really loved the Bacharach stuff from the 60s.  Especially the songs done by Dionne Warwick.  Always loved this one (talk about complex but accessible)

 

I've seen this written out in at least 3 different meters (15/8, alternating bars of 5/4 & 4/4 or 6/8 & 9/8) but it flows like someone spilling their guts.  Genius.

Think I'll go play some of his tunes on my sax now.  If they can stand up to that then the're strong tunes.

Like all great composers, he had range and was easily ID'ed

[Hardbopjazz]

Great composer. RIP Burt. Thanks for the melodies.