Somewhere in the early to mid 60's, I finaly figured out how to climb up onto the Organ bench at my aunt's house, and soon after that I figured out how to actually turn the thing on, and it wasn't long before I knew I just had to have one. And so I did.. a magnus chord organ... 2 and a half octaves or so. Soon after I wanted to learn guitar, but it was not to be. By around 1968 or so, my family purhased a Slvertone organ. This would become my main axe for the next ten years, since I wound up being the only person in the house who would actually play it.

I still wanted to learn guitar, but then someone introduced me to a guy named Keith Emerson. Not literally of course. I was astounded that anyone could make such noises on a kb based instrument. Soon after, I discovered another fellow named Wakeman, and then Stevie Wonder and that Clavi sound, and then others. The guitar became an afterthought. The Silvertone lived right up until about 1979, and I used it in my first band. I modified it by making my own distortion and effect pedals. I was also a licensed amateur radio operator and pretty handy with electronics.

Unfortunately, one of my wondrous effects boxes caught fire and badly damged the organ. I'm no believer in destiny or stuff like that, but as luck would have it, right about the same time, one of the town " down on his luckers " ( sounds nicer than wino no ? ) was pawning off his somewhat damaged but pefectly working Hohner Clavinet for all of 75 dollars. I quickly scraped the money up, and soon after I added the Yamaha CP25 and my first real analogue, the Korg polysix to my arsenal. I spent hours almost every day practicing to ELP, Wakeman, some classical, some jazz fusion, like Jan Hammer and a little Chick Corea, trying to hone my skills. Unforunately, having been for the most part self taught, I didn't learn to read music until much later in life, but in another sense, I am glad that I was able to pick up on mostly everything "by ear". Soon, I was able to play as sort of a hired gun with a couple of different local bands, often when their own KB players couldn't make it or they couldn't find anyone at all, since there weren't that many other kb players in my area back then, and at least locally, I was known around the area as someone who could pound out a note or two in a pinch.

My first love however, was my own band at the time, Utopolis. We played a fusion mix of Classical, jazz and prgressive rock, and we made an album that found virtually no commercial success but did get some regional airplay. We had several guys come in and out, including at least one who has made a good living as top flight studio drummer ( he only played a few times for us ), a bass player who later went on to play in a TV show's house band, and another bassist who is a conservatory instructor and has been featured as a speaker on NPR from time to time. We also had another drummer / sax player who made what perhaps was an unfortunate decision to leave the nucleus of what would later become a chart topping R&B band to join us.

I didn't have the same perserverance as some of the band, or perhaps the same level of talent, and I eventually took a day job in the mid 80's, but continued to play off and on over the years, and I owned several of the Casios and Yamaha's of the day, along with a Technics and a couple of cheapy analog beasts. I dabbled a bit with Atari stuff, and I still am nostalgic for some of it to this day.

I began playing around a little with a friend who I later found out was also a top flight percussionist and had done some pro studio work. He really seemed to like what I was doing, and in turn it helped inspire me again. I began to immerse myself again in the mid 90's, but soon after my korg M1 started acting quirky. I had a cheapy Yamaha arranger at that point ( PSR75 I think ? ), but was simply amazed when I purchased a brand new PSR530. Ever since then, my enthusiasm for keys in general, especially analog stuff, as well as playing arrangers has grown. I've returned to my roots a little in several ways, first by playing the occasional solo or duet gig, and secondly by rediscovering my love for crunchy organ sounds along with all things "synthetic" ( analog and beyond ). A few of the gigs have also led to some modest but paying studio jobs, along with the opportunity to work on the soundtrack of a locally produced movie. In all of this gradually I've also learned some of the engineering side of things. Certainly not enough to qualify as an expert, but perhaps enough to be a bit more than just a nuisance in the studio. The computer has become a natural partner in all of this, and now my best "keyboard" actually consists of several software modules. What a great time to be alive and be a KB musician.

AJ


[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 01-16-2006).]