Gettin' started

This morning was a bit late. Yeah the cars were jamming each other for brunch. And I woke up practising David Foster's 1988 Winter Games, gorgeous arrangement! (although he's not my era) but beautiful tempo and chords, that's what I love about this guy. He's a genius.
To name a few, David Foster founded a few divas who survive till today, their records and albums never fade. Celine Dion, Andrea Brocelli, Peter Cetera,  (I know, they're all too old for me) but people like Josh Groban, Charice, Michael Buble, Katherine McPhee, Blake Shelton (these people rock!) and another older icon, Brian McKnight. David Foster is still their songwriter, producer, and helped created Charice into the most talented girl in the world by Oprah Winfrey. I personally am so moved each time hearing "A Note to God".

Back to the Winter Games. I think that should be the most amazing and awesome Winter Olympic song I've ever heard. It all started with an amazing intro by his piano blended with powerful orchestra, the first note is the hook of the whole piece. One should listen and get what I mean here. Because of the beautiful orchestral arrangement, the song not only represents pride and glory of the winners, it brings you to the scene of the games (although I was barely schooling) it makes you feel and move along with the melody so you know how to bring the vibrancy alive. It's totally amazing how, at that time, David Foster could have written an awesome piece like this. Standing ovation and it's sold a multi-million copies at one time, I completely drool over learning this piece. Not so complicated, yet the intricacy of this piece is its feeling, its dynamic, its hypnotic touch that makes your mind travels back how it should be played. At that moment. It's soul wrenching.

While looking at the score now, it is no wonder that David Foster is the genius of the century. Contrary to John Williams, David Foster's style is more contemporary yet stylish. Yes, stylish. That's how I term how he looks and the way he plays. Delicate chords, off-beat tempos, all in the name of never out-of-date style.

Learning David Foster leads me to research more work of David Benoit (another highly profiled pianist) and more to jazz. It sucks sometimes to realize I'm no good in jazz, but if one keeps listening to fusions like the Rippingtons, Benoit's, some mainstreams like The European Jazz trio, Bill Evan, Shelly Berg's Trio, one may find that migrating from classical to jazz is worth the effort. I was once a classicist, love everything about Chopin, Mozart and Rachmaninoff. Yet still having a passion towards these people, new bloomers like David Foster captures my soul once again, like how Rachmaninoff's Concerto in C Minor moved me to tears.

David Foster moved me nearer to my piano. *wink*

That's how I like it. That's how I'm gettin' started.