Live At The Bottom Line 09​-​28​-​01: John Tabacco With The Ed Palermo Big Band

by John Tabacco

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1.
In The Autumn Of My Madness 02:50
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Wreck Of The Hesperus (free) 03:49
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3.
Florentine Pogen 07:46
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Evelyn A Modified Dog 01:31
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San Berdino 04:33
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Uncle Remus / Pygmy Twylyte 06:15
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about

An upgrade in fidelity on a few live tracks from the now defunct "Bottom Line" in NYC.

The skinnie:
Ed Palermo asked me to sing three songs by the 60's group Procol Harum during one of his Zappa tribute shows. They were: “In The Autumn of My Madness”, “Wreck Of The Hesperus”, and “Look Into Your Soul”. I had never heard of these tunes before and the time to learn them was limited to about a week. I'm notoriously bad at remembering lyrics except for the ones I grew up listening to. So that was what I thought would be the hard part. However, after my first attempt at learning how the melody of these songs go I knew I was in trouble. I could not sing them. Technically I could pretty much sing in the key Ed wanted but I just could not get the songs. The melodic content would not register with me. I literally practiced these pieces at least hundred times a day for a whole week. What was my problem? Not sure. I guess the phrasing of the tunes were somehow so far removed from the Zappa/Beatles/ Steely Dan type style I had grown up with. I just couldn't get it. Well, the time came for the one rehearsal I was allotted in the city and I just squeaked by. Ed had his doubts but I assured him I would nail it for the concert. And amazingly I did. Unfortunately, the monitor system was pretty bad and I could not hear myself at all. Thus, none of my vocals came out perfect. The two track recording of the entire gig was on a DAT tape. That was all I was given. No way to remix what was there. "In The Autumn of My Madness" was the best out of the bunch. Since I do not have many live recordings in my catalog I figured this might be a nice edition. I asked Ed if it would be ok if I released it on the CD “A Presbyter's Dementia.” He had no problem with that. It was a heartfelt performance I kept telling myself but deep down I wasn’t happy with it. That was 2002. Fast forward twenty years later and I came across a program which claimed it could rip the voice out of a mix and still maintain good fidelity. I was skeptical. I had heard other programs that made this claim and you could always hear the voice in the mix (a lot lower I give you) and there would still be a lot of weird phasing going on with the entire track. To my surprise this new program (using A.I. neural processing - scary), did quite an excellent job of removing the vocal from the band. So much so, I could now take the isolated vocal and fix some of the bad pitches without effecting the entire track. I then mixed the vocal back into the now strictly instrumental of “Madness” and viola! Finally a decent sounding vocal over a great Ed Palermo arrangement. I know it’s messing with history - I know. But the end results was worth it, for me at least. Just thought I’d let you know.

credits

released December 14, 2022

Ed Palermo : Arrangement, Conductor
JT : Vocal
Ray Marchica : Drums
Paul Adamy : Bass
Phil Chester : Woodwinds
Barbara Cifelli : Baritone Sax
Cliff Lyons : Woodwinds
Ben Kono : Woodwinds
Bill Straub : Woodwinds
Jami Dauber : Trumpet
Ronnie Buttacavoli : Trumpet
Scott Harrell : Trumpet
Elaine Burt : Trumpet
Dan Levine : Trombone
Dale Kirkland : Trombone
Jack Schatz : Bass Trombone
Bob Quaranta : Piano
Ted Kooshian : Harpsichord, Organ, Synthesizer
Car Restivo : Vocals

Recorded at The Bottom Line 09 -28-01
SA3 Re-master 2001
Cover : Farben Fosfeen Artwerks

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John Tabacco Stony Brook, New York

John Tabacco is a composer, singer-songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and visual artist.

Like an unfolding musical diary / puzzle, Tabacco’s music and art are constantly being re-worked, juxtaposed and intertwined.

For more info : www.johntabacco.net ... more

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