Arrangers are a sign or change of the times, as more and more clubs close and more downsizing occurs the keyboard player is forced to do a lot. I have gotten into arrangers the last 10 years with the GEM WK8,KORG I3 and I2 and also coming from a background of organs with pedals like the KIMBAL being my first and then a HAMMOND B200 organ at the age of 14, but also have taken piano lessons through the years, still, there is no replacement of a live musician because of the different musical talents they offer,to produce the quality LIVE sound.

Playing organ,
Wurlitzer, Conn, Thomas & then Yamaha....up until 1987.

I would robably have a new Yamaha organ today..IF they imported them into USA.

THANKS YAMAHA!

Don't care for the Lowy's and Rolands.
So, arranger with lower kbd is the nearest thing...but not as good.

Lee S.

I never really ever left, but simply chose to remain on the sidelines for a while. I assume you did the same, so glad to see you back as well.



You may be right Eddie , but whatever Archivist attributes I have, unless I'm needlessly provoked , is to promote a 'positive' forum purpose.

Thank you Scott for this post.....is been a VERY LONG time that the forum has positive and informative info.
I missed that from this forum, well, perhaps now is the time for the "good" cycle.
I have kept a low profile for the obvious reasons.

Getting back to the post, I began playing (4yo) mandolin, guitar, banjo, violin and other Hispanic musical stringed instruments, then the accordion.

As the oldest son (total of 3 kids), when my father passed away (I was 12), I started playing accordion and mandolin at a restaurant with my school Gym teacher(he sang and played the guitar),since I played in all the School festivities, all teachers knew that I had a nice repertoire... we sold the big house we had, purchase a small one, and with some acting on my part, I got my mother to invest on an organ ACE TONE model TOP 1 (this company later became Roland) and a Golden Gate combo amplifier.

Later the first Yamaha Electone D2B, E10AR, Hammond X66.....Yamaha FX1, 2 HS6 with modules and disk drives, EL90, Roland RA95, Solton X1, SD1, etc....T3, PA500, etc.


------------------
mdorantes

Well it is the fault of these people including you Scott. DonM, Uncle Dave, Gary, Cavannah, Donnie, Beakybird and Pete Charlesworth from the Korg forums. He and I were on the phone at 0ne o'clock in the morning at one time. He lives in Australia. Hope I haven’t left anyone out. Sorry if I did!

When I noticed my long-time music partner/B-3 player beginning to slow down (right hand-arthritis), I worked in a set of miked vibes; then a little Whirlitzer piano to do solos he once did, along with guitar solos.

When he retired, I started doing singles on guitar. I bought an Auto orchestra-a contraption with bass pedals and "band-in-a-box" features to use with guitar. You chose your pattern, held the right bass note and keyed minors, maj7th's, etc. with the heel and toe of your right foot when operating the volume pedal. I continued to practice keyboards and gradually worked them into the act.

An early keyboard job with a group was on B-3 at the Campbell House in Lexington. The manager was Tony Lovello, who had played accordion with the Three Suns. He played an early version of a Solton (now Ketron) auto accompaniment box, purchased from Joe Petosa, from Seattle. Joe visited and showed me the MS-60 I still have, along with a back-up.

I shortly began using the MS-60's for one-nighers where a full band sound was appropriate. It got me more work.

Now, while 60% or more of my work is guitar or trio work, the arranger has a real place in my performance arsenal; particularly since I was hurt in a break-in a few years ago and have limited use and feeling in my left hand.

Works for me!


Russ



[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 11-22-2010).]

Just reading this stuff from 2001 makes me laugh. Thanks for the 9 year bump !

Here's my progression from the age of eight (not necessarily progress:-) - that's a different thing).

Acoustic piano,
Hohner Pianet N,
Watkins Telstar organ (about the same size as a current 61), way cooler than a Vox Continental or Farfisa Compact Duo,
Hammond L-102,
Hammond M-102+Micromoog,
Roland E38,
Korg i30,
Korg Pa1XPro.

As I've said in the past, I started out playing accordion ... then came the cordovox ... one day an uncle of mine, who played classical piano, told me he had purchased an 'electric piano' but he didn't care for it ... he asked me if I wanted it ... I said "sure" and then found out it was a Fender Rhodes ... lugged that beast around to gigs for many years with the band ... After we moved to "li'l rhody" I didn't play gigs for about 7 years .... We had an upright piano from when our daughter was taking piano lessons so I started tinkering with that ... eventually I bought a drum machine to accompany me - like Uncle Dave, I more accompanied my vocals with the piano, than I was a "piano player" ... I heard some other musicians playing arrangers so I thought I would look into that ... tried a technics kn1000 and that was that ...



Eddie ... what year was that??? I never considered my kn1000 "cheesey" and none of the other subsequent kn models were either ... IMHO
t.

I had a KN800 and 1000, but it wasn't until the 2000 that I felt the drums were good enough to eliminate the outboard drum machine.
The Yamaha drums didn't get good enough for several more generations. In fact . . . .

DonM