Instrumentals?

[ebjazz]

Hi everybody;So most of what I write is instrumental and would fall into some sort of jazz idiom. I've been submitting to instrumental listings that are not jazz as I think some of music crosses over. Here's a listing that caught my eye and I submitted to:CURRENT SOUNDING, CONTEMPORARY POP INSTRUMENTALS of all styles, from Indie Pop to Pop/Rock to Dance Pop, etc., are wanted by a very successful Production Music Library who has placements with ABC, CBS, NBC, WB, Disney, Discovery, Lifetime, Fox, USA, etc. (to name just a few). They want tracks that build and grow, with melodic and dynamic variation, for a variety of Film/TV placement opportunities. You may consider editing down a full-length song in order to avoid long sections of repetition, since this company NEEDS to have tracks that are changing & building constantly. You can submit tracks that range between 1-4 minutes in length and be sure there are NO VOCALS - they'll be focused on the sound of the guitars/drums for this one (be sure they sound authentic and current!). They want material that sounds like it could be on the radio but without vocals and will only be interested in Instrumental versions for this listing. They also indicated that MIDI orchestras are great if (and only if) the MIDI is exceptionally convincing. Broadcast quality is needed (excellent sounding home recordings are okay). Please submit one to three Instrumentals online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Friday, July 24, 2009. TAXI #S090724POThe song I submitted is "Monterey Morning" and can be heard here http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... ricbolvinI don't know if that link will work and I don't know how else to link it. My name is Eric BolvinAnyway, I received this critique from screener 303. I am in no way complaining about this critique. In fact I appreciate the compliments and comments.Bravo for creating a compelling, musically interesting, and memorable jazz track. As you can see from my ratings I think this track is remarkably consistent and the musicianship stellar. Stylistically this submission is more in line with a jazz listing than a Pop listing that is seeking instrumentals in the style of Indie Pop, Pop Rock, and Dance Pop. Benchmark artists associated with a listing such as this one would include: Lifehouse, Britney Spears, Death Cab For Cutie, Matchbox Twenty, and Kelly Clarkson. Overall CommentsEric, I enjoyed listening to your submission and this is probably only the second time I've given a 10 for any aspect of a submission. Having said that you're probably wondering why I didn't forward your submission. Keep in mind that style is probably the most important aspect to any taxi listing. Style incompatibility alone can prevent even a strong submission such as this one from being forwarded. In my style comments I listed some of the artists that would normally be associated with a listing such as this one to give you more clarity on the style. The best of luck to you in the future Eric!OK. So my question is in regards to what they want when they say "instrumental". I've always thought that an instrumental was a song where and instrument played the melody as opposed to vocal. But the suggestion is that I should listen to Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson, neither of which has recorded an instrumental.I'm also wondering how to not be labeled as "jazz" when doing instrumentals? I can play "What's Goin' On" on trumpet and that makes it "jazz" even though the song is exactly the same. So if any one out there listened to 'Monterey Morning" tell me: Is it jazz? I think most jazz musicians would say not. They would call it "instrumental pop". So maybe when they ask for "instrumental" are they looking for just a track with no vocal?Thanks for your time!!Eb

[mazz]

Hi Eric,Very nice piece. I'm not ultra up on the smooth jazz genre, but this sounds a lot like something that would be classified in that genre and about as far from what the listing is asking for as it could be. As the screener said, that doesn't diminish it's quality as a piece of music, but it's just not right at all for the listing.From a jazz interpreter's perspective, a pop instrumental could be an instrumental version of a pop tune, which is pretty much a staple of jazz. Your piece is certainly instrumental pop, a lot of which falls in to the larger umbrella of smooth jazz when it sounds like your piece. A jazz musician might not call it "jazz" in the bebop, swing, hard bop, etc., vein, but we're not writing for other jazz musicians, we're writing for audiences and clients, who may not be as sophisticated in parsing the differences between Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, for instance.From the perspective of the potential client, and they way I read the listing, they want a song that sounds like it could have been on a Britney Spears album except that it doesn't have vocals. It would need to have not only the focus on the guitars and drums as the listing notes, but also the synths, the dance beats, the urban influences, etc. Your piece has none of these in it.The listing also says the track needs to be changing and building constantly and your piece maintains a pretty consistent (and very nice) mood throughout, yet another thing that's not meeting the requirements of the listing.Your music is high quality, uses live players which is a plus, and is well produced. It also seems to fit in to the smooth jazz side of the spectrum, which is obviously your strength as an artist. The thing about submitting to TAXI listings is that what you submit has to be as close as possible to what the client is looking for or it won't make it through. The quality of the music itself is, unfortunately, not going to make a client pay attention if they can't use what you are offering. When a smooth jazz listing comes along, I'd expect that you'd knock it out of the park!!If you want to compose for TAXI listings, which is a fun challenge if you like that kind of thing, you need to study the style and the a las that the listing is asking for and then try to get something that's right in that style. Style is a huge component of film/tv music, and being able to cop other styles is key for a composer. Also, being able to know what style your music fits in to is key to successfully marketing your music. I wouldn't expect Metallica to be playing Yoshi's any time soon just like your band is probably not going to be playing at the corner Honky Tonk this weekend!! It has to be the right fit, unless you want to play Rawhide all night!!! Reading and interpreting TAXI listings is at least half the battle here.Good stuff. Do you play locally? I'm in SF and would like to hear you out sometime.CHeers!!Mazz

[ebjazz]

Hi Mazz;Thanks for the thoughtful reply- I dig what you are saying.But the real question is: "If I play a Britney Spears song on trumpet, is it jazz???" Mostly I play in the South Bay. Here is my calendarhttp://www.bolvinmusic.com/calendar.htmStop by some time!!Eb

[mazz]

Hi Eb,Some would probably call it jazz. Thanks for the calendar, I'll check it out!!Mazz

[matto]

Aug 20, 2009, 12:03pm, ebjazz wrote:But the real question is: "If I play a Britney Spears song on trumpet, is it jazz???" Not if you play trumpet over an actual Britney-type track. Then it's just odd...LOL . But, you could "smooth-jazzify" almost any pop song. Very nice track Eric, I would definitely concur it fits into the smooth jazz genre. In fact I think you'd be quite hard pressed to find *anybody* (other than perhaps jazz musicians) who wouldn't label this track "jazz" within the first 20 seconds of putting it on.And music supervisors will rarely listen past the first 20s until they make up their mind if a song fits the scene or not.

[BraveNote]

"So if any one out there listened to 'Monterey Morning" tell me: Is it jazz?" I listened Eric. Very carefully. With critical ears because I too, am a musician. My answer to you would be... are you ready? It doesn't mater and who cares. IMO, you can touch more people with your music than Britney or any of the others that were mentioned in the critique.Hey man, What is "JAZZ" anyway? You'll get differing opinions from just about anybody you ask. Especially other like minded musicians. And, why does classification mater so much to you anyway. It either touches people or it doesn't. (And here's where we must be brutally honest with our own music first.) I think we are much too dependent on "other's" opinions in this business. If you're anything like me, and I do think we share a lot of commonalities even in music, you'll want the mountain to come to Mohamid. Not the other way around. Remember, the good folks at TAXI put their pants on the same way you do in the morning and nobody's always right. There was a lot of positive stuff said for your music. Take the money and run.

[markjsmith]

Classifications are kinda hard sometimes! With so many splintered styles nowadays, it seems some would call Coltrane and Kenny G both Jazz (which to me is just well..... wierd at best). It's the same with rock (Buddy Holly doesn't sound like Metallica but some would call both "Rock"). Really with all genres there is a certain amount of "reading into it" that you've gotta do! It seems with a lot of instrumental listings we don't get as many ala(artist name here), but I think if you consider what the general masses would consider that style to be you'll probably be closer than what all us nerdy musician types would refer to as Jazz, Rock, Pop, etc... (Think non-musician end user)! Anyway, hope that helps! The track was really nice!-Mark

[ebjazz]

Thanks folks for your replies and listening. The only reason I need to label my music is the industry seems to demand it. Myself, when I write music, I don't really call it anything.Thanks!!~Eb

[mazz]

Yes, the industry does demand categories. It's frustrating as a musician to have to put our music in to categories to satisfy the industry, but it's necessary in order to play the game successfully.You already do it to a certain extent by deciding which venues you play in. A metal band will probably not approach venues that your jazz group would try to get booked in and vice versa. For Film/TV/Library music, it might be a bit more finely broken up in sub-categories (trad jazz, smooth jazz, be bop, etc.) so it's helpful to be able to say what your music is in a few words. I feel your pain!Mazz

[gavink]

from reading the listing it seems they are looking for current sounding songs without vocals. That could mean anything from Britney Spears to Avril to Norah Jones.for you since you side more on the jazz I would aim at writing Norah Jones type instrumentals.