Melody man Vassal Benford delivers on many levels

Vassal Gradington Benford III is a Grammy Nominated American Producer/ Record Executive/ Film Producer/ Entertainment Mogul. Benford has stamped his indelible imprint on the music scene as one of the worlds top producers.
Vassal Gradington Benford III is a Grammy Nominated American Producer/ Record Executive/ Film Producer/ Entertainment Mogul. Benford has stamped his indelible imprint on the music scene as one of the world's top producers.

With more than 57 platinum records to his credit working with a galaxy of stars in various music genres, songwriter-keyboardist Vassal Benford is determined to breathe fresh energy into contemporary jazz, beginning with his first single, Melody Man.

The track features layers of cascading piano melodies amidst lavish guitar and keyboard harmonies, and intricately textured percussion and multicultural rhythms. One of the unique allures of the single is the innovative track sounds unlike anything in the music space – yet it’s invitingly familiar and infectious.

“I wanted to create a song that everybody could remember that also made you feel as if you were watching me in concert,” says Benford. “It was intentional the way I wrote this song.

“The inspiration around it was making a feel-good song for everybody to dance to or listen to several times in order to ‘hear’ all of the elements in the track. I felt as if the world needed this kind of global music at this time.”

Benford changed the structure of the complex drum track many times during the mixing process with help from Billboard chart-topper Greg Manning.  

“The reason we changed the drum track is because there’s so many different elements to Melody Man. It has a Latin feel, an African feel, a pop feel as well an R&B feel,” says Benford.

“There are so many distinct phases of music that are entailed in the song itself. The final product turned out exactly the way we wanted by changing the drums four separate times while in the mix.”

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