Hi Sean,

Welcome to the Synthzone Arranger forum.

I listened to the many excellent song offerings produced & performed by you (and the '4 Sexes' on your website and I'm really IMPRESSED with both your website layout, music & entertaining commentary. I really 'dig' your 50's 60's lounge jazz style, and your polished musicianship skills. It clearly shows you've put in your dues. I'm both an afficiando & performer of the same (similar) style of music myself (wow, 'another' Rosemary Clooney Fan . . . I loved your rendition of 'Shore of Brazil', and yes Rosemary really missed an opportunity of not recording it on her recent album of Brazilian songs, but you and the Pink Lady did it justice. Julie London, Pied Pipers, Steve & Edyie Gorme, what a COOL era, and you've really captured it so well. I was particularly impressed that your early demos were produced entirely on the Yamaha 550 arranger. Just goes to show that it's not necessarily the instrument you use, but HOW you use it. Btw, what is your musical background & how did you get into the cocktail lounge thing?

Back to your original question of auto accompaniment arranger vs workstation. I can understand your dilemma. For a one man band (utilizing the Yamaha PSR2000) performing musician such as myself, an auto accompaniment keyboard is the way to go. In your case, since your specialty (from what I hear) is jazz, and you are working with a live band (the 4 Sexes), I wonder how useful the 9000pro be. The 9000pro is a great keyboard but the styles (jazz) are pretty weak. In fact, I had to export and cutomize the much better jazz styles from my prior arranger board (Technics KN5000) to my PSR2000 to achieve type of swing styles I was after. If auto accompaniment is still what you need, I'd also checkout the Technics KN6500 or the upcoming new KN7000 when it hits the stores (later this year). Imho, Technics does a much better job with jazz genre styles and also, if you enjoy playing those cool jazz keyboard voicings (rootless chords etc ala Diana Krall & Bill Evans), only the Technics really supports this in full keyboard mode. Good luck in your keyboard search. I'll look forward to checking out your act with the 4 Sexes at Nicky Blaines if I ever get to Indianpolis. If you have any other specific questions, please feel free to ask. There are a lot of knowledable people here from divserve musical backgrounds willing to help. Scott


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http://scottyee.com