The Chase
The Chase is based on a motif that I had carried in my head for at least 20 years. It is a bit like the notes that accompanies a character in a movie: soft when the mood is somber, fast and hard when he's in distress, for example racing towards his destiny. The Chase is in the second category.
The drum pattern drives the pace: There's no messing about, you need to run! A synthesizer bass line supports the pace and the mood of the song. The motif is carried in the chorus of the tune in tree stages by two trumpet ensembles playing an octave apart: At first it is announced, second it is questioned (or is it?), and finally it is delivered. In between the choruses a distorted guitar improvises a moody if not imploring solo that gets harder each round.
I'm quite happy with the result, both with respect of my performance and how it matches up with the tune in my head. I can let it go now.
Por qué no te callas
It is one of those tunes that occasionally spring up in my mind for no reason whatsoever. When I hear it (in real or previously in my head) I imagine someone riding a motorcycle through the Spanish countryside -- sun in the sky, wind in his hair (no helmet, obviously), no deadlines looming....
The tune starts with an acoustic guitar playing a sweet little melody, accompanied by an electric piano. The melody is then carried over by a trombone (trumpet, actually), and then finally resumed by the guitar. In an earlier incarnation, the percussion was lighter, but I think the more modern, heavier and faster drum pattern goes very well with the tune.
This piece got its name ("why don't you shut up?" in Spanish) at the very last minute, when I remembered the incident during the 2007 Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, when King Juan Carlos I of Spain had to silence Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez because he kept interrupting Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's speech. The tune is a happy little composition that has absolutely nothing to do with the Chávez-incident, perhaps apart from its title suggesting a response, should anyone interfere with your listening to it.
