On his debut album, the Emmy-nominated composer, David Ricard, takes classical music’s greatest hits and mashes them up into iconic big band sounds.
Imagine if Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake during the swing era. What if Johann Strauss was not the Waltz King but the Samba King? How about if Bizet’s opera, Carmen, was composed during the swinging 60s?
Rather than being satisfied writing straight-ahead big band versions of the album’s 10 classical works, Ricard went one step further by using the distinctive arranging techniques of big band’s most recognizable hits.
Swing versions of classical music is nothing new. Big bands from Spike Jones to Brian Setzer have released magnificent offerings over the years. Ricard’s album, however, takes advantage of two previously missed opportunities. Firstly, there’s the mash-up concept. Second, while other big bands attempt to capture a whole classical work into a swing opus, Ricard focuses on the “hooks” of each orchestral masterpiece and ignores the less ear-catching sections. This results in the album having a highly-infectious, pop music quality to it.
Many listeners of this album will recognize the classical melodies; others will be able to identify the big band song being referenced. Savvy music lovers may know both. In any case, the result for the listener is the same: an involuntary exclamation of “Hey, I know this song!”
David Ricard -- whose credits include The Pink Panther & Pals, After Lately, Maya & Miguel and SuperNormal-- injects his well-honed sense of humor into each track on the CD.
Ricard, who plays bass on the album, got the idea for the album after being approached by a music library to write sound-alike big band tracks. “It sounded like a lot of work to be done at a high quality level so I passed on that gig,” says the L.A.-based composer. “I hate when you hear a generic song in a commercial, for instance, and you know what song it’s trying to sound like but, of course, it fails. But it started me thinking about how I could write songs that had the vibe of a tune but then took it somewhere totally new. I had already attempted a few big band arrangements of classical tunes but felt that they lacked something special. Then I remembered the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercials. You know, “You got peanut butter in my chocolate!”/ “You got chocolate in my peanut butter!” And I started to realize that these two good-but not great-ideas (big band versions of classical tunes and iconic big band soundalikes) could be fused into one very interesting project that can stand alone as a neat record.”
The concept grew from there and by the time Ricard and his 18-piece ensemble went in to the studio in December 2012, the album had evolved into its own thing.
While adapting these classical melodies, Ricard pays homage to his favorite big band influences, such as Count Basie, Billy May and Quincy Jones.
The end result is an album of 10 in-your-face, high-energy tracks that don’t let up for a moment, daring listeners to keep up.
“I think this record is going to appeal to a wide range of music lovers,” says Ricard, “it’s not too jazzy, it’s not too stuffy. I think it’s a great balance and listeners, I hope, will sense all of the fun that went into writing and recording it .”
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