Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: https://insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
"Ubuntu" Sheet Music:
https://insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic
Quincy Jones is one of my big musical inspirations: he's someone from a jazz background who has managed to cross over into a ton of different genres and work with a ton of different artists, all while maintaining his sense of self and being a great human! So, when he put out a book earlier this year called "12 Notes: On Life and Creativity", I ate it up - it was such a good read. I've also read his book "The Quincy Jones Legacy Series: Q on Producing: The Soul and Science of Mastering Music and Work".
In one of those books (maybe both, I don't exactly remember), Q talks about his experience meeting Nelson Mandela, and learning about what the term "ubuntu" means. Ubuntu is an African philosophy that generally translates to "I am because you are", highlighting the way that as humans, we are all intrinsically connected, and none of us can exist completely in a vacuum. I thought this term was so beautiful, and it struck me at a great time. When I originally came up with the idea for this song, I was attending PAX East in April of 2022, and it was my first large video game convention since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented these gatherings from happening. It was so wonderful to see so many friends again, and I realized just how much I missed the feeling of being connected to people. I think... that's Ubuntu :)
I think there's no better genre than jazz at encapsulating Ubuntu. There are a lot of different definitions of jazz, but a commonality among most of these definitions is that jazz has improvisation, and thrives when members of the band get to interact with each other. This human interaction in the music is so much fun, and that's something I wanted to portray in this piece in particular. If you listen closely, you can hear a few great moments in this performance of this tune where the members of the band are clearly listening to each other and running with each other's ideas. It's so much fun, and that is the spirit of Ubuntu!
Tenor Saxophone - Carlos Eiene
Trombone - Andrew Sumabat (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCALN57-YXaJ_2hdIYoqjx5Q)
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZR3yTjrVabnVFEYQjkLrQ)
Piano - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEMeAR_u9M5_VD-rK8IB_Hw
Fretless Electric Bass - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_fUSAkdl9DqqM0LIe0vFog
Drums - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRROy9ywPT8QrSJl-In6kTw
Percussion & Synths - Carlos Eiene
Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng
Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Carlos Eiene, Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette
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