Please excuse me if this video was previously posted here on the arranger forum. This guy can really play by the way.

You simply can't do this kind of thing on a 61 key arranger or even a 76 key arranger. Which begs the question. Is this the best way to go? That is to say an 88 key controller keyboard for piano sounds hooked up along side a 61 key arranger for everything else? A two tiered approach seems to be the ultimate solution to an age old problem, which is, mid-level and high-end arrangers have too few keys for full range piano playing. Octave buttons simply won't suffice in instances such as this. Yes, you will pay extra for two pieces of equipment but the results can be fabulous as this gentleman proves. And to top if off he's no spring chicken either!



All the best, Mike

PS: Even an 88 key arranger couldn't do what this guy does with his two keyboard setup. What is that saying again? "Double your pleasure, double your fun?" No, not gum fellas. Keyboards!

Simply Awesome !!!!! I do admire Musicians that can play like that.....

Tommy can sure play! I think it would be possible to get pretty close to what he is doing (assuming the player has the skills) with just a CVP series Clavinova (88 keys) and carefully set up registrations.

A little off this topic, Mike, but are you interested in the Roland BK-9?

You have mentioned, many times, the need for a lightweight 76-note arranger, that didn't cost a lot of money, and the BK-9 looks to be in that ballpark.

Have you tried one yet, and would it be something that would meet your needs?

Ian

Great playing! I that this gentleman would love have having a chord sequencer ( Roland BK 9 or Korg PA 600/900) That would sure free up his LH...

Good point, Paul.

Ian

Mike, thanks for posting this. It was a real pleasure to listen to and watch this guy perform. He's really into it, which is evidenced by the rhythm keep with his left foot just jumping up and down.

Hey, watch that No Spring Chicken stuff - he's probably younger than me.

Thanks again,

Gary

If you take a REAL close look at his hands, you'll see that he plays a bare handful of notes outside the 76 note range. Hardly enough to warrant lugging a big heavy 88 around. If you need a section where your hands DO both go to the extremes of an 88, it is fairly simply to program an OTS to leave a gap in the middle of the keyboard and transpose the lower down an octave.

But take a look at where he is playing, it hardly seems needed. I am fairly confident I could do the same style without needing an 88 and no-one would notice. So much of how we feel about playing seems to come from what we see while we listen. Without that, I doubt that many of us could tell whether he was using an 88 or not.

But yes... it certainly would help him to have a CS, as there's no change in the backing chords at all.

He's a real powerhouse in the style, a great player. But he could quite easily do the exact same thing with just ONE 76...

This fellow knocked my socks off when I first heard him a few years back. I just happened to listen to some of his songs that I have of him a few days before this thread was started (Johnny B Good, In the Mood, Old Cape Cod, Sweet Georgia Brown, etc). I got a completely different impression this time around. After I finished listening to Sweet Georgia Brown I felt like I was walking away from a train wreck. My nerves were shattered!

Too many notes.....no spaces...no breathing of the instruments. Even Old Cape Cod was what I considered "butchered." The song is a beautiful piece of work.....but the lead line should be handled more delicately. Improvise all you want, but.......gently, it's a "gentle" song!

Diki wrote: "He's a real powerhouse in the style, a great player."

I agree with that..."a real powerhouse".......but I don't think he's a GREAT player. I think he is a GOOD player, but I don't think he is a great musician. I couldn't listen to more than the songs I have already. He wears you down with his playing.

Another thing that disappointed me is that I notice he seems to do everything in the key of C....even Georgia Brown, which was written in G. I lost a bit of respect there.

Aside from that, he seems like a genuinely nice guy, somewhat humble also. I'm just a little ticked off that when I first heard him years ago, I got a bit intimidated with what he was doing. This time around, I see the flaws....he's great at what he does, but it seems that's ALL he does. I think anyone playing ONE style day in and day out, is bound to be good at it!

A great musician to me can play in more than the key of C (the easiest of all), and can do a complete about face from that upbeat stuff to a slow and meaningful ballad and make the ballad "work" also! I wasn't impressed with his Old Cape Cod.

I think he is extremely talented, and obviously imprints his personal style onto everything he does.

I have seen/heard many players fill in what should be a space with continued runs up and down a keyboard, glissandos, and waterfalls . It works sometimes, but not between every bar of music or true phrase of melody. It was a common trait among old cleveland-style accordion polka players. Using it over and over in the same song doesn't make it sound better, and I totally agree with Mark in saying it clutters up what are supposed to be simple melodies written with the intent to be played as such.

When I played mandolin and guitar with a band in the early eighties, I played with a style to make pretty songs sound just that. A former band member of mine always said that playing a thousand notes per second is not the only definition of a good player. I did that when required for some bluegrass tunes however.

Around the same time, I once went into a guitar store and was playing some country licks with slides and bending notes when the owner came to me and said" It's so nice to hear someone come in and play like that after spending the day listening to kids playing distorted metal styles all day long". That was something that stayed with me to this day.