Hazel Leach : Composer

contact - catalogue - biography - prizes and awards - links

Bigband/vocal

Self-Portrait

This was written in 1997 and recorded by The United Women's Orchestra on their second CD "The Blue One", with Sam Leigh-Brown on vocals. Since then it has been arranged and performed by a variety of smaller groups and soloists. I'm including pdf files of extracts from 2 trio versions - one with piano and tenorsax, another with piano and concertina. The complete piano/vocal leadsheet is also included, so feel free to make your own arrangement!
The sounclip is Sam Leigh-Brown's beautiful solo over the intro, with part of the following theme.

Original line-up: vc, as/cl, as, 2ts, bs, bcl. 4 tp, 3 tb, tba, pn, bs, dm.
Length: 11 minutes.
Information about ordering the music can be found on the "contact" page- see link above.

The lyrics are about growing old (it comes to us all...) Memories of being a child seem to become detached, like pictures on a gallery wall. I guess this is what nostalgia is all about; the discovery that the years have changed us, after all.

The music is a ballad, based on a descending bass line and full of altered harmonies (my favourite...). There are several alternatives for improvised solos, all of which are optional: a set of changes based on the theme, an open, free part and a minor (altered) blues section.
"Self-Portrait" was commissioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

**Links**
United Women's Orchestra: about the band	United Women's Orchestra: CD "The Blue One"

**mp3/pdf files**
Leadsheet: complete	Trio piano/voc/concertina
Trio piano/voc/sax	SelfP-intro.mp3 1,1 MB

Self-Portrait

The line between the then and now is growing fainter,
evermore
The past has just become a picture by some painter,
nevermore.
And from the outside looking in,
the gilded frame surrounds a life which seemed so clear,
Which had a future bright with hope,
still free from fear of fading into apathy.
No days of mediocrity, no strife, but love and passion spent in golden bliss.

The line between the then and now is growing fainter,
evermore
The past has just become a picture by some painter,
nevermore.
The painter saw that youth portrayed reality:
Caught life inside a picture-frame to prove, just for posterity
That once I lived and loved and laughed,
before I must become the painter, looking backwards,
Evermore.

top