There are a lot of great moments from Saturday night's Album Launch Party that I could point to and highlight. Performances of certain songs, friends coming out, the pizza - I could go on. But I've been trying to think about and pinpoint my favorite moment. And I don't know if I can, to be honest! But let's pretend that I can and I'll focus on the song I closed the night with, "The Hands of Angels."
On the album, "The Hands of Angels" is a comparatively sparse recording with a fantastic string arrangement by Brian Zeller. But obviously I can't have a string section for live performances, right? Right. So, I had to figure out something else, and the idea came in to arrange the string section for alto sax - an idea that was kind of inspired by Billy Joel's "Where's The Orchestra?" If you've ever seen me soundcheck you may have caught me playing it, and through the link you can hear that the song is also sparse and uses the alto sax very effectively. I wanted to try to capture that feeling with the live version of "The Hands of Angels."
Strings and saxes have very different characteristics and are capable of very different things, but upon listening back to the recording of the night I think it came off really well. The alto almost adds of bit of a jazzy flavor that gives the song another dimension, and since it essential makes the performance a duet between me and the sax player (in this case, Christopher Brellochs), it really showcases the intimacy that the song needs. You'll be hearing that again.
You can get your copy of "The Hands of Angels," and the entire Over The Edge album, here.
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