Yes SZ buddies, you read it right. Geez….I had the ultimate baptism by fire tonight! HA HA. I was booked to back a female singer that I occasionally work with. She offered me a 20-minute show paying $150 – no need to take an amp or speakers, just plug the keyboard in…so I said “Great” and agreed. Then a couple days ago the rest of the details came out. There was this big benefit tonight – it was a “swing music night” outside in an upscale resort complex down here. The main entertainment was this 18-piece locals big band. She initially wanted to sing w/them but they refused to let her sing because they have their own female vocalist. But the host of the evening wanted this lady I backup to sing, so he said “OK, you and a keyboard guy can go on during the big band’s intermission”. So a couple days ago I began to realize I was going to earn the $150. Due to my horrible travel schedule, I haven’t worked w/this lady recently, but I do have all her songs in my registrations. So we did a quick rehearsal last night. She said “hey, since this is a swing thing and they are going to have swing dancers, let’s up the tempos on all the songs”. ERR… Kewl. Then because we were operating against a big band, she said “I want to make the majority of the show to sound as much as possible like a big band”. ERR…Kewl. Here are the songs we did tonight (all but 'Ballad Medley' and 'At Last' were uptempo things, and the Ballad Medley and Train Medley did not use the big band styles – all others did):

Satin Doll – Big Band @ 160

Train Medley – Cocktail combo @ 160
Chattanooga ChooChoo
Sentimental Journey
Atcheson Topeka
PA 6-5000

Ballad Medley – Slow ballad w/strings and piano @ 80
Moonlight Becomes You
Embraceable You
The Very Thought of You
I’ll be Seeing You

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore – Big Band @ 177

At Last – Big Band Ballad @ 90

All of Me – Big Band Swing @ 180

Medley – Both big band, first song @110, second @ 177
Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

OK, so I spend all day yesterday and all day today woodshedding these things. I was so worried about having it all down that I forgot to eat lunch or dinner today. I showed up at the gig location at 4:45 (had to set up before the 7:00 show to do a sound check)…too bad…the big band had already consumed the entire stage. Their keyboard player had his (Roland) board literally against the drummer’s back. I wasn’t about to put my T2 on the stage (5 feet above ground) and have it knocked off during their set, so I talked to the band members and got them to agree to vacate the keyboard area at intermission time. So then I sat and watched the crowd grow. This was a free event, it was a great night outside (very low humidity today!) and by 6:45 there were at least 500 people there and standing room only. So this was going to be the biggest gig I ever played w/my keyboard. And I was indeed sweating it. The big band starts their set late and at maybe 8:15 I noted that my stomach was telling me… “Hey, what’s up? I can deal without lunch – but dinner too?”…

Had no time to worry - they were on their last song. The vocalist came up to me and said “let’s get up there”. I took a quick gulp of water and headed to the stage. As soon as they hit the last note, I threw my song book, pedal, keyboard stand, music rack and power cable on the stage. By the time the other keyboard guy got his stand and board out of the way, I had the T2 sitting on the stage. Made my way to the keyboard “area” behind the drum set (made sure I was politically correct by complimenting the band members on the way up!). The vocalist and host are already at my side asking me “How much longer?”. The sound guys patched into their system from the T2’s mono output jack. I had no monitor other than a keyboard amp behind me that the other guy was using. I ran a rather hasty check and noted that the little keyboard amp behind me had terrible rumbling bass (blanked out all the other sounds from the T2). I elected to just go without the rumbling monitor behind me (tried adjusting it and it was either “all bass” or nothing) and rely on the singer’s monitor which was about 20 feet away from me.

OK – is anyone really still reading? Here’s probably the part that anyone who reads this post wanted to see… sorry for the lengthy setup. Somehow the adrenaline rush (I assume) helped me get through the show and the T2 sounded terrific!!! I had some friends in the audience and they said the T2 sounded better than the big band (of course I realize they were friends). During the first set the band played, I thought there was a good chance the T2 was going to hold its own in this particular environment given (a) the fact that the sound was professionally provided and they had some very large speakers up there; and (b) the polish of the Yammie styles and the realism of the instruments. I worried initially about running so many big band styles w/intros and flashy endings, but during the show, the crowd seemed to love it and not care that I was doing it all w/technology assistance. During that “fast 25 minutes” the dance floor they had set up was packed. After our performance, I received several compliments from the band members and they said the sounds on the T2 had amazing realism.

Bottom line: I would prefer not to do this again (going on the same stage w/a big band), but the experience not only improved my abilities, but it instilled even more confidence in me that the quality of sounds and styles in our arranger boards allow them to have a viable place in the music business.

Bottom line 2: Next time I will get more details and ask for more money.

If you read through this whole thing, first, well thanks! And second, I congratulate you – take a break – you deserve it!

Randy



[This message has been edited by saxxman (edited 08-10-2008).]