When you think of Duke Ellington‘s ‘In a Sentimental Mood’ you think of a bygone era, of summer garden parties with men whisking women off their feet for a twirl – but listening to Rafiq Bhatia‘s rendition is nothing of the sort.
In fact if it wasn’t for the title, you’d have no clue that this was in fact Duke’s song – it’s that unrecognisable!
Like working with molten glass, Rafiq expands, twists and bends sound, the compelling distortion almost other-worldly.
On how Bhatia came about this compostion, he explained that he wrote the first fifty seconds out backwards and told (pianist) Chris Pattishall, (saxophonist) Stephen Riley and (trumpeter) Riley Mulherkar to play its abbreviated parts “really delicately and quietly.”
Bhatia then reversed the trio’s rough takes and slowed them down to quarter speed, resulting in Ellington’s original melody crawling forward at a tectonic pace while the ensemble’s manipulated performances ooze out backwards.
Let me know what you think?