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Jazz review of 'Orange Peel' by Reuben Wilson

 

            The tune I decided to choose is Orange Peel, performed by Reuben Wilson. I first discovered this tune in a compilation called "Blue Break Beats" in which the famous label Blue Note decided to re-publish some of the great jazz tunes that had been sampled in Hip-Hop. To me, this compilation was a great way to discover the original sources of Hip-Hop tunes I loved, but more important, it introduced me to Jazz and its huge range (while I had a quite narrow idea of what Jazz was) and variety of artists. But let's go back to the tune.
             A four-musician band plays this piece: we can find the following instruments: drums (Adrian Harpham), organ (Reuben Wilson), guitar (Robin Macatangay), and trumpet. For the moment, and even if I already listened to this track several time in the past, I am not able to determine to which era this tune belongs. Since it has no electric instruments or structures similar to pop music I would say it does not belong to electric or pop fusion (and it is clearly not chaotic enough to be free jazz). For the moment I would classify it either in cool or jazz. But let's see how the review of the tune can help us define the area.
             The beginning of the song is left to the organ, which plays four measure of a quite driving loop (with a length of 2 measures, i.e. 8 beats). This feeling is due to the quite fast pace of the tempo, as well as the rhythmic structure: during the first part of the loop the main notes are on the beat, but then (during the second measure) the notes are played off the beat. The feeling of a driving loop is also enhanced by the fact that the organ plays notes with no sustain at all (as soon as the player take off its finger, the sound stops), it means that each note is a steady sound with only variation in length and volume (which is a feature of the sound of organ). .
             The end of the fifth measure announces what is next with a steady roll of drums. Thus the drummer join the organ player.


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