walking upstream…
Burt Bacharach
photo: abc television · public domain ↗Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach spent the 1960s, alongside lyricist Hal David, writing some of pop's most harmonically adventurous hits — "Walk On By," "Alfie," "(They Long to Be) Close to You" — built on jazz-inflected chords and odd bar lengths that somehow still sounded like easy listening. A classically trained composer who studied under Darius Milhaud, he brought an orchestrator's ear to three-minute pop singles long before that was fashionable. His songs became standards across soul, pop, and lounge music, covered by everyone from Dionne Warwick to the Carpenters.
the sound in question
1964
Walk On ByBurt Bacharach
walk the tributaries ↓
Darius Milhaud1920s · Modernist classical / Neoclassicism / Jazz-influenced classical
Bacharach studied composition under Darius Milhaud and called him his single greatest influence — Milhaud's advice not to be afraid of a memorable, whistleable melody, and his own fusion of jazz harmony into classical form, shaped how Bacharach folded complex chords into three-minute pop songs.
listen: upstream & here
1923
La Création du mondeDarius Milhaud
1966
AlfieBurt Bacharach
listen forListen to the polytonal, jazz-inflected orchestration of Milhaud's 'La Création du monde,' then Dionne Warwick's 'Alfie' — both stack unresolved, jazzy harmonies under a singable top-line melody instead of playing it straight.
Maurice Ravel1920s · Impressionism / Modernist classical / Orchestral
Bacharach has cited Ravel — especially the orchestral color of 'Daphnis et Chloé' — as one of the few classical composers who directly shaped his ear, and that taste for lush, meticulously voiced orchestration carries through his own string-and-woodwind pop arrangements.
listen: upstream & here
1928
BoléroMaurice Ravel
1967
The Look of LoveBurt Bacharach
listen forNotice how Ravel's 'Boléro' builds through shifting orchestral color rather than harmonic change, then listen to the layered strings and woodwinds cushioning the vocal on 'The Look of Love' — same instinct for orchestration as the emotional engine of the piece.
Charlie Parker1940s · Bebop / Jazz
As a teenager, Bacharach snuck into 52nd Street nightclubs to watch bebop players like Charlie Parker, and that era's unconventional, rapidly shifting harmonies became a lasting influence on his own chord choices.
listen: upstream & here
1945
Billie's BounceCharlie Parker
1965
What the World Needs Now Is LoveBurt Bacharach
listen forListen to the fast, angular chord movement under Parker's improvising on 'Billie's Bounce,' then the unexpected key shifts inside 'What the World Needs Now Is Love' — both treat harmony as something to keep surprising the ear.