![]() ![]() The harmony in this tune seems simple, just three chords repeating without variation. How tight is that electric piano solo? Patrice Rushen has spoken in interviews about how much she admires Herbie Hancock, and you can hear Herbie’s sensibility in her harmonically and rhythmically complex lines that never lose the thread of the groove. The groove slinks effortlessly along at 91 beats per minute, and Ableton Live shows hardly any tempo variation. The great James Gadsen plays drums, and Patrice Rushen plays all the other instruments. ![]() That’s okay, they are just there to decorate the groove anyway. My six-year-old daughter adores “Remind Me”, though she has no idea what the lyrics are. Patrice Rushen’s second-most-banging banger is from the same album as “Forget Me Nots”, and its lyrics have a similar theme. Here’s my radial visualization of the MIDI version: That is a whole lot of rhythmic information packed into a small space. There are sixteenth note anticipations before the downbeat of measure two, as well as the third beat in that measure, and before the downbeat of measure three. There’s another accent on the “and” of three. In the first bar, there’s an accent on the “and” of one, the very weakest offbeat there is. I wrote it as a C natural, and colored it blue. The melody sticks to F# natural minor for the most part, but in the chorus, listen to the first time that she sings the word “remember.” That last syllable is a blue note that falls somewhere between C natural and C-sharp. Patrice Rushen’s feather-light reverb-soaked vocals float along on top of the groove like mist over pounding ocean surf. That’s a small change, but it sticks out. The only difference is that F# natural minor includes the note D, whereas F# Dorian includes D-sharp. The G#m7 comes from a different scale, F# Dorian mode. The chord progression carefully resists harmonic closure. Enjoy, I guess:Īnyway, “Forget Me Nots” is a flawlessly crafted groove, and it is worth digging into. “Forget Me Nots” was remade into the Men In Black song, which I have no particular feelings about. Wikipedia reminded me that I heard “Forget Me Nots” many times from watching and re-watching the movie Big as a kid. I don’t normally go in for this style of R&B sax, but that solo is too funky and on point to resist. The devastating bassline is by Freddie Washington, and the silky smooth sax is by Gerald Albright. I quickly learned that she co-wrote and produced one of the bangingest bangers in history. I only got hip to her when I heard her speak at the 2018 Ableton Loop conference in Los Angeles. ![]() White people do not generally grow up listening to Patrice Rushen we have to seek her out. ![]()
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