"Let's Do It Again" - Rebirth Brass Band

"Let's Do It Again" (PDF) from the Rebirth Brass Band album Hot Venom, and compilation, Ultimate Rebirth Brass Band.

From Dictionary.com:
mash-up[mash-uhp]
noun
1. Music, Slang . a recording that combines vocal and instrumental tracks from two or more recordings.
2. Slang . a creative combination or mixing of content from different sources: movie mash-ups; a Web mash-up that overlays digital maps with crime statistics.

It's no mystery waiting to be revealed
That this tune is written by Curtis Mayfield
Upward he moved
And the people still grooved
To a soulful beat that will not yield

The breakdown is a musical trick
As Rebirth's vocals are laid on thick
To make "La Di Da Di" mesh,
A tune by Doug E. Fresh
And the hip-hop rapper, Slick Rick

But that's not all they have in store
Rebirth can still sneak in one more.
"One Love" by a gnarley
Rasta Bob Marley.
A triple play worthy of an encore.

MICHAEL: a bespectacled hipster

ALEX: a cynical observer

[fade in]
[MICHAEL and ALEX sit at the bar of a local tavern]

ALEX:
You ever listen to Girl Talk?  I tried to listen to the last album.  I can't stand them.. or him.

MICHAEL:
I don't know, I kind of like it.

ALEX:
It's too in-you-face and formulaic for me.  And there are just too many samples.  I mean, why not just stick with one real good sample?

MICHAEL:
Well, what I like is that he samples only the best parts of those songs.

ALEX:
(makes a pfft sound of disregard, and shrugs)

[fade out]

Mash-ups can be fun.
But are they original?
This sounds familiar.

Q:  What is your opinion about musical quotes during a solo?
A:  I really have nothing against a musical quote.  It ends up being sort of an inside joke.  And since music has its limitations, we're bound to repeat what we play.  We may as well recognize it.

Q:  But when does a musical quote cease to belong to the performer?
A:  It happens the moment when that idea becomes its own entity.  You can quote something, but when that idea takes the focus, it no longer is about the performer.  The music begins to speak for itself.  It doesn't matter who's playing The Beatles song, everyone will still know it as The Beatles.

Q:  So, at what point does your blog become irrelevant?
A:  It became irrelevant from the very first day I started working on it.  The goal of studying these trombone solos was to internalize the phrases and melodies so that the music could be produced instantaneously through improvisation.  A powerful musical phrase will move people, no matter which trombonist plays it.  But I wanted to ready myself for when the music wants to be played, and transcribing keeps me in shape for when that moment happens.

Take this trombone solo, for instance.  Played over a common I-vi-VI-V chord progression, the use of neighbor tones of the scale help create dramatic tension within the phrasing.  It's a beautiful use of the major pentatonic in a bluesy style.  If one were to intently study this solo and exercise its ideas in all keys and settings, there'd be no stopping the music.

trombone.alex says:
"Seriously.  Study this solo, refer to it often, and mash it up."
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Recommended reading:  1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Dr. Peter Boxall.  Published by Universe.