You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - What Makes This Album Great: Songs In The Key Of Life

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

In this episode, Adam and Peter check out one of Stevie Wonder's iconic albums. The master piece entitled "Songs in the Key of Life". What would you rate this album?Check the album yourself!Unlock your FREE Open Studio trial to become a better player today.Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open Studio🎹 Head over to our YouTube channel for a better look 👀.Follow us on Instagram

Okay. Come on. We're going to have our first. Perfect. 100. You'll hear it. I'm Adamannis. And I'm Adamannis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear at Podcast. A great day in the history of this podcast. A great day brought to you by Open Studio.

Go to Open StudioJadiojazz.com for all your jazz lesson needs. Peter, you are... I love this record. Sue me. This is... Call my attorneys in New Orleans. Debossian, Devosia. Peter knows every chord, every song.

It's one of the great records of all time. It is, of course, Stevie Wonders, 1976. masterpiece songs in the Key of Life it's incredible easily one of both of our favorite records is a double album

when we get into the lore it's ridiculous the production of this the undertaking of this and the results it's all it's all of the highest order I can't stop I'm just fading it but sorry we got to get to the discussion

it's really good it's a good record It's really good. We're going to rate it on 10 categories. Playing vibe compositions, sound, sequence, cover art, title, lore, snobometer, and is it better than kind of blue? We've got to update it snobometer, Peter. We've had some amazing suggestions from you'll hear it commenters. Didn't somebody say Aunt Linda O meter? Aunt Linda is back in the picture. Yes. That's all I'm saying. Aunt Linda is back in the picture, so much so that I've stopped saying Aunt Linda. And now I say Aunt Linda. Aunt Linda. in respect for our listeners. That's right.

On Linda is now a part of it. We will get there when we get to the snobometer. So let's begin, Peter, with playing. What do you got lined up? Well, first of all, I just want to say, this is such an important record. It's a seminal record just beyond jazz. It's not a jazz record.

But it's not an R&B record. It's not a pop record, you know. And I'm not given to hyperbole. It's a Stevie record. But this is just... The man is his own genre. Yeah, I mean, this record, I would throw in there. Like, if you were talking about the most important,

the most impact, certainly for me, subjective, most beautiful, but I mean, just important records for a number of reasons ever to be recorded in the U.S. or anywhere else of the 20th century or any other century. Easily. It's one of the great works of art of the 20th century. Having said all that, I love it. Am I clear on that?

Okay, 100. Okay, got it. Okay, so we're going to start with playing. So we could really go a lot of different places, but how about if we go a little place here called As? Are you familiar with a gentleman named Herbie Hancock? because you're hearing it on the Fenderloach right now. Oh, this is what the record cover looks like.

I know. And the robots know the blooming herly made. It's so good. It's so good. But not just Herbie's playing. I know. Everybody's playing. I know.

Nathan Watts on bass. He's one of the most kids. There's so many people on this record. I was looking. There's 130 musicians. Yeah, it's crazy. Greg Philling Gaines does a much. I mean, it's, yes,

It's Herbie Hancock, so you'd say, well, that track, of course, is great. But Herbie's singing, which is playing as well. Herbie's keyboard work, drums, Ronnie Foster's on here. Minnie Ripperton doing background vote. There's so much. Nathan Watts, as you mentioned. Yeah. George Benson.

He's not on this track, but George Benson is on here. Minnie Ripperton. Yeah. And of course, you know, whenever you get a bunch of these all-star guest appearances, it can be like kind of a muddy, sloppy, sloppy Joe kind of mess, even if you have great talent. But, I mean, the way that, you know, the way that Stevie put this together, and we'll get into it with the lore. Like, this was recorded over several years and pieced together, but it's such a beautiful document and a wonderful thing.

Snuffy Walden is on this. Dude, there's a lot of great playing on here. He wrote the theme to the West Wing. Sneaky Pete Kleineau. Sneaky Pete? Well, yes, sneaky. Wasn't he in Breaking Bad? That was your nickname. That's your nickname on the basketball court.

Wasn't he the evil drug dealer in Breaking Bad? Sneaky Pete. Ronnie Foster, as you mentioned. like all of these huge names and then all these amazing studio musicians. 130 musicians. That's not hyperbole. Dude, we're gonna get stuck here. So I'm just, I'm going, I'm going, what do you got on this one for playing? For playing?

Oh, I don't know. Six? No, I'll go full ten. I'm going ten too, but I just to be clear, this is not because Herbie's killing it on as. The whole record is just amazing playing, right? And that's from a jazz or non-jazz standpoint. We're not, it's got nothing to do with that. No, this is... The harp playing, check this out.

Who's that on harp on here? It's magic. My gosh. The playing's great on here, okay? Assumee. Okay. Let's go with vibe now. All right, you know, let's keep playing this,

because this is good for vibe. Great. Trying to find the harpist. Probably Stevie. Stevie learned harp for it, you know? I heard him do this live with harp to Superdome in New Orleans at 1 o'clock in the morning. Really?

Ninety-four, so I'm at essence jazz. It's in time. So good. If it's pleasing. They don't have the harp listed on the track listing. Someone will tell us in the comments. Yeah, let us know who the harpist is if you know. This is a harpist from, I remember there's a story, like from Detroit, I want to say.

So the vibe here is 10. Yeah, on the whole album. The whole album starts to finish. Peter, it's such a vibe. It's got such a vibe. Can you do? I would say just from, I mean, the playing is amazing. So, of course, that pushes it.

But the song, the songwriting on here, is, you know, these are some of the most beloved Stevie song. The lyrics. Can you play Joy Inside My Tears? Even badly playing it on a keyboard. Joyance, oh, yeah. Like, this is the thing, too. We're going to get to this.

All of the suits, all the B-sides or whatever, they all have an incredible podcast. I used to have, I have to find it. Maybe it's at my mom's house. This was actually, it was a double album, which was a huge part of this record. It's a massive four sides. Yeah, but it came with the little,

the four extra twos. What songs are those? A little EP add-on. You know, the little 45, a little chumpy, two on each side. Yeah. This is great. All right, ten.

Compositions. Well, I don't know. If we can roll right into that, we've already showed that. Love's every single composition. Ordinary pain, summer stuff, pastime paradise. Isn't she lovely?

Joy inside my tears. Black man. If it's magic, as. Another star. I haven't even played any of the big hits yet. That's what's crazy. Sir Duke.

Compositionally, uh, Major seven much? And you know, with Stevie, I think compositionally you're talking about, you know, the intersection, of course, of the lyric, the melody, the harmony, the basic element. A lot of pentatonic, you know, just... I think this is him at his creative peak as a songwriter, too. Yeah. I think he told better stories on this album.

than any album he made during this era. And I think the composition of the music and the sounds... Keep going. There's a little undercurrent there. There's a little reminder that this little puppy's on here, too. Well, we should... So I'm giving a 10 for compositions. Big surprise.

I think we should roll into maybe play I Wish for Sound. Ooh, interesting. Sir Duke or I Wish for Sound? Let's do Sir Duke, because that was... This was a huge radio hit. Was this the biggest hit on here? I think I wish is probably... Maybe I wish. I don't know.

Listen me. Oh, it's that bass drum Literally hear the breath on the reeds Yeah And they've got that horn section Super tight Yeah, kick drums tight Woo

That high head Nathanies Every single detail of the sound Every instrument Sounds amazing I'm going 10 for sound Peter This is looking

Oh, same key I'm going 10 too And I was trying to remember The name of the engineer I believe it was What was it like fish, fish, fish box, something? I can't remember. My apologies on that.

I'm getting excited, sir. Do you have that on your, um... Oh. Talk about the recording engineer? Yeah. I'm sure it was multiple people. Boodie-do, bo-de-do-do-bo-do-bo-do-bo-do-bo-choo-bo-do-bo-bo-choo-bo-bo-do. Right, but he worked like Stevie.

So good, man. Yeah. Damn, the sound, everything. Okay. sound is a 10. Yeah. Sequence, the track sequence. Yeah, I mean...

I'm also going 10. Yeah. It starts so beautifully with loves and need of love today. Yeah, let's start a little bit of that. And then just one into the other. The side one ends with Sir Duke. It begins with I wish.

It just, it couldn't... I couldn't imagine a more perfect order. And maybe it's because I've listened to it a thousand times in this order, but I think it's 10 out of 10. Yeah, and isn't she lovely? Is that at the beginning of the second LP? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's a strong start. We're going to listen to just. how the record starts. Choir. Choir-esque. Start of the record. That roads are whirley. Roads are worldly.

I have serious news to pass on. Sound. The combination of that bass and kick drum. And then think about like, this is such an entry point, the lyric and everything to start. I'm your friendly, Your friendly announcer. And the space, the patience to start the record like this.

What's crazy too about this record is this is him and his artistic peak, in my opinion, and his commercial peak. I don't know if this was his most commercially successful. Surely this is one that has stood this test of time. It was on 13 weeks at number one. Incredible. You know, for a double owl. Sequences is a 10 cover art. Can we put the cover back up?

Gotcha. Because it is also, in my opinion. That's 10 out of 10. We're going 10 out of 10. It's a beautiful piece of art. Oh, and the LP. with the inside and the inserts and stuff are so good. It's, you can't not, like, you know, it's so recognizable.

Yeah. It's not boring. It's also, it's not cluttered. It's like, it's just. It's very 1976, our bicentennial year. I was a young lad of five when this record came out. Yeah, all the colors, all like the oranges and reds are very 70s oranges. Right.

You were not alive at this point, were you? I was not quite alive. No. Yeah, I was alive and kicking. The title songs in The Key of Life is also, in my opinion, a 10 out of 10. It's an incredible title. As much hyperbole as we've said,

I would say that that might even be the strongest 10 out of 10 on this. It's one of the greatest album titles ever. It really is great. Yeah. I mean, it's just a great phrase. It's a great, I mean, it's an iconic thing. And I'll just throw in there.

I got a chance to see Stevie about seven, eight years ago, but a mile from here or so at the Enterprise Center or whatever it was called at the time. One of the best concerts ever. He did this entire record from beginning to end. In the original keys,

Like he ran it with no intermission. Yeah, that was the songs in the key. That's kind of the last big tour he... In his 70s, probably, when he did that. Maybe, or pushing, I mean, he's... Yeah, probably. Or late 60s. Yeah, he killed it. Amazing.

Lore? Okay. Is it 10 out of 10. 130 musicians, 2 years to make. Yeah. He basically had a synth studio built for this. Yeah. Like, it's an incredible...

I mean, it's one of the most iconic records of the 20th century, obviously. One of the most iconic albums of the 20th century. And I found that John Fishbach. So that was the main engineer that at Crystal Sounds in Hollywood that a lot of this was recorded, but he did a bunch in New York. There's all sorts of stories that he did it at other studios,

that he would redo stuff, that he would get Nathan Watts up in the middle of the night to come back at 3 o'clock. I mean, there's like a lot of great stuff. But I think the big part of the lore that people forget, I think it was sort of known at the time. But this came out of like, you know, he always had this kind of, well, this was on Motown.

But he had a kind of often on. relationship with Barry Gordy from a business standpoint, huh? This is on, oh yeah, it is. Yeah, this is when he re-signed the big contract. At the time, it was the biggest contract,

and for years, it was the biggest record contract ever signed. I mean, Ray Charles had done that maybe 15 years before, but this was a huge, huge contract, and it had like the biggest double-digit royalty rate ever.

Like Stevie was a genius of business as well during this time and really sort of held out. He produced a lot of this stuff, as he'd done on some of his earlier record, You know, he was tied into that youth contract for years. And once he turned 18, he was like, oh, everything's different now. And he always, like, handled his money well so that he could already be recording the record even before he signed the next contract.

You talk about leverage. You got songs in the key of life in your back pocket. And it was supposed to come out like a year earlier. It was like the most anticipated record of the mid-70s. And he was like, no, it's not right yet. And my deal isn't right yet. Incredible. So it's a lot of fantastic stories.

Of course, him, you know, experimenting with a bunch of different kids. keyboards for the first time, synthesizers, you know, all these, you know, political issues that he was already kind of involved with, but that he further, you know, stepped into from a lyrical standpoint, tying that in in both overt and covert ways. I mean, the lore is kind of off the charts. There was a video I remember made like 20 years ago. It was like, I had it on VHS, probably longer, 30 years ago, where they kind of, it was about the history of how this record that was made. That would be a fun one to pull out. Can you, while I'm going to say some of the accolades, can you play the last track,

Another Star? Maybe put that on because that's one of the singles here. Yeah. So the album won, album of the year at the 19th Grammy Awards. It's the bestselling and most critically acclaimed album of Wonder's career, widely regarded as his magnum opus. Yeah. And one of the greatest albums in the history of recorded music. Many musicians have remarked on the quality of the album and its influence on their own work.

Indeed, some notable musicians have named it as the greatest album of all time. Yeah. It was ranked number four on Rolling Stone 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2002, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2005, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry

by the Library of Congress, which deemed it culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Like you mentioned, it spent 13 weeks at number one, had several hit singles. The whole album, or Billboard album, right? That's right. Yeah. I wish

was the first single, Isn't She Lovely? Was the second single. Sir Duke was the third single. This, another star, was the fourth single, and as was the fifth single. To say that it's one of the most important work, it's a great chorus here, great hook. Yeah, the whole thing is just great. Anyway, yeah, Laura's off the charts. Okay. Snobometer, let's talk about some changes to the snobombo meter. So a lot of people had some great ideas. So the snobometer should lie, started a five, right? So we're going to start at a five. And how does... You were so resolute with your approach to this as we entered.

What happened? Well, no, we start at zero. And we add one through five for will snobs like it and one through five of will Aunt Linda like it. So they each get their points. And then we add those points up and then we get our point score. The album, the key of the Snobometer is do snobs like it and Will Aunt Linda like it.

Give us a quick for myself. and for our dear listeners, if they weren't around, a quick summation of Aunt Linda's. She doesn't know a lot about jazz. The avatar for her, like, what are listening. She doesn't listen to a lot of jazz. She likes things that are catchy and snappy and sound really good.

She might not like Eric Dolfi, but she would like timeout, right? She likes Kenny G, but maybe not so much the lonious monk. Okay. You know? So the snobometer should be something that snobs, who would be like, think Ethan Iverson.

No offense to Ethan, but it's very bespoke. Is he the avatar for our snob He might be, just because him or like... So like an intersection of just like a lot of knowledge. Yeah, like lots of knowledge. Very eloquent and very knowledgeable. But they're not going to jump on a train

just because it's passing by. Connoisseur. Connoisseur of arts and... Some connoisseur. Doesn't really care so much for popular music. They're not going to be swayed by a billboard chart. They're not going to be impressed by the big record contract. They are not. They're going to be more impressed by the musicality of it. Okay.

Whereas Aunt Linda wants it to feel good and sound good and be catchy. So I'm going to say stop a meeting on this. This is another 10 out of 10. Linda loves isn't she lovely. She danced to it. Wait, hold on. That's not fair. You actually know, look, you're going to do a personal.

I thought, I thought Aunt Linda was like an avatar for millions of people. My real Aunt Linda probably doesn't like this album. But you just said she danced that. Oh, you mean the avatar. The avatar. She's dancing to isn't she lovely. she's dancing to I wish at your cousin's bar mitzvah

she's doing all of that right and also this is probably one of Ethan Iverson's favorite albums like this is this is an album that a snob also really loves okay we are diverging on this score my friend really which I didn't think it was going to happen I'm going eight on this

what yeah because I'm going to say that the snob i. Ethan Iverson likes this record a lot but is not going to give it up 100% so like if they're going five on this they probably like this is a great record, but it's not... Caleb, can you reach out to Ethan? I mean, saying

like a jazz... We're talking about a jazz snob, right? Oh. Well, we didn't know. I think so. I think we haven't. So, to be fair, a jazz snob is going to be like, what's the jazz record that a jazz snobb is going to be five out of five, no matter what? It's going to be off the charts on snobometer. Like, like Lee Conant's, some record that we don't know even.

It's great, I'm sure. I would say, like, Wayne Marsh... Alone in San Francisco is a five out of five. Just go, Bill Evans Live at the Vanguard. Probably. Like something more contemporary, I'm thinking. Yeah, like McCoy Tyner's Super Trio's. Right, right, right.

You know what I mean? Like, that kind of thing. Yeah, a little bit more. So I think that with this, with it being... The SOP, maybe. Yeah, with this being so popular... Black Coats. Yeah, think about this, though.

A record that is universally loved is the greatest record of all time. What's a snob I'm going to say? It's good. Not great. And this is different, though. Because this is, I think because why I give this, the snob gives this a five out of five is because it's outside of, quote, unquote, the jazz tent. Yes, but a snob, but the true snob is going to say songs of the key life is great,

but Secret Life of Plants by Stevie Wonder is the real. That's the five out of five. That's a good point. So I'm not taking two points off because I believe this is not a hundred point record. Secret life is incredibly snobby. Yeah, that's very good. It's very good. It's very good.

We should do Secret Life at some point because it is really good. Secret Life Plan. Look at the snob there. My inner snob lit up. Yeah. About to write up. We're about to write an eloquent essay on Secret Life of Plants.

I recorded one of the tunes off of that. I'm such a stop. And then I went four. Sorry, go ahead. I'm sticking with 10. Okay. And so the reason I go eight, one, the snob takes one point off.

And I think Linda takes one point off because they're like, oh, this is great. I'll dance to it. But they're not like, they're not thinking this is the greatest record ever like we are. Like you kind of got to be a mute. Like what we said, this record, part of the greatness of it

is that musicians are like, the quality of it is so amazing, and people love it. But people are just like, yeah, it's great. Just like off the wall and just like, you know, Taylor Swift, maybe. You know what I'm saying? They might make sense. They might even, Linda, might prefer Taylor Swift to this?

I don't know. I think Aunt Linda gets down to isn't she lovely. I think she gets down to Sir Duke. I think she gets down to I wish. But five out of five? Maybe. Maybe. It depends on your aunt.

Okay. I mean, I hate taking a point off this record, but I'm trying to be in the story. Spirit. Is this still new to us? The new definition, we're still getting used to it. Okay. Is it better than K-O-B? Do we need to play anything, or can we just go in to talk? I think we're just going to talk about it. So this is another bespoke

hit the button. It's another bespoke category here in that we are setting Miles Davis's kind of blue at a nine. Yeah. And Oh, did we... Okay. Yeah, and we're rating it above or below kind of blue. If it's as good as kind of blue,

it's a nine. If we think it's better than kind of blue, it's nine and a half for ten. because you did a 9.5 once. So what if it's not as good as Kind of Blue? It could be, is it a gradient? Yeah. Or 6 or whatever. What's its relation to Kind of Blue?

It's basically what this is. Kind of Blue's a 9. Kind of all agreeing that Kind of Blue is a very, very great record, not the greatest, but a very great record. But when we say, is it better, are we saying it's greater or we like it more? We like it more. Okay. So I'm going 10. Me too.

Okay. Shall we... Oh, you already filled out your whole day. I kind of had it all filled out before. Let's go through the motions because this is part of our tradition. Let's add up our scores. Ready? The sad of our score.

Easiest ad ever. I'll go first because you bought this in. So I gave this a 100 out of 100. My favorite track is as, but that's a tough one because it's a tie between about five tracks. Yeah. Okay. My total score is 98, which pains me to say that because I feel like I love this record as much, if not more than you. Not less.

Not two points less. Obviously don't. It's verified, right? But obviously, what I do love more than you is a strict understanding and adherence to the snobomometer. Even though you've just redefined it. Literally something you just found out how to use two seconds ago. Yeah, which is even more impressive that I surpassed your mastery or lack thereof of the snobombo meter. Are you serious right now?

Dude, you think the snobomber is just like a random clown with its nose just jumping from place. You described it well. You didn't adhere to it well, my friend. he's criticizing my criticism. I'm not criticizing. Hey, we all have skills in life. Snobbometer is not one of them. I think my avatar of Antlanda

likes this record the most, and I think my avatar of the snob likes this record the most. Listen, if this isn't a 10 on a snobbometer, what is? Maybe kind of blue. A 98 is still an A plus, though, right? I give it a personal A plus. Yeah, definitely.

Okay. Well, this was great. My favorite track. Sorry, can I finish? SummerSaw. That was tough, too, and I almost went with that. I'm glad we didn't.

It's really hard. man. Like I said, there's five, maybe six. That's an instrumental that's a lot of fun. There's maybe six. One of the great fusion tracks of the 70s is on the, we didn't even talk about that. Talk about lore. All right, thank you, Stevie. But this was like, just think about,

talk about labor of love, giving love. Like, this was a lot of work from a lot of people, but no more than Stevie Wonder, and I'm sure the engineers in the studio. I mean, like, this was truly service-oriented right here. Yeah. Until next time. You'll hear it. All right. We did it.

Jeremy Jam.