Eddie C and DanMcB - Crooning With Soul

Mar 21, 2024

I recently finished four tunes featuring vocalist Eddie C. The songs are a tribute to the classic jazz and pop music of the 50s, 60s and 70s. I'm proud to present "CROONING WITH SOUL"

The Idea

If I had to name one preferred period in recorded music, the 50s through to the 70s would have to be a strong contender. From the arrangements written for artists such as Ray Charles and Sinatra (by people like Nelson Riddle and my hero Quincy Jones) through to the classic soul music of Stax and Philly, I've always felt that this period was hard to beat. The combination of great songwriters, artists and musicians, along with the fact that a lot of music was tracked live, seems to give a richness of sound and rhythm that, for me, has never been surpassed.

Back in September last year, while on a walking holiday in Ireland, I wondered if I could create music that would come close to that. Even though I don't have the means to book sessions featuring full orchestras and top notch session players, I wondered how close I could get. If I started with the best songs that I could come up with, were my arranging and production skills good enough to get somewhere close? Well, only one way to find out.

The Goal

I decided I wanted to go for a minimum of 3 songs. I had one already, which I had already written and recorded - Summer Love. That had come out OK, and I knew I could improve on quality of recording and production. I put myself under pressure to write more songs with a similar vibe - something between Irving Berlin and Bacharach, say. I came up with two ideas ("Any Day Now" and "Red Letter Day") while walking around the Irish coast. Within a week or two of my return, I woke at 4am one morning - unable to sleep, I somehow came up with two more in the space pf an hour. (One was "Scared Of The Dark").

The Artist

I decided I didn't want to sing these tunes myself. I really wanted to step aside and put myself in the role of producer/arranger. But then - who? I cast around people I knew, spoke to a few people. I'd met Eddie once or twice living in Antwerp, we knew each other, but not so well. I called him up, happily he was into the idea. I sent him my rough demos of the songs, and even more happily, he was into them (well, all except one) too. A week or so later, we had discusssed keys and other details, and I got to work.

The Work

Now things got real. I found myself working just about every evening and weekend, arranging, tracking, making rough mixes, doing and redoing sections. A lot of late nights. It all took a lot more time than I had realised. Also searching for suitable musicians, all over the world, on Fiverr. It was pretty tiring, and it forced me to try to be a lot more organised about recording and mixing than I had been in the past, making one off tunes. But at the same time, it was excitng, hearing it all come together. And - the musicians I found to help me turned out to be great.

The Results

I set myself a deadline of December to get it done. (I need deadlines, even artificial, self-imposed ones.) It was a hard push, but at the start of December I was with my friend Charly de Pessemier in Brussels, doing the final mixes. I made it!

People started saying "Scared Of The Dark" felt like a Christmas song. It had something of that vibe about it. Well, it was Decemeber, why not. I released it on Christmas Eve. It got 10k streams on SPotify in the first month - the most ever for danmcb music at that time.

About The Songs

Scared Of The Dark - I wrote this in a bout 20 minutes, early one morning. Something about it makes me think of Irving Berlin. It was tempting to over-complicate it - it seemed almost too simple.

Red Letter Day - I wanted to write something completely optimistic, a song of pure happiness, with no reason given - like something out of a musical.

Any Day Now is a romantic song of longing. The arrangement is built around acoustic guitar, and gives a 70's style, easy listening feel. I enjoyed playing tenor sax on this.

Summer Love As the name implies, it's a bitter sweet ode to a brief, intense, summer romance.

About The Musicians

EddieC - vocals and percussion. Originally from Indiana in the USA, Eddie has lived in Belgium and Holland since the 1990’s, where (as well a highly respected percussionist who has played with the likes of Soul Sisiter, Sting, Chaka Khan and Candy Dulfer) he has been a finalist on the Voice Of Holland.

Abramo Riti - piano

Andrea Di Fiore - bass guitar and contrabass

Jake Naugle - drums

Josué García - trumpet