I founded the quartet version of my group for two major reasons.
First it was a nightmare to book the septet for an acceptable price and to get all the musicians together at rehearsal.
Second, I wanted to play more and to have lots of guitars solo room to flattered my ego.
Plus I wanted to get heavier and play really loud, which is almost impossible to do with horn players…
I rearranged many songs from the septet group for the quartet, but I wrote many original songs for my new group. All the songs featured on the CD are original songs, except my all time hit Potion Magique.
You can download the CD song by song for Free if you accept to fill in reviews, but depending of your location, there might not have enought review available to get the entire album.
If you want, you can buy the Cd for the really cheap price of $6 using Paypal.
Painkiller is a heavy duty jazz rock type of song. It starts with a long a cosmic intro performed by Pierre Bonin on keyboards. Take not that there’s no overdub on this one. Everything was performed live.
The song is extremely difficult to play. The tempo is 173 BPM and the chart was black of A6 notes figures… The key signature is also not really easy being in G# minor…
I should definitely have transposed it in A minor or in G minor. Even so, I was crazy at the time…
Lineup
- Hervé Senni: guitar, solo
- Pierre Bonin: Keyboards, solo
- Alain Picotte: Bass
- Mario Di Blasio: Drums
Download the song for free
This is the quartet version of my all time Hit; Potion Magique. I wrote that song in five minutes, singing the theme over two stupid bar chord B major and A major, talk about a progression…
The bridge took a little longer… less than ten minutes. Lol The arrangement was done the same way.
It sounds like a garbage song but actually all the songs I wrote really fast are the best of mine. It doesn’t mean that all the song I wrote fast is good, actually they aren’t.
However, when a song comes out fast it simply means inspiration, or divine guidance. Sadly, I do not have a lot of those. This thing happens more frequently when you are composing a lot without looking for a hit or thinking you’re a genius or that the song has to be complicated to be considered a heavy musician…
Lineup
- Hervé Senni: guitar, solo
- Pierre Bonin: Keyboards, solo
- Alain Picotte: Bass
- Mario Di Blasio: Drums
Download the song for free
Chez Razade is a wordplay on Scheherazade, the mystical character of the One Thousand and One Nights book and “at Razade” like at Joe’s place… The saga of stupid names continues…
The book One Thousand and One Nights impressed me a lot. I read it over and over in many different translations. I was impressed by the poetic aspect of it and the fact that the book was transmitting by story tellers over 100 years to finally be transcribed lately.
I went to Morocco recently, and I was touched to see those same story tellers continue the tradition to tell magical Arab stories in the street.
The song is based on an Arab scale that goes like this: D, Eb, F#, G, A, Bb,C#. It fits well on a Gmin Maj 7 chord. I used the multitonic system to write a chord progression with the scale. I do that often.
The multitonic system is a brilliant concept. Basically, you build chords with every note of the scale, and you make a progression with it. However, not a progression like II V I, but a progression where the only importance is the motion of the root note. It’s to avoid modal music to stay on a root for ever. It sounds like a chord structure, but it is actually a modal structure with one scale only. Smart and easy to play over.
Lineup
- Hervé Senni: guitar, solo
- Pierre Bonin: Keyboards, solo
- Alain Picotte: Bass
- Mario Di Blasio: Drums
Download Aloes Shuffle for free
Out of all the songs I recorded, this is the best one. We practiced it so much that we taped it in one shot! yep! It’s the only time in my life where a complete band record a song in one take. No overdub, no nothing!
It was early in the morning, just half an hour after we arrived at the studio. We didn’t sleep much the night before, probably due to the pressure of recording the album. We had a long day the day before for the sound check.
I love this song. Actually, every member of the quartet loved it. Once again, the theme’s chord structure is unexplainable, but everything fits together naturally. The solo section has two different parts. The first part where I on guitar and Pierre Bonin on keyboard are soloing is based on a melodic bass line with no chord at all. The second part is written as an accompaniment for the drum solo. A really good one.
Lineup
- Hervé Senni: guitar, solo
- Pierre Bonin: Keyboards, solo
- Alain Picotte: Bass
- Mario Di Blasio: Drums, solo
Download Aloes Shuffle for free
I composed that song in honor of the French Quebequers who visit Florida since years.
Quebequers are saying tabarnak every two words it’s like f… in English. Every winter they invade Fort Lauderdale to runaway wintertime.
For the local people who don’t speak a word of French, the only thing they keep hearing coming back all the time is the work “Tabarnak”… For that reason, they have been nicknamed Los Tabarnakos.
The song features two parts. The intro, that sounds a bit symphonic and the main song that follows a latin jazz groove, in a pure Chick Corea style.
The piano part I wrote was a pain to play for the poor piano player. I wrote both hand and it’s almost unplayable by a normal human being. Pierre hated me for that, but it was a nice challenge for him to beat the chart…
Lineup
- Hervé Senni: guitar, solo
- Pierre Bonin: Keyboards, solo
- Alain Picotte: Bass, solo
- Mario Di Blasio: Drums
Si Senor was written the week before entering the studio. It was recorded at the studio Harmonie in Longueuil. I don’t know if the studio is still alive nowadays.
It was a 24 tracks analog studio. I remember walking through Montreal with the three 24 tracks tapes in a bag that exploded many times until I got to the bus stop. It was heavy as hell…
Si Senior is the only song I ever wrote that features no solo. It also has one chord only thorough and everything is pretty much straight forward. It’s a nice easy listening song to open the album… The rest to follow is much darker!
Lineup
- Hervé Senni: guitar
- Pierre Bonin: Keyboards
- Alain Picotte: Bass
- Mario Di Blasio: Drums
I founded the Aloes Septet back in 84, when I was studying in Jazz studies at the Concordia University, Montreal. I always had the need to have my own group performing my original music.
After sobbing the former guitar player of a group named Quartz and played with them for a year, I decided to put up my own group.
Concordia University was, at that time, crowded of amazing musicians, teachers and students alike. It was easy to start a band or to play in dozen of them. There were a lot of original groups rehearsing in the university facilities. Actually, many of the songs featured on the Fast Food album were composed as homework for a composition class or based on techniques that I learned in those courses.
The Fast Food album is the second version of the Septet. We played at the Montreal Jazz Festival and in many jazz clubs in downtown Montreal like the Grand Cafe, the KMH and L’air du temps, for the Montreal Jazz Festival contest.
You can download each song for free after completing a short review. Depending of your location, there is not enough review to cover the entire album.
If you want to have the full album, or if you don’t feel like completing 6 reviews you can get the complete original album for $6 using eBay.
I wrote Rumba Buena with the help of the percussion player, Normand Bock, who was playing in a band named Queba under the musical direction of Don Alias.
He introduced us to salsa, and we had to do percussion homework at every reharsal,practicing cowbell, clave or chekere, while Normand was playing over. It was fun. We were doing long percussion block in our shows featuring th percussion and the drummer Gilbert Trahan.
Finally, I wrote that song including all the rhythms and musical genres I was learning from him. The harmonic and structure of the song was based on a multitonic modal system I learned in Jan Jarcic classes at the Concordia University of Montreal back in 85.
The song features a long, and really good keyboard solo of Normand Devault followed by a groovy percussion solo.
Line up:
- Soprano Sax: Jocelyn Menard
- Trumpet: Pierre Lafrenaye
- Guitar: Hervé Senni
- Keyboard: Normand Devault, solo
- Percussion: Normand Bock, solo
- Bass: Alain Picotte
- Drum: Gilbert Trahan
This is my hit. We performed it much time at the Montreal Jazz Festival, and it was an all time favorites. Radio Canada aired it many times for years.
I discovered it later when I received my royalty check. Potion Magique stands for Magic Potion, in honor of my hero Obelix and because the mix of reggae and jazz was a magic potion.
The song is pretty straight forward. It’s a basic AABA structure where the As are reggae and the B swing.
The chords are extremely simple. B Major and A Major in the A section and a cycle of dominant chords in fifth for the B section. A basic rhythm change bridge actually.
Jocelyn Menard is doing a nice and simple solo on the soprano sax.
We recorded many different versions of this song, in various setups. This is the number two cut. Enjoy
Line up:
- Soprano Sax: Jocelyn Menard
- Trumpet: Pierre Lafrenaye, solo
- Guitar: Hervé Senni
- Keyboard: Normand Devault
- Percussion: Normand Bock
- Bass: Alain Picotte
- Drum: Gilbert Trahan
“Moustache de baleine” stands for “whale’s mustache”, another great philosophical title song of mine. I used to introduce that song as being composed by a rastaman after a nuclear war… Why “whale’s mustache”? I don’t know. If someone has the answer, please, do not hesitate to contact me.
The song is of course based on a weird structure and concept. It’s actually a 4 voice counter point based on augmented fours.
I love the whole tone scale. Like the diminish scale they have no real tonal sound. They can be many tonalities at the time (6 for the whole tone scale and 3 for the diminish) and none at the same time. Talk about unstable sound.
I really like the way horns player play with the theme. Pierre Lafrenaye (trp) and Normand Devault are going really far out in the solo bit. I love it!
Line up:
- Soprano Sax: Jocelyn Menard
- Trumpet: Pierre Lafrenaye, solo
- Guitar: Hervé Senni
- Keyboard: Normand Devault
- Percussion: Normand Bock
- Bass: Alain Picotte
- Drum: Gilbert Trahan
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The song title means something along the line of: At the end of the always on your left… It’s simply an expression we use often in France, because the toilet is always at the end of the always on your left when you ask about them… So be it.
I always choose weird title because I hate titles with romantic or deep meaning. I found that completely stupid, especially for an instrumental song…
The A part of the song is base on a three 5/4 bar structure repeated 4 times. It’s actually a 15/4 meter, but it’s easier to read in 5/4.
The B part is in 4/4, as well as the solo part, featuring an inspired duet between the trumpet and the tenor sax.
It sounds intellectual, but it isn’t. It’s actually a pleasant song.
Line up:
- Tenor Sax: Jocelyn Menard, solo
- Trumpet: Pierre Lafrenaye, solo
- Guitar: Hervé Senni
- Keyboard: Normand Devault
- Percussion: Normand Bock
- Bass: Alain Picotte
- Drum: Gilbert Trahan
I wrote that song around 1984/85. I don’t remember exactly when, I know I was a student at the Concordia University in the Jazz program with my palls but which year was it?
Anyway. I called that song Suivez La Ligne ( Follow the Line) in honor of all the cocaine addicts that were following each other in line to the bathroom to take a good line while we were playing… It was impossible to urinate in those bars. We had to go outside…
Go back to the song: it’s a really fast 3/4 song based on an unusual bar structure and a completely crazy chord progression. Actually there’s no logic in those chords. The only important thing was the soprano and bass movement. The inside voicing are just colors that suit well going from one chord to another… Damn impossible to solo over.
Jocelyn Menard did a really good job on that song.
Line up:
- Tenor Sax: Jocelyn Menard, solo
- Trumpet: Pierre Lafrenaye
- Guitar: Hervé Senni
- Keyboard: Normand Devault
- Percussion: Normand Bock
- Bass: Alain Picotte
- Drum: Gilbert Trahan
Download Fast Food for free.
This is the first song I ever composed back in 1983… The jazz fusion or jazz rock style was big on the jazz scene at that time. Everyone told me that it sounds like a cop movie soundtrack.
The song holds a heavily arranged theme and features Normand “Porky” Devault on keyboard and myself on the guitar.
It was one of my first solo in studio and I like it. I remember being packed in the studio boot, with no room to move.
I also remember banging my head on the studio door frame each time, and I mean each time I was going from the console back to my guitar. I had huge bumps on my head when the recording was over…
Line up:
- Tenor Sax: Jocelyn Menard
- Trumpet: Pierre Lafrenaye
- Guitar: Hervé Senni, second solo
- Keyboard: Normand Devault, first solo
- Percussion: Normand Bock
- Bass: Alain Picotte
- Drum: Gilbert Trahan
Click on the button below to download the song Fast Food for free.
Hi, my name is Hervé Senni and I’m a composer, arranger, guitar, bass and tuba player.
I am, like too many, an artist without a record deal. After spending my life making demos and even a CD attempt to get that famous deal, I decided to give away my music for free.
I wrote music for trio, quartet, septet, brass band, big band and many other band set up.
Coming soon, you’ll be able to download all my original compositions for free.
