So, I have a soft spot for classic Disco. I know that admission (in the seventies’ US of A) might have me ending on a funeral pyle during a break at a National Football League game, but in 2025, I think it’s safe to admit this. I particularly like the Philadelphia, MFSB inspired sound of percussion, funk and a lush and generous orchestration, with its epitomy Dan Hartmann’s ‘Relight my Fire’. I remain steadfast in my opinion that this is the best example of how to use orchestration to enhance and add some drama to an already existing excellent song (though the Manic Street Preachers came close with ‘Design for Life’ and ‘Everything must go’ in a completely different genre). It’s also one of the best songs of all time, full stop. The Take That version pales in comparison and did the song no favour. I always fancied arranging this song for a live orchestra/band/choir, but unfortunately lacked both the talent and the cash to hire 100 musicians, singers and a recording studio big enough to put them all in.
Well, step up the orchestra and choir of the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and arranger/conductor Chris de Bruin, who delivered this as project towards his graduation. While the arrangement doesn’t have the fluidity and perfection of Hartmann and MFSB (particularly the 11 minute version), the video of de Bruin’s project is just so joyful and catchy, that I haven’t been able to stop watching it. A true gem of the Interwebs.
And while we’re at it: their version of Barry Manilow’s Copacabana (arranged by the amazing Emma Wieriks) is just as good. You can feel the fun the musicians had while making this oozing through your screen and speakers.
Makes me want to throw in my day job and go back to university, studying composition at the HKU. Ironically, we recently visited Utrecht for the first time. What a beautiful place with a great quality of life.
Here’s a playlist from some of this team’s other works. Well worth checking out.
Isn’t it weird how your taste in music broadens the older you get? While I have to boast a little and state the fact that I was always open to a variety of music styles since the tender age of 12 (Wham, Bach, Chicago, Simple Minds, Brahms and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Is that broad enough for a 12 year old? I would hopefully think so!) I have become more encompassing the older I have become. Interestingly enough, this also includes some pretty old music.
. On one of the tracks, ‘One man woman’, there was this amazing keyboard solo I couldn’t get enough of. You could tell this was an artist comfortable on a synth, a confident user of his slide control wheel and who would use his 30 seconds of glory on a track like this to the max. The fact that Siedah Garret did some outstanding vocal work and Herbie Hancock was there as well certainly helped, but it was Duke’s solo I really liked. So I did some research and was astounded that he was not only Zappa’s keyboarder and was playing with Jean Luc Ponty in Zappa’s houseband back in the early seventies, but that he was influenced by Cal Tjader, played with Cannonball Adderley and pretty much everybody in the American Soul and Jazz industry I got curious. So I bought the 
, Duke’s only orchestral work to date, performed live at Montreux Jazz Festival in 1996 (and, as far as I can tell, this is the only recording). Scored for orchestra and band, this features Duke on piano, Stanley Clarke on bass, Chester Thompson on Drums and Paulinho Dacosta on percussion. Stirling musicians for an extremely interesting piece of music. Somewhere between Gershwin and the German romantics of the late 19th century and hard bop, the 7 movements (or phases) are a well arranged interplay between the orchestra and Duke’s jazz fellows, with some sterling piano work and outstanding melodies.
Messaged from the Outhouse 