I'm comfortable with BOTH, but I must say, I hear all too much here that indicates that some are not, and it's always the OTHER players that are the reason...

I still think that, it's possible that the great players, for all some of their personal issues (which NONE of us have, eh? ) are just as picky who THEY choose to play with. You only have to listen to some of the demos posted here. No amount of sobriety makes up for some of the whitebread playing I've heard here (and if anyone is getting outraged over that last statement, be assured I am of course not talking about YOU, am I?! )

sorry about the off topic posts!

When my father was younger he was in a local band that had their own TV cable TV show. They entered a national Talent competition called Opportunity Knocks. However the drummer got so nervous he drank himself senseless and that was the end of that.

After that he played mostly solo (except for some gigs with a dance band), but back then it was an X5, leslie and a Powerhouse drum machine. No arrangers to speak of.

TWD

"If a tree falls in the woods......"

If a thread is a ruse (to suck you in) can it really be hijacked? Since it was started on a false premise anyway, what, exactly, was hijacked? Not that I'm condemning Cass; it DID prompt several good discussions, mainly because of the on-going popularity of and interest in, the Hammond B3. Plus, he did state his intention in the opening post. Still.....if we do it too often, it could damage our credibility (not that most of have much to begin with ).

BTW, as I'm typing this, I notice that there is a Google ad in this page header entitled "Hijack & Trojan Remover". Bet the clever folks on this forum could do something with THAT title .

chas

Much of time I prefer to play alone, because I can play the music I like, with no hassles.

My playing is pretty simple and white-bread, but it works for the common ear.

I keep gettin' hired all the same, so something I'm doing must have an appeal to it.

I never think about impressing anybody...playing always was a personal escape for me...I just ended up getting heard, and then getting hired, but I still played for the same reasons...that didn't change.

I was a reluctant live performer from the start...still like being in the background...that's why I liked the restaurant gigs so much.

Ian

I knew a few B3 players who used a "sideman" rhythm machine back in the day. The were predecessors of the drum machine, I think. Kind of like the drum machines on organs of the 70's - simple, yet efficient for a OMB B3er.

Although I remember a lot of B3 - drum duos; I did that a few times, for sure.

While in Graduate School, I worked for three years at a little Holiday Inn six nights a week with a B,(early 70's-same B-3 I play now), Whirlitzer piano on top and a Univox drum machine. Man, that thing was crude, but we built a good base of folks who came by to "sit in". Competent players were always welcome, but when a non-playing "dufus" showed up, we'd run them out the front door.

Funny thing, though. We NEVER met a pretty young female vocalist who wasn't invited to stay; often all night in room 103 (guess who's room that was...HE HE?)!

Russ (Aging horndog) Lay

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 02-05-2010).]

From 1976 when I started my career I just led
groups on sax and some vocals. I was always a piano "doodler" so i had a little bit of chops in the key of C. By 2000 it became harder to find work, plus as I got older I hated blowing horn all night, it would take too much out of me. I wished I had spent more time learning piano earlier in life, because I felt i was really meant to be involved throughout the music, not just the melody and some solos. I found a Korg is-30 at a closeout. With the tap tempo and dedicated transposer and some nice rhythms( i just use bass/drum) and decent sounds, I found I could work it up enough to accompany myself singing and even get away with some occasional keys-only interludes, and I began
getting solo gigs in bars/cafes, playing and
singing standards. I would invite others to sit in, but most of them would disparage use of the bass/drum rhythms and challenge me to play without them--but I was just not a trained pianist and couldn't do it well. Then in 2003 i met bongo/handpercussionist Madafo at a jam, and he was a self-taught ear player like me, and didn't object to the kb rhythms as most did, and we formed a partnership, and when i could get $ for a duo, did them with him. What i am leading up to is that what i played didn't change all that much from solo to duo, it just had bongos and/or other effects added to it..it didn't sound all that different, as adding a guitar or horn player would. But it was a world of difference in terms of the audience.
When you do a solo, unless you are one of those ultradynamic razzmatazz entertainers who inspires singalongs, etc, you are basically seen and heard as background music,
no matter what you try to play to gain more attention. You may have a small coterie of
intense fans, but likely not. As soon as we started working as a duo, people saw and heard me in a different way. I was no longer
background music; eyes and ears were upon me. People grooved to us, gathered near us.
You don't have to make a choice between having a band or playing arranger--all you have to do is add one more musician. Surely
there must be choices even in a small town of duo partners who won't barf over your kb,
always show up late, or try to screw the clubowner's wife. Two makes all the difference. btw, i still play sax, i just go
out and sit in for a set or two once or twice a week, and I love that now more than when i worked at it. And I started using an E60 early last year, and now would never ever
go back to a 6l-key. I can now accompany others because I can play lh bass and still have full use of all the rh i need.


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Miami Mo