Prelude to a Kiss

[Mark Kleinhaut]

and more messing around with 3 cameras, cause, why not?

[Jimmy blue note]

Ellington compositions are such unique and outstanding vehicles for reinterpretation. Masterfully done, Mark. Your use of space allows the phrases, and the way you re-create them, to show artfully. I love the use of three cameras, using the black backdrop as a kind of tonal ostinato. It ties things together and allows the visuals to be clear without distraction.
One thing that did distract me though. If I was listening to the music harder than I was watching, there are times when the longer phrases of the piece or a tonal area opens up a musical concept or line that, if there's a visual fade in the midst of it, creates a discontinuity in the way I'm hearing, if not a distraction.
In other words, I feel there's a strength in the long phrasing or harmonic progression that you, as a player respect with space, but you as a video editor, aren't as respectful of. Long phrases are beautiful. They don't need cuts that break the breath of them.
But that's just me griping over something that I really like.
Thank you for posting this. Beautiful!

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Ellington compositions are such unique and outstanding vehicles for reinterpretation. Masterfully done, Mark. Your use of space allows the phrases, and the way you re-create them, to show artfully. I love the use of three cameras, using the black backdrop as a kind of tonal ostinato. It ties things together and allows the visuals to be clear without distraction.
One thing that did distract me though. If I was listening to the music harder than I was watching, there are times when the longer phrases of the piece or a tonal area opens up a musical concept or line that, if there's a visual fade in the midst of it, creates a discontinuity in the way I'm hearing, if not a distraction.
In other words, I feel there's a strength in the long phrasing or harmonic progression that you, as a player respect with space, but you as a video editor, aren't as respectful of. Long phrases are beautiful. They don't need cuts that break the breath of them.
But that's just me griping over something that I really like.
Thank you for posting this. Beautiful!

I agree with your criticism of the video editing. It has many more cuts and fades than usual and they really didn’t connect well with what’s happening musically. There was a reason for doing it that way as an experiment, which was for the sake of an easier workflow, but it was not best for serving the music. Lesson learned. Thanks for sharing your observations!!