One Hundred Ways by James Ingram and Quincy Jones

Song Title: One Hundred Ways
Artist: James Ingram, Quincy Jones on sax
Album: The Dude (Quincy Jones)
Released: 1981
Genre: Jazz
Length: 4:19
Lyrics: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/james-ingram-one-hundred-ways-lyrics.html



I am pretty sure that at the time that I was really young, James Ingram had already reached the "household name" status, and this song was one of the reasons why. I was already pretty much familiar with this song back then.

As I read the lyrics looking for its story, I honestly stumbled upon this simple crossroad. What's the song all about? Is it the vocalist giving advice to a guy how to court or woo a girl, or how to maintain a running romantic relationship with a girl? Then finally I have decided to myself that this should be a combination of both - how to continually court the girl to maintain the running romantic relationship between the guy and the girl. Well, this should be a lesson for the guys - you shouldn't stop courting your lady even if you already started dating. Be as much or even more of the same sweet guy the time you fall in love with your girl.

From its lyrics, the song demonstrates some of the different ways how a guy should treat his girl. But since in actuality there are way more alot of ways to do that than how it is demonstrated in the song (because that's going to be virtually impossible for the song to tell everything), hence the lines "Find one hundred ways." That's telling there are many ways to make your girl feel all well, and find those ways to keep things that way. Well, honestly, it's more like of "Do this" and "Do that," and that takes away the sense of "being yourself" - which is entirely not good, but not bad either in my opinion.

James Ingram is definitely one of those sick ass tenor singers out there. Just by the way he delivers this song is simply phenomenal. Just right at the start of the song (0:09-0:21 in the video), he had already showcased his vocal range (with falsetto) in the higher end, from Bb4 up to F5. Already lingering up to the middle part of the fifth octave just in the intro - that should mean something sweet but powerful.

The vocal range in this song not only demonstrated the higher end. The stanzas were beautifully sung around the third octave. Basically, the whole song showcased the voice quality of James (or of course any vocalist who would cover this) with his quite a wide range of his voice while maintaining his superb quality of voice. I wouldn't say that his voice reveals versatility in his part, unlike some other bad ass tenor singers like Steve Perry, Arnel Pineda, Gary Valenciano, Adam Levine and Brandon Boyd who I would consider carrying more versatility in singing than James Ingram (I know Gary V is not a rock vocalist but I know he can deviate his singing from how we usually hear him sing). James' voice is very distinct and special, that in a way you just can't take him away from jazz music (and I know this is going to be a singer analysis rather than being a song analysis if I just go on, so I must stop right here).

If my ears weren't missing anything, I'd say the song was musically played in sort of a minimalist way in terms of the instruments used (for a song composed and released in the 80s) - keyboards/synth, bass, background guitars and percussions. But mind you, the mesh of the bassist and the synth guy was just simply effective. It's very soothing in the ears (well, that's what jazz music is all about), that you want to hear this song either when you feel a lot in love and / or you just want to fall asleep (and I don't mean that in a bad way).

The composition of the music itself relating it to lyrics is just simply beautiful. There's just something enchanting with songs made in the keys of Eb and Bb. As for this song, it's in the key of Eb. I like the series of chords and notes used in the song, e.g. for intro/stanza: /Eb, /A, /Ab, /G, /C, /F, /Bb. Put those and the treble notes across a music score, you'd be seeing quite a number of notes outside the Eb major. If you're an average composer, you'd put yourself at risk trying to put in notes from outside the scale. This was done very beautifully, and the effect on the other end - you'd realize you're not listening to just a bland and plain song.

Listening from the absolute scale, the music is quite simple, meaning you can put up an average band who can play this for you. Even if you omit the background guitars it would still be workable. I won't go to detail with that. But the thing is, a bad ass tenor is very much needed. Range is a must in this song for the vocalist. Even if you turn the key a couple of semitones down, you may take away the worry from the higher notes, but mental note here: I have mentioned that this is a wide ranged song in terms of vocal range, so you'd be adding a bit of worries on the lower notes.

To summarize the nasty vocal range of this song: without falsetto - F3 up to Ab4, and an isolated Bb4 in 3:49 in the video; with falsetto - Eb4 up to C5 (take note of the long whole Bb4 note in the end of the bridge). This is some sick ass range I tell you (but I am feeling a bit relieved that I have nailed every vocal note of this song).

I think a lot of people will agree if I see this song is a perfect recipe for seduction. James Ingram and Quincy Jones have definitely set the benchmark for jazz music with this song. Maybe an oldie, but definitely one of the best goodies out there.