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
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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