Beautiful Starts and Perfect Endings

Posted bythestevebellprojectsPosted incomposer, Composing music, David Foster, Earth Wind and Fire, jazz music, Music, new song, Pop music, Song writing, soul musicTags:, , , , , , , , , ,

Many of you would know that maestro producer David Foster has been a huge influence on the way I think musically. One of his greatest attributes is how he pays so much attention to his song beginnings and finishes.

In my view this is one of the features of his writing and arranging. A deep commitment to drawing his audience into a piece of music and leaving them moved and wanting more. He is a genius! Think Earth Wind and Fire’s ‘After the Love is Gone’. That beautifully rich blend of piano, strings and Yamaha CS 80 keyboard synth (played by Toto’s Steve Porcaro) that bring you to the opening line ‘For a While, To love was all we good do…..’ It’s almost like the song descends from the sky and envelops the listener in a warm shade of romance and pathos.

Similarly, in The Steve Bell Projects jazz pop classic ‘New Love’, John McAll draws on a gorgeous melody line variation and rich string samples (think Benson Breezin’) to draw in the romantic minded listen before guitarist Kris Nandharaj draws us into a really smooth jazz skipping down the street on a sunny day feel.

Foster takes us out of ‘After the Love is Gone’ with a gorgeous combination of EWF’s soulful (almost gospel like) harmonies combined with a soloing sax. It’s like one wants this new phase to continue for another five minutes. Interestingly producer Trevor Carter employ and I employ a similar approach in ‘New Love’. It’s not until the last phase we introduce an almost playful dual between guitar and sax. I sometimes suggest that I would have loved Carlo Barbaro’s sax soloing earlier given the gorgeous romantic flavour it adds to the tune. But the truth is, that like David Foster, using the technique has left us wanting another 5 minutes of the song by introducing something of new phase at the very end.

Steve Bell

Published by thestevebellprojects

‘My thrill is to take relatively unknown, very unique and talented singers and compose and arrange retro songs that they record.’ Born in Melbourne, Australia, Steve Bell was brought up on seventies and eighties pop, soul and funk. He was obsessed with Earth Wind and Fire, Bee Gees, Al Jarreau, Gino Vannelli, TOTO, George Benson and, the great, David Foster. He liked class music with rich melodies - a big feature of his own writing today. While at college he played drums in numerous bands, but in his own words ‘wasn’t much chop at that’. But he did have a knack for playing piano by ear and writing ‘kind of cool’ ballads and soul songs. In his twenties he had a part-time role (on top of his day job) as a pop music critic for a local arts magazine, where he interviewed acclaimed artists from across the world. His interviews were always deep and focused on learning more and more about great songwriting and performing. Then he took a break - for over 25 years, running his company and being a family ‘guy’. However, he yearned for creative endeavours and once locked down during the COVID crisis, he started writing songs again. His first song ‘Lonely View’ was written looking out across the local bay from his composing studio and recorded using the amazing vocals of Jennifer Davids. Thus he started the journey of identifying a talented singer every few months and penning them a song with rich 70s and 80s melodies and jazz pop inspired chord structures.

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