Sidewalk (Chick Corea Electrik Band cover)

[finotti]

New recording: Sidewalk, by the Chick Corea Electrik Band.

A finally took a little break from video game music... With the passing of Chick Corea I started listening to his music again, which gave me the idea for this recording. I search the web for some MIDI files and chose this one since it is probably the easiest Corea song I will ever find. So, a lot of the credit goes to whomever did the MIDI programming: https://freemidi.org/artist-1520-chick-corea (I changed it a lot, but I could not have done it from scratch.)

I used Vitalium and Yoshimi for the synths. DrumGizmo (CrocellKit) for drums, and recorded the guitars. Most notably, it is my first recording with @sadko4u's Tamgamp. I quite like it!

Mixing and mastering in Ardour with the usual suspects: LSP, x42, OvertoneDSP, and u-he. (Unfortunately, I can't blame the bad mix on the tools...)

Some more details about it all here.

[Rainmak3r]

Really nice, well played and well mixed too IMHO! I don't know the original song, as while I'm a huge Al Di Meola fan, I know very little of Chick Corea or his work with him (although I do know that "Señor Mouse", one of my favourite tracks of his, was indeed written by Chick Corea). The guitars sound great, and I wasn't aware of the plugin you mentioned: I'll have to give it a try

[finotti]

Thanks for the kind words, @Rainmak3r!

I really like the Tamgamp plugin, and it should receive more attention.

I am also a big fan of Al Di Meola! I remember first hearing "Friday Night in San Fransisco" and was completely blown away! It took me a while longer to get more into his own stuff, but I really like it now. I quite like the classics "Elegant Gypsy", "Casino", and "Splendido Hotel".

I saw him more "recently" with Return to Forever and his solo stuff in 2015. (Boy, has it really been 6 years?!) I've attached a picture of the concert and of his pedal board for the solo one. Both concerts were truly great!

And, if you like fusion, definitely check out the Electrik Band. It is fantastic!

[Rainmak3r]

Nice pictures! I'm from Naples in the south of Italy, and he's actually from around here (Cereto Sannita), so he used to come play here often, which not many artists do. I had the chance of seeing him twice in the past few years, even though on both occasions it was an acoustic-only concert: I'm looking forward to seeing him play his more electric stuff sooner or later!

[merlyn]

I liked this. It's a really good riff. The guitar sounds are good. I think they sound better than the original recording. More powerful.

The solo is good and suitably flashy for an Elektric band cover considering that Frank "Shredmeister" Gambale was a member at points. I thought that when the synth comes in towards the end of the solo it is a bit loud and overshadows the solo.

Thanks for sharing!

[finotti]

Nice pictures! I'm from Naples in the south of Italy, and he's actually from around here (Cereto Sannita), so he used to come play here often, which not many artists do. I had the chance of seeing him twice in the past few years, even though on both occasions it was an acoustic-only concert: I'm looking forward to seeing him play his more electric stuff sooner or later!

Cool! In this show from 2015 he said he would probably would be doing mostly acoustic concerts from them on, as he was "getting to old" to carry all that equipment... Which I find too bad, but his acoustic work is also great.

Although I am Brazilian, living in the US, the Finotti family is from Veneto.

I liked this. It's a really good riff. The guitar sounds are good. I think they sound better than the original recording. More powerful.

The solo is good and suitably flashy for an Elektric band cover considering that Frank "Shredmeister" Gambale was a member at points. I thought that when the synth comes in towards the end of the solo it is a bit loud and overshadows the solo.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks @merlyn for taking the time to listen and for the kind comments! I appreciate it!

I was debating about the keyboards at the end of the solo... I might turn them down in a new mix. Thanks again!

[caprenter]

This sounds great. I would never have guessed it was a midi file. Sounds to me like a band doing it's thing.

I'm not familiar with the original or the band really, so I'll go check them out.

Really impressive. Well done.

[finotti]

This sounds great. I would never have guessed it was a midi file. Sounds to me like a band doing it's thing.

I'm not familiar with the original or the band really, so I'll go check them out.

Really impressive. Well done.

Thanks @caprenter for the kind words! I really appreciate it!

I spent many hours humanizing the MIDI, and the recorded guitar helps quite a bit.

And do check them out, as they are really great!

[carlv]

Well done +1:!:

I was a fan and was lucky enough to have seen the line up with Al, Lenny and Stanley. Yowzer !

Big work, keep rolling..

[milo]

This was very well done. That amp sounds fantastic -- and so does your playing!

Chick Corea is so fun to watch. When the others in his group are taking yheir solos he just watches them interestedly, with a half smile. You can see the excitement in his eyes to be a part of making such awesome music.

[finotti]

Well done +1:!:

I was a fan and was lucky enough to have seen the line up with Al, Lenny and Stanley. Yowzer !

Big work, keep rolling..

Thanks!

I saw Return to Forever with that line up and latter with Frank Gambale (instead of Al) and Jean Luc Ponty as well! Both times were amazing!

This was very well done. That amp sounds fantastic -- and so does your playing!

Thanks for the kind words about my playing! It helps quite a bit to have as many takes as I want. (And to pick best parts of each.)

And I really like the Tamgamp! As I said, it does not get the deserved attention.

Chick Corea is so fun to watch. When the others in his group are taking yheir solos he just watches them interestedly, with a half smile. You can see the excitement in his eyes to be a part of making such awesome music.

I've noticed that too! He is always paying attention to the soloitst and playing around the (improvised) solo! He truly was one of the greats.

Thanks again for taking the time to listen and for the kind words!