Editing Burt Bacharach (section)

==Musical style==
{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = |quote=The whole room would come to life with his conducting&nbsp;— the way he would look over at the drummer and with just a flick of his finger, things could happen. Once the groove was happening in the room, forget it; there was nothing like it. And everything, including the strings, responded to the kind of body movement that Burt had. He brings an incredible amount of life to the studio. He's probably one of the most amazing musicians in the world.|source= —Record producer [[Phil Ramone]]<ref name=Mojo>''The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition'', Canongate Books (2003), page 165.</ref>}}

Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, influenced by jazz harmony, with striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd, changing meters.<ref name="Blair-2023" /><ref name="Musiker" /> He arranged, conducted, and produced much of his recorded output.<ref name="Musiker">{{Cite book |last=Musiker |first=Naomi |url=https://www.routledge.com/Conductors-and-Composers-of-Popular-Orchestral-Music-A-Biographical-and-Discographical-Sourcebook/Musiker-Musiker/p/book/9781579580131?srsltid=AfmBOootNChBap7Bv6vg8WUUjvlLOl3-OjP1uRfnLuhWi7tZIgGHznL4 |title=Conductors and Composers of Popular Orchestral Music: A Biographical and Discographical Sourcebook |last2=Musiker |first2=Reuben |date=2014 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=978-1-57958-013-1 |location=Hoboken |format=E-Book |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Though his style is sometimes called [[easy listening]], he expressed apprehension regarding that label, as some of his frequent collaborators did.<ref name="Blair-2023" /><ref name="Voger-2015" /> According to ''NJ.com'' contributor Mark Voger, "It may be easy on the ears, but it's anything but easy. The precise arrangements, the on-a-dime shifts in meter, and the mouthfuls of lyrics required to service all those notes have, over the years, proven challenging to singers and musicians."<ref name="Voger-2015">{{cite news |last1=Voger |first1=Mark |date=February 28, 2015 |title=Burt Bacharach bound for Red Bank, Englewood |url=http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/burt_bacharach.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802064328/https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2015/02/burt_bacharach.html |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |work=[[The Star-Ledger]]}}</ref> Bacharach's selection of instruments included [[flugelhorn]]s, bossa nova sidesticks, breezy flutes, [[tack piano]], ''molto fortissimo'' strings, and cooing female voices.<ref name=Mojo /> According to editors of ''The Mojo Collection'', it led to what became known as the "Bacharach Sound".<ref name=Mojo /> Bacharach explained:

{{blockquote|I didn't want to make the songs the same way as they'd been done, so I'd split vocals and instrumentals and try to make it interesting&nbsp;... For me, it's about the peaks and valleys of where a record can take you. You can tell a story and be able to be explosive one minute, then get quiet as kind of a satisfying resolution.<ref name=Mojo />}}

While he did not mind singing during live performances, he sought mostly to avoid it on records. When he did sing, he explains, "I [tried] to sing the songs not as a singer, but just interpreting it as a composer and interpreting a great lyric that Hal [David] wrote."<ref name=Mojo /> When performing in front of live audiences, he often conducted while playing piano,<ref>Schoeneweis, Barbara. "Bacharach Opens at Arts Center", ''Asbury Park Evening Press'', June 29, 1971.</ref> as he did during a televised performance on ''[[The Hollywood Palace]]''.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbgHm01O2QQ |title=Hollywood Palace 7-13 Burt Bacharach & Angie Dickinson (co-hosts), Dusty Springfield, Sam & Dave |date=2013-10-03 |last=Hollywood Palace |access-date=2025-03-19 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

Bacharach wrote fifty-two US [[Top 40]] hits.<ref name="house">{{cite web |title=Burt Bacharach: A House Is Not A Homepage |url=http://www.bacharachonline.com/bacharach_bio.html |website=Bacharachonline.com |access-date=May 19, 2011}}</ref>