Sorry, Fran... Not to pile on (I'm trying not to kick little puppies around too much, these days!), but this guy is fronting his vocals, so it's tough to ignore...

He's probably a nice guy, may very well come here and get into the fray with us about arranger play, but essentially, this is an ARRANGER forum, not a singer's one. When he's got stuff that features his arranger playing, and not his vocals, that'll be the time to comment.

In the meantime, let's just acknowledge the pitch issue (but it's no worse than many here), but not dwell on it. Leave that for the SZ singer's forum (what? we haven't got one?!).

We look forward to Manny coming here and speaking up for himself, and talking about arranger use, etc.. In fact, it might have been better this way. I'm just not sure about the 'fanfare and introduction' method, it sets the bar a little high on a first outing. Bebop's a fan (or friend, at least), but this might have gone better if he had simply introduced himself. I'm sure that, at least HE wouldn't have used the words 'as good as Elvis and sometimes even better'

Sometimes our friends can be our worst enemy!