Thanks much, Kodokami. After a few weeks of this being publicly available, this is really the first bit of feedback that I have received thus far. While it can sometimes be difficult enough to get a simple comment after a thumbs up or thumbs down, the fact that you made such detailed observations is really, really helpful.
Believe it or not, I do find your one criticism to be both interesting and valid, and I think my wife would agree on this point. If I am indeed aware of this point, one might ask why I structured the album and songs the way I did, and I think I have an answer.
Bossa nova has been a bit of an obsession with me for probably ten years now. Listening to it sparked something within me that other genres of jazz were never quite able to evoke inside, and even led me along the path of learning new instruments (classical guitar, or applying the style to harp), or even starting a local bossa nova band back when I lived in the Seattle area.
With that being said, I have definitely done a LOT of listening to various cds because of this obsession, and yes, I can honestly say that many of these cds sound the same from track to track. However, once in a while one gets a true gem, where the entire album can carry that entire bossa nova vibe throughout the entire program and still manage to feel different enough from song to song. While I make no claims to fame as of yet for such ability on my end, I would cite perhaps Antonio Carlons Jobim's "Stone Flower" CD as an example of such beautiful flow and style. I think that on some level, I am aspiring to being able to produce such wonderful flow and continuity, and just may not quite be there yet. I would imagine that a little more experience with percussion would probably help me tons for the next release when that time comes.
I am happy to hear that you liked Gato's Song! I felt like that would be a "hit" or "miss" type of scenario with audiences, because on one side of the matter, Gato's Song is basically just a 5 second song that is looped end-to-end. How much could one realistically do with this song, after all? But the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't resist this temptation to not only find a way to do something creative with it, but also stretch it out a bit, without getting boring at all. All while paying homage to the original. Challlening? Yes! But your feedback definitely made it worth the effort!
On a side (non-Chrono Trigger) note, I do hope to do more in the near future. I am currently in talks with a Castlevania fan site to help produce a CD for the 30th Anniversary of the franchise since it is highly doubtful that Konami will do anything significant for it next year. If things go well for CD sales and streaming/downloads of this current project, we can definitely count on another release next year. So please feel free to visit Jazz Paladin Productions on Facebook from time to time for updates on this project.
I am really hyped for it so far, especially since one of our main goals is to produce recordings of songs that have never gotten a lot of fanfare.
Thanks again, game on!