Latin Jazz - TAXI #Y190916JZ

[henryvan4444]

Need some fresh ears on this latin jazz instrumental. Any and all feedback/suggestions are welcome! Thx in advance!!- Henry

https://soundcloud.com/henryvan4444/rem ... d-havana-1



+++++
LATIN JAZZ INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a successful Licensing Company that focuses primarily on Latin Music and has tons of placements in Commercials, TV Shows, and Feature Films!
NOTE: This hard-working company just started asking for music from TAXI’s members. It’s very unlikely that you’ve got any music in their catalog, so this is an awesome opportunity to get in on the ground floor and build a relationship with this company!
They’re scouting high and low for authentic-sounding Latin Jazz Instrumentals in a range of Tempos and Styles. Please listen to the following references to get an idea of what might work for this request:

“Nica's Dream” by The Essence All-Stars

“Ixtapa” by Poncho Sanchezz

Papo Lucca & The Cuban Jazz All Stars Vol. 1

Your Original Latin Jazz Instrumentals can range from sophisticated and elegant to more light-hearted and romantic. Everything from a solo piano performance to a full ensemble can work for this pitch as long as your piece has an obvious Latin vibe and sticks to one cohesive mood from beginning to end. Imagine the music that might play while you’re drinking margaritas in the lobby at an upscale resort or restaurant in Mexico! That’s, what they’re looking for!
If you’re using samples or Virtual Instruments to create your piece, please avoid the use of anything that sounds overtly MIDI-driven. Your submissions should be about 2-4 minutes long, give or take. Non-Faded endings will work best for this pitch. Do NOT copy the referenced music in any way, shape, or form. Use it only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed.
The specific deal points will be handled on a case-by-case basis. If you’re inclined to do an Exclusive deal, please don’t submit material for this pitch that’s already signed with other libraries or publishers. You must own or control your Master and Composition to submit to this opportunity. Please submit as many Instrumentals as you’d like, online or per CD. All submissions will be reviewed on a Yes/No basis by a TAXI Screener – Short critiques only. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Monday, September 16th, 2019.  TAXI #Y190916JZ

[davidira]

Sorry that I don't have any constructive feedback. I thought your track was pretty amazing. Listened to targets. They seemed to cover a wide open territory so I think you're in the ballpark. Good luck.

[henryvan4444]

OK cool...thx for the comments. I'll give it a go and hope for the best. Have a good one!

[gregorym]

Cool track man! I think it is on target and I think I'm going to listen to what you did to finish mine. Nica's Dream is an amazing piece, I'm thinking that's what you referenced. Who would ever thing to start a progression with two, not one, but two minor-major 9th chords? Horace Silver is the man! Your track is spot on, and if I were you, I wouldn't change a thing.

Peace!

[henryvan4444]

Greg,
Yes, Nica's Dream is great!! I love this entire afro cuban/latin jazz genre! Thanks for you input on my track. Best of luck with your submission!

[andygabrys]

I like the vibe and a lot of things feel right but if it were me I would re-examine a few things:

1) The intro "nylon string guitar" figure. its a sampled instrument isn't it? Too repetitive for the entire song and its perfect-ness gives away its sample-ness. Its also really think in the low mid-range - taking some of that beef out with eq would allow the more lead type parts (the guitar at 0:19 and the piano) to shine through a little more.

Using the same nylon string fill in the middle and the end also makes me thing sample or sampled/vitural instrument. Also the nylon melody that comes in at 0:19.

2) Straight forward vs solo - There is some build, but fairly quickly you are into piano solo land. what about some sections where the piano plays a montuno or something similar - like if you analyzed this "from within"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlN0bukO5UY

and check out the different sections they go through - like at 5:50 where they hit a montuno and it continues in various forms while El Negro goes nuts. You could use a little flavor to spice up your arrangement.

3) Clave? - that could be a rhythmic layer that you could use. If you are thinking of a more afro-cuban style "latin jazz" than Bossa nova or similar Brazilian styles which your bass indicates here.

Good luck!

[henryvan4444]

Thanks Andy....I truly appreciate your time and thoughts. You've given me some things to think about. I'll listen to it again with fresh ears. Also, I'm new to all this so I'm totally not clear on how far I can push the piano solo live/emotional feel vs. it becoming distracting from a scene and not being forwarded. I've really only played latin music in live bands for people to dance to so its completely counterintuitive for the music to be too distracting . I guess I need to push the envelop until the screener returns it for that reason. Anyway, thanks again!!

[pveniot]

Need some fresh ears on this latin jazz instrumental. Any and all feedback/suggestions are welcome! Thx in advance!!- Henry

https://soundcloud.com/henryvan4444/rem ... d-havana-1



+++++
LATIN JAZZ INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a successful Licensing Company that focuses primarily on Latin Music and has tons of placements in Commercials, TV Shows, and Feature Films!
NOTE: This hard-working company just started asking for music from TAXI’s members. It’s very unlikely that you’ve got any music in their catalog, so this is an awesome opportunity to get in on the ground floor and build a relationship with this company!
They’re scouting high and low for authentic-sounding Latin Jazz Instrumentals in a range of Tempos and Styles. Please listen to the following references to get an idea of what might work for this request:

“Nica's Dream” by The Essence All-Stars

“Ixtapa” by Poncho Sanchezz

Papo Lucca & The Cuban Jazz All Stars Vol. 1

Your Original Latin Jazz Instrumentals can range from sophisticated and elegant to more light-hearted and romantic. Everything from a solo piano performance to a full ensemble can work for this pitch as long as your piece has an obvious Latin vibe and sticks to one cohesive mood from beginning to end. Imagine the music that might play while you’re drinking margaritas in the lobby at an upscale resort or restaurant in Mexico! That’s, what they’re looking for!
If you’re using samples or Virtual Instruments to create your piece, please avoid the use of anything that sounds overtly MIDI-driven. Your submissions should be about 2-4 minutes long, give or take. Non-Faded endings will work best for this pitch. Do NOT copy the referenced music in any way, shape, or form. Use it only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed.
The specific deal points will be handled on a case-by-case basis. If you’re inclined to do an Exclusive deal, please don’t submit material for this pitch that’s already signed with other libraries or publishers. You must own or control your Master and Composition to submit to this opportunity. Please submit as many Instrumentals as you’d like, online or per CD. All submissions will be reviewed on a Yes/No basis by a TAXI Screener – Short critiques only. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Monday, September 16th, 2019.  TAXI #Y190916JZ

Hi Henry.
Your track is good but nothing close to Cuban Jazz/Salsa... It is more a bossa with claves... Salsa with no piano is not Cuban, It would also be nice to have a 'B' part going to montuno/cha-cha, or Mambo with some percs like timbales, maracas, cascara, cowbell (MORE COWBELL!). Can I suggest a book about Salsa? Rebeca Mauleon : ''Salsa guide book for Piano and ensemble'' She got it covered if you want to pursue Cuban music. Having a title saying ''Old Havana'' does not make it Cuban...
I played many years with cuban musicians... So I hope you can take this as a constructive comment. Hope I was not too harsh...
Take care
Pierre

[henryvan4444]

No hard feelings at all!! I appreciate the feedback and book recommendation. The funny think is I changed the name at the last moment from "Recordando buenos tiempos"....being new at Taxi I'm not sure if Spanish titles hurt the track's chances of getting signed/placed. Should have named it something more balsa. At any rate I love salsa and do want to learn more about how to write them so I truly appreciate the book recommendation! Have a great day!

Also, I'll share a quick lesson I recently learned. I played with a mariachi group for a couple years and have listened to mariachi music my entire life. I lived in MX City and seen the country's premier mariachi groups perform many times. I recently had a few mariachi compositions returned because they didn't have percussive elements like bongos, triangle, claps, clave, etc. LOL...I've NEVER seen/heard a real mariachi with these elements...they don't exist in authentic/live mariachi music. The screener stated I had made a good effort but may want to listen to more "latin" music. Lesson learned: I'm retraining my brain on mariachi music by listening to tracks posted on successful music libraries websites (i.e. they were successfully signed by a publisher). I'll be using the same approach for salsa and other genres as well.

[pveniot]

No hard feelings at all!! I appreciate the feedback and book recommendation. The funny think is I changed the name at the last moment from "Recordando buenos tiempos"....being new at Taxi I'm not sure if Spanish titles hurt the track's chances of getting signed/placed. Should have named it something more balsa. At any rate I love salsa and do want to learn more about how to write them so I truly appreciate the book recommendation! Have a great day!

Also, I'll share a quick lesson I recently learned. I played with a mariachi group for a couple years and have listened to mariachi music my entire life. I lived in MX City and seen the country's premier mariachi groups perform many times. I recently had a few mariachi compositions returned because they didn't have percussive elements like bongos, triangle, claps, clave, etc. LOL...I've NEVER seen/heard a real mariachi with these elements...they don't exist in authentic/live mariachi music. The screener stated I had made a good effort but may want to listen to more "latin" music. Lesson learned: I'm retraining my brain on mariachi music by listening to tracks posted on successful music libraries websites (i.e. they were successfully signed by a publisher). I'll be using the same approach for salsa and other genres as well.

Wise decision!
see you around
Pierre