Proyecto A

Proyecto A (1971) ...

Concept prog album from Spain, in a library music vein, but with overtones of Frank Zappa brass (actually Madrid municipal band).  Produced by Frank David...

Proyecto A ... 

Arranged By, Directed By, Producer, Vocals -- Frank David
Bass -- Aaron
Drums -- Rooby Dayand
Guitar -- Georges I
Organ -- Kisgay
Percussion -- Jean Marc
Recorded By -- J. Cobos*, J.A. Alvarez*
Tenor Saxophone -- Ortex
Trombone -- Louis R. Nator

 

Proyecto A (they didn't let me call it Proyecto Apollo) was a simple and heartfelt tribute to the historic and heroic achievement of a human being stepping on a celestial body beyond Earth.

The musical and rhythmic styles of the songs were not really anything new and ranged from Rock, Soul, Funky etc. that were fashionable at that time with the intention that they could be danced to in the emerging Dance Clubs. The unique and original novelty was that the melodies and harmonies used scales and tones which the Impressionist Claude Aquiles Debussy had already used to describe musically the endless to and fro of the sea waves in his Suite "La Mer". I tried to capture the cosmic weightlessness with the help of sound effects, handmade with a Binson Echo. 90% of melodies and harmonies were made ​​on tonal scales that produced an amazing feeling, a little uncomfortable for some.

We did not have synthesizers or other technologies so I went the old fashioned way, I went to the beach to record the sounds of the waves, I submerged a mic protected with a plastic bag into a bucket of water and blew through a hose to create bubbles, the launching of the rocket was the recording of a heating kettle starting up...

The musicians in the recording were: Kisgay (real name Joan Giralt, Hammond), Aaron (real name Jose Antonio Muñoz, bass), Nator (* real name not given, trombon), Ortex (real name Jose Ortega, sax), George I (real name Jordi Camp, brother of Manel Camp from Fusioon, guitar), myself as composer and vocals, and an emergency session drummer (alias Rooby Dayand) who covered for Jordi Colomer from Iceberg who finally was unable to move to Madrid for the recording sessions. Brass was played by some musicians from the Madrid municipal band... Frank David ...