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Songs on the eve of dismissal

by Chris Abelen

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1.
Song on the eve of dismissal Polishing my resume Get it up to date Does my avatar convey I’m nothing short of great? Should have made my getaway Now it’s far too late I am loyal, never swayed Throughout my career May not have an MBA My skills you will revere My big talent is to stay When colleagues disappear Learning was permanent Competence management Personal development I lived through it all Egos got dented And task oriented My unit segmented until overhauled My boss on a soap box screams that our stock rocks value creation shocks market cap rules office cubicity buyer centricity asset toxicity money and fools Knowledge conversion Total immersion 3.0 version They all had me cheer Re-engineering High-risk pioneering Without people fearing A pain in the rear I have been agile And lean for a long while skillfully smile Through the next turnaround Cutting the downtime Shifting the paradigm I didn’t climb But I still stayed around My big talent is to stay When colleagues disappear Colleagues disappear Time to disappear
2.
Prayer to the shareholder O Lord, We create value in your name You oversee our affairs You know the outcome of our actions Now, and in the future You know our spread, alpha and beta You know our strengths and weaknesses You notice not only our struggle of today But oversee entire quarters You teach us not to be selfish Nor to take into account our colleagues Or employment But only to consider true value and return Regardless of where it originates No man can hide from your command Board members tremble before you Like we tremble for your orders And live in fear of a correction Thus today we pray For your blessing And give into your hands Our dividend May it be reinvested Into tomorrow’s winners Or hedge Your currency exposure Or serve in your suit Against those who aim to withhold Your rightful profits And should you abandon us Do give us faith That you will reinvest When blood runs through the streets
3.
Off-site We’ve been working for so long never took a rest Our innovative talent crew has followed vital changes through to keep up with the best (But) once a year we break away from the office murk in an informal rendezvous, with pep talks, games and barbecue we contemplate our work chorus: off-site weekend (our) team dynamics need review and dogmas disappear off-site weekend we talk projected revenues until it’s time for beer chorus 2: off-site weekend We look each other in the eye (we do that once a year) off-site weekend creative visions multiply Until it’s time for beer!
4.
Imposter Syndrome still here, still in what do they know? still barely functioning at all without a clue I decide what to do no plan no skill no how a fake a cheat a fraud I am a fake a cheat a fraud Deception cannot last still my star is rising fast I am a fake a cheat a fraud no plan no skill no how still here I live my role what do they know? what do they know? what do they know?
5.
Out of the box Everyone’s creative, until you meet me I ‘m not into solutions, only irony I can find new ideas, if I know where to look Don’t hate me for the fact that I do things by the book I’m bound to turn your brainstorm session into a burlesque So let’s stay on the safe side, the safe side of my desk! I don’t do innovation, I will fight any change Now I’d like to work on, if it can be arranged chorus Out of the box someone show me the way out of the box release me, I pray Tell me what it’s like out there? Are the people wise and fair? Out of the box (please) Get me out of the box If I open my mind, it switches to limbo I’m no Steve Jobs, man, I’m still using windows! But first let me give you a sharp observation I’m only creative in your imagination chorus bridge I've been outside my comfort zone Almost ev'ry day I came out of the closet I am proud that I’m this way dropped out of university got knocked out of my socks So how come I have never been out of the box Chorus
6.
At home 05:20
At Home I saw your message, please hold on Today I won’t have any time till I’m at home My plate is packed But I have plenty time tonight, when I get home At home there’s time and peace sublime So much gets done at home No cortisol, no conf’rence call No cheesy pranks at home You’re right, it’s true, my budget’s due I’m in a meeting but I’ll get it done at home At home there’s time and peace sublime So much gets done at home No cortisol, no conf’rence call No boring chat at home I have to skip the show tonight I have to plough through lots of work tonight, at home Do take a friend I’ll be awake, so call me up when you get home
7.
Nobody told me I did not see it coming, I must have been blind Amazing how clues just get blocked from your mind When that meeting was cancelled, two weeks ago appointments rescheduled twice in a row and Martha came in without saying hello But still I kept going, still I didn't know chorus My company smartcard bounced in the restaurant today suddenly it all makes sense, they're sending me away My colleagues go eating on like nothing is really wrong But I know that they know I'm over and gone A line is growing behind me and my tray Maybe I'll leave it here, just walk away I finally get why Denise won't call back Why the beamer broke down while presenting to Jack And why my proposal got 'lost in the mail' In hindsight it isn't so hard to unveil chorus bridge Nobody told me Everyone knew it's over, I'm fired, I'm totally through chorus
8.
Honey will you text me back Honey will you text me back If you can find the time Tell me please that you're OK that your men survived the day and that you held the line Honey, I'm so proud of you You're doing what is right Defending our liberty our mortgage and the GDP from morn till late at night Honey will you text me back You left before I woke Darwin rules in business life and I'm sure you will survive just don't do too much coke
9.
I hate to let you go I hate to let you go it’s not you don’t perform just, you know our industry ran into drastic changes. Why me? YTD EY B to C why me? YOY you see KPI I hate to let you go we must stay future proof as you know the Chinese we can’t afford to sit still. Can’t help letting you go your job has been offshored to Vietnam so it goes if you’re not part of the solution

about

Liner Notes for Chris Abelen: Songs On The Eve Of Dismissal
By Victor L. Schermer, Senior Staff Writer, All About Jazz

Album Details:
Chris Abelen Music Productions ‎– CAMP 008
CD, Album; Netherlands
Release date: 15 Jan 2018
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Vocal, Fusion, Jazz-Funk, Modal

This album is the second part of a larger project spearheaded by Dutch trombonist, band leader, and entrepreneur Chris Abelen that includes the previously issued CD, A Day at the Office. Taken together, the two recordings consist of a musical journey through the modern corporate office, an unlikely musical theme but one which speaks directly to the lives of the many who experience a wide range of emotions in the course of their work day.

Abelen is noted for his readiness to take chances and move to the edge of what is happening. In this album, the risk he takes is to join with lyricist Bastiaan Geleijnse in producing a song cycle about the existential situation of the corporate workplace, with its alienation and ennui, which was already critiqued in another era by Marx, Kierkegaard, Durkheim, and others, but became magnified with the resurgence of corporate greed and a cybernetic view of the employee as a replaceable piece of software. In this respect, the album is a testament to “Generation X” born after the baby boomers, who were disaffected and directionless in jobs of uncertain duration. It is also relevant in a different way for Millennials who have entered into the work force with unrealistic expectations, often leading to disillusionment. Pop and rock music contains strains of these struggles, but this is, so far as I know, the first jazz-infused album of songs that lament the plight of the office worker during these heady times.

The album is also unique in that it’s more than a “theme” album: It’s a “concept” album, taking on in depth and detail a subject that is rarely given musical form, except in rare Broadway shows like How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The words and music of Songs on the Eve of Dismissal convey a genuine sense of what it’s like to invest in a job in which you hardly know what’s expected of you and in which you are regarded by your employer as a replaceable part. Although unique, it follows a tradition in jazz, rock and funk, of allusions to personal and societal dilemmas and conflicts. The blues itself laments our suffering while at the same time providing a healing balm for it. Folk songs like “John Henry” sing of the sadness of the laborer (“he put down his hammer and he died…”) The more modern little known jazz tune, Bob Dorough’s “A Small Day Tomorrow,” is about trading “all of those big wheels with all of their big deals” for a weekend “drop out and copout.” This album takes up such themes of workplace blues in a full-blooded, full-throated way, probing the emotional life of a woman (whose words are sung beautifully by Lorena del Mar) who is going lose a meaningless job that is paradoxically the only meaning she’s got. Psychoanalysts, take out your notebooks!

Surprisingly, though, rather than sending you into a spiral of depression, the music is very listenable and enjoyable. Del Mar sings with the litheness of the vocalists of the swing era. To accompany her, Abelen brought together a septet consisting of himself (a well-heeled master trombonist) with younger, mostly Dutch and German players (Angelo Verploegen, trumpet, Floris van der Vlugt, alto saxophone,Tini Thomsen, bass clarinet and baritone saxophone; and the rhythm section of Thijs Huijbens, guitar, Ulrich Wentzlaff-Eggebert, bass, and Yonga Sun, drums) who competently execute arrangements which are interesting on their own but do not intrude on the vocalist. What’s really fascinating is the way that arranger Ablelen has been able to combine funky guitar/bass/drums rhythmic patterns with post-bop, modal jazz improvisations into a seamless fit. This melding of genres harks back to Miles Davis’ fusion bands. It is helped along by fine ensemble work of the reeds and trumpet acting as a sort of Greek tragic chorus behind del Mar’s laments and at times achieving the resonance of a Bach chorale. So much is going on, and yet it all comes together so well that you can choose to enjoy the music as background or sink your teeth into it for the deeper experience it conveys.

A run-through of the tracks will give a further idea of what is happening in this album. In the first track, the title tune “Song On The Eve Of Dismissal,” the frustrated employee cries out her virtues amid all the tensions of the workplace. The band serves as a chorus of co-workers while the rhythm section pounds out its agreement with the singer. All sound out the existential nature of work - there is no forgiveness. As an interlude, Abelen delivers a solid straight-ahead trombone solo with finesse and tone inspired by the likes of Urbie Green and J.J. Johnson.

In “Prayer To The Shareholder,” the supplicant’s “religion”is the corporate mentality and the godhead is the stock price. In protest, bass and drums pound out a funk-style chant followed by a chorale of trombone and van der Vlugt’s saxophone. It’s a profound and sardonic critique of corporate short-termism. Some relief is required, so in the next song, “Off-Site Weekend,” we find that Thomsen’s baritone saxophone gives us a light, swinging break from the work site. It’s the company picnic. But a four note descending scale in the instrumental chorus betrays the singer’s half-hearted attempt to be in the mood for a party.

“Imposter Syndrome” offers a sad lament stemming from an inferiority complex. We can all recognize the gloomy outlook on self that takes over when we are being squeezed out of a job. “I am fake/ a cheat/ a fraud.” Huijben’s guitar tells the story, for which Del Mar finds the words. Van der Vlugt responds to del Mar’s self-chastisement with a lyrical, ascending alto saxophone solo and then interacts with the singer as if to affirm and comfort her, but to no avail. In the next song, “Out Of The Box,” which starts with a brief trombone phrase, the singer feels imprisoned, isolated. How does she get out of the box, the situation? The trombone plays the sustained notes of Fate. The singer responds, “Release me, I pray.”

Back “at Home,” the singer/employee leaves a voice message for a friend, cancelling a date. She thinks, “At home, there’s time and peace sublime,” but again the job intrudes: “I have to plough through lots of work tonight.” Here the horns and rhythm section work together to make a funky situation funkier.

Now we are reaching the climax of the situation. With “Nobody Told Me,” the frustrated employee realizes that the signs are that she’s going to be fired. “Suddenly it all makes sense, they are sending me away.” Everything goes wrong; nothing works. “I know that they know I am over and gone.” A relentless baritone sax riff and Sun’s marching drums chart the bad news. She is going to be axed.

Her friend senses the pending disaster. Requesting “Honey Text Me Back,” he or she is very worried and texts the distraught employee. The music consists of a ballad with a walking rhythm in which Thomsen’s bass clarinet sings sadly like a commiserating friend. The alto saxophone chimes in, forming a “support group” for their friend.

Finally, the guillotine comes down. “I Hate To Let You Go” is the exit interview. The boss offers little commiseration: “I hate to let you go. We must stay future proof.” Verploegen’s trumpet shouts out the inner scream of the worker who realizes her worst fear has been realized.

The troubling themes and musical expressiveness of Songs on the Eve of Dismissal are suggestive of a dramatic theater piece or opera, and indeed, Abelen and Geleijnse are finalizing the script for a stage production comprising the Songs. But the wonderful thing about this recording is that you can either get out the Kleenex or enjoy the music the way you would any great jazz vocalist with a terrific band. This dual function of jazz is part of a tradition. You can listen to Billie Holiday or Frank Sinatra either way. It’s only possible with a composer, lyricist, singer, band, and arranger like those in this album who know how to make it work.

Personnel
Lorena del Mar - voice; Angelo Verploegen - trumpet; Floris van der Vlugt - alto saxophone; Chris Abelen - trombone; Tini Thomsen - bass clarinet & baritone saxophone; Thijs Huijbens - guitar; Ulrich Wentzlaff-Eggebert - double bass; Yonga Sun - drums.

credits

released January 15, 2018

Always want to play along with the original studio recordings?
The 4 horn and guitar parts are recorded separately so you can mute the track of your instrument and play along, parts and solo's.
Sheet music and minus one mp3 audio files available, for more info please visit chrisabelen.com

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Chris Abelen Amsterdam, Netherlands

Chris Abelen (born September 29, 1959 in Tilburg, the Netherlands) is a jazz trombonist, composer and bandleader. Abelen started his professional career as a member of the Willem Breuker Kollektief. After he left this band in 1988 he started to form his own bands. All compositions for these bands are written by Abelen, from a jazz quartet to a big-band. ... more

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