Welcome...not too many members who try to make it playing jazz in the marketplace today. Sadly, I suspect that's not because of lack of interest and ability on the part of members here, but rather, jazz is a more difficult sell. My experience is, arrangers are not the choice of many "diehards"

I hava had a love-hate relationship with arrangers since I got my first one. What I do most of the time is use the drums and a Ketron 13 note pedal for drum breaks. On the top, i use a Yamaha tone generator and one of several midi boards. I usually use 6 presets:
Hammond bass, upright bass, DX-7, Clavinova, grand piano and B-3. I use a Motion sound top box with real horn for doppler/Leslie effect.
I get vibes and a few horns from the Ketron
(an old MS 60-Solton). As often as I can, I use a real drummer and bypass the drums on the arranger.I add guitar, horns, etc. when I can.

Occasionally, I slip and will use the full arranger functions for fusion-type tunes if the venue calls for it, but then only for selected tunes.

As a "diehard", I still keep a B-3, 147 RV, suitcase Rhodes and DX-7 at a country club I play about 30 times a year.I'd never move this monster around, but am a member of this club and have an open invitation to "play for pay" when I want to.

That's the way I do it, and don't claim that's the right approach for anyone else.

Will probably buy the SD-5 when it's available, but really don't plan to change my approach much, unless the market just completely dissapears, and that hasn't happened yet. There's a small market, mostly at upscale restaurants and horse farm related events (I'm in Kentucky), but theres a very small number of people playing what I'll call "coctail jazz". Luckily, the customer base is extremely loyal.

Frankly, I don't think there are enough jazz players here to warrant a forum, but we can always talk here.

Glad you've joined this forum...


Russ