About Piano Poems

The trio (piano, drums, bass) is the instrumental configuration in which I feel most comfortable playing. It gives me the freedom to “move around” fellow musicians and focus on my main job of interpreting the song, without worrying too much about harmonic completeness or rhythmic marking. Most of our recorded work follows the trio and orchestra configuration. But this album is a departure from the past in that it consists mostly of piano-alone pieces. I invite you to enjoy it as an intimate recital –of some of the most beautiful pop songs ever written.

It all started by me sitting down at the piano and just playing songs I love –whichever came to mind. One of the very first, a seemingly odd one, was Kermit The Frog’s "Bein’ Green." Not readily a pianistic song, it almost didn’t make the list. But, due to the strength of its message, and its understated, subtle musical depth, here it is. I love this Joe Raposo piece. "Bein’ Green" ends with another Raposo tune, "Sing."

…When Green is all there is to be It could make you wonder why But why wonder, why wonder? I am green… and it'll do fine. It's beautiful; and I think it's what I want to be…

…Sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong Sing of good things, not bad Sing of happy, not sad Sing, sing a song Make it simple to last your whole life long Don’t worry that it’s not good enough For anyone else to hear Sing! Sing a song

The tango "Malena" was written in 1941. A fully orchestrated, tango-style version is available in our albums "Tango" and "Romance." But here, "Malena" is given a different outfit –a non-tango outfit. Here, dressed for recital, she moves circumspectly and almost reverently. Interestingly, it was a favorite for both young and older listeners who heard it on a pre-release screening.

David Gates (of Bread) penned some of the best pop songs of the ‘70s. The first medley in this album uses two of his songs as ‘bookends’ to Michel Legrand’s "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life," written in the late 60’s. If you listen closely you may recognize in both Gates songs, specific harmonic progressions also found in Legrand's ‘Rest Of Your Life.’ If we traveled further back in American songbook history, say to 1937, we’d discover that Richard Rodgers actually used these same exact progressions (I minor to VII augmented [with the melody on II or IV] to I minor seven [third inversion] to VI diminished seven) at the beginning of "My Funny Valentine." But, let’s not over-analyze this. Bottom line: these three songs sounded good together and I hope you like what we did with them.

"Something Good." Being a huge Richard Rodgers fan, I included one of his simplest yet most poignant works for which he, uncharacteristically, also wrote the lyric. This is the only song in this collection that includes other instruments: Peter Erskine (drums); Chuck Berghofer (acoustic bass); and Coco Trivisonno on bandoneón. Coco's beautiful counterpart made Al Schmitt smile when Mr. Schmitt walked into the room (at Capitol Studios) during Bill Smith's masterful mix session. Al said the song painted a picture for him "somewhere in Italy or France." Back to the song. Most of us baby boomers or Generation Jonesers (whatever we might be called) will never forget the gazebo scene in the film "The Sound Of Music," where Maria, overcome with joy, confusion and disbelief about the Captain’s unexpected confession, reciprocates:

Perhaps I had a wicked childhood, Perhaps I had a mis'rable youth. But somewhere in my wicked mis'rable past There must have been a moment of truth.

For here you are, standing there, loving me; Whether or not you should. So, somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.

Nothing comes from nothing, Nothing ever could. So, somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.

"Only The Lonely" (the song), "Only The Lonely" (the album –one of the best in history, the F.A.S. album that is), and I were all born during the same year. While inspired to pay appropriate tribute to this happy coincidence, I knew that attempting an instrumental version of this dark-but-brilliant work would be a challenge. The intent was to first record the piano part (which I did) and subsequently add a Nelson Riddle-like string accompaniment by maestro Artie Butler. It was humbling when Artie (composer of Shirley Horn’s "Here’s To Life," and orchestrator of Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World) called and said, “I’ve listened to your piano recording a dozen times. I have nothing to add. I love it just the way it is...” Ronn Huff, our chief orchestrator, voted with Artie. So here it is, "Only The Lonely," bare and uncorrupted, as it probably was on the day it was born.

I hope that the stories we tried to tell, the pictures we tried to paint, and the poems (every one of them) we tried to recite with music do come through and enrich your soul as you listen.

Sam Ocampo