Molasses run (Hakim) The only Omar Hakim composition recorded by Weather Report. Hakim explained the making of this track to Brian Glasser: "I brought in the melody and the charts, and what I noticed was that Joe and Wayne played it at first with my original ideas for the harmony. Then, after a while, I watched them rip the harmony apart and I watched them rebuild it, doing these interesting things, but they left the melody intact. What I learned was how to stretch the harmonic idea and leave the melody intact, and Joe and Wayne-- particularly Joe--were masters of that sort of thing, finding texture and the subtle drama in melody. He totally made my song better. He took what I had and made it a Weather Report tune. What I had had the potential for a Weather Report tune, but his synthesizer arrangements, his texture with soundscape and little subtle harmonic things he did--that turned it into a Weather Report track. It was a fantastic lesson for me." Zawinul explained to John Diliberto how he altered the intervals in his keyboards to produce his solo on "Molasses Run." "I do some detuning and make a scale that has an octave with maybe six notes or one with 15 notes. On my Oberheim I have eight modules, and each module I can tune to another note. When I go through the scale on one note, I can make it so each time I hit C on the keyboard, the next note, will be another one, the third one, the fourth, et cetera--each one a different note. Then I can add with the other notes. This is quick thinking. I have different set-ups with different intervals. The solo I play on 'Molasses Run' I do with that." |