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« Midday Meal At The Skatepark » is an upbeat jazzy tune that evokes lighthearted times, enjoying simple pleasures in the sun.
The main musical ideas for the piece occurred to me while I was practising near the skateboard park at Place d'Youville here in Quebec City, around the beginning of July 2020. I had originally titled it « Flatland Samba » after learning that Flatland Skateboarding is one of names used to designate freestyle skateboarding on a flat ground, which was essentially the main use of the park that summer. But when came time to release the track, given that I wasn't sure if the piece actually qualified as a samba, and considering that it didn't say much about skateboarding either, I changed the title to reflect part of my daily routine during the development period, which was having lunch on a park bench up the concrete stairs that lead to Palais Montcalm while watching the skateboarders in the park down below.
From those original ideas recorded on the spot back then, the composition evolved slowly but throughout July and August, and then sporadically until about mid-January 2021 when I finally figured out a way to organize all the phrases and melodies that I had developed while keeping redundancy at a minimum.
The piece comprises several passages which I still find challenging to play cleanly, featuring quick chord changes intertwined with syncopations and fast melodic runs. Yet, despite those difficulties, in terms of writing this is likely my most advanced composition for solo jazz guitar thus far, and as such it stands as a milestone on my trajectory.
From a more personal perspective, it seems that the music is a faithful reflection of the energies of that period, during which I somehow managed to remain at peace and joyful most of the times, taking time to rest and simply appreciate life, despite finding myself confronted with challenging circumstances.
The original version was recorded during the second week of February 2021, mixed and mastered on the following days, and released immediately, which actually turned out to be way too soon. I quickly realized that I didn't much like the final product, which I found was sounding thin and dry, and even unpleasantly percussive in certain passages. Eventually I revisited the recording, and replaced the audio with the warmer and smoother version that is available now.