Today, Brazilian guitarist Rubens de La Corte has released a video for a song we co-wrote called New Day.
In describing the song and arragement, Rubens writes: "This video was shot entirely in Brooklyn, NY and its East River margins. It shows a little bit of my daily life and where I live (my street and neighborhood, the park near my home, my subway station, views, scenes and routine).
My arrangement of “New Day” is inspired in the music of Steely Dan, one of my favorite American bands of all times. Steely Dan is famous for their use of chord sequences and harmonies that explore the area of musical tension between traditional pop sounds and jazz. In “New Day”, there is a duality of keys (D and G; there’s only one chord that doesn’t belong to the key of D and, at the same time, one chord that doesn’t belong to the key of G). I also use modal interchange right at the beginning of the intro and verse sequences. The individual sound of each instrument receives special attention.
Recording was done with the attention to sonic detail, and mixed so that all the instruments are heard and none are given priority (unless during solos and dialog phrases). Steely Dan albums are also notable for the characteristically 'warm' and 'dry' production sound, and the sparing use of Echo and Reverb. Horn arrangements have been used on songs from all Steely Dan albums. They are usually jazz-oriented, and typically feature instruments such as trumpets, trombones and saxophones (sometimes flutes and clarinets too).
I wrote the arrangement of New Day for trumpet, tenor sax, trombone and baritone sax. Guitar solos are also present in many Steely Dan songs. In “New Day” I play a melodic solo in the middle, and at the end I trade short solos with Leo Mitrulis, on Rhodes. Some of my favorite guitarists have recorded and toured with Steely Dan including Larry Carlton, Elliot Randall, John Herington and Wayne Krantz, with whom I’ve studied with for two years.
“New Day” – Video shot, directed and edited by Celso Gattaz and T4-Qualidade de Cinema. Enjoy!"