Originally Posted By: tony mads usa


Ian ... I find that Latin styles such as bossa nova, rhumba, bolero, work VERY well to transform a standard ballad and even some light pop/rock tunes into something different, e.g. some Beatles tunes - Michelle, Yesterday, Something. etc; Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are; the standard I've Got You Under My Skin" etc. etc. etc. ... but even in a 'cocktail piano music' setting I will go beyond the 120 BPM for tunes like 'Four'. Rt. 66, etc.


Ha Ha! Yes, Tony, occasionally I become a madman crazy and do songs over the 120 BPM...it's usually with "Light Rock" tunes, that I try to stay just under 120 bpm...but, it's not set in stone.

I like to toss in a few speedier tunes, usually so I don't put too many to sleep, or to wake up the ones I have maybe caused to drift off.

I do a pretty accurate version of Classical Gas, by Mason Williams, where I feature the T4's very slick SA Concert Guitar (I even pretend to "tune" it before starting the tune) and the piece clips along real nice, and always gets a positive reaction.

Plus, like you, I do Route 66; additionally, I do Fly Me To The Moon quite uptempo, using the Tyros4's cool Jazz Guitar Club style which is at 142 and/or Cool Piano Jazz at 130...in all, of course, it depends on the nature of the crowd, and, sometimes even the time of year (Christmas, for example)

I LOVE playing Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are, and have worked up a custom style for it on my Tyros4, that is fairly accurate to the original, whereby it starts rather gently, and then goes into a Bossa like beat...I thoroughly enjoy trying to get Phil Woods's sax solo as close as possible, again making use of the Tyros4's really nice SA2 Saxophone.

Also, the chords in that tune have to be precise to really pull it off...the few, but essential, On Bass chords make all the difference.

His tune "Piano Man" is a really nice uptempo waltz that is quite lively too...and nearly everyone recognizes it.

I guess we really are what our instruments claim to be..."arrangers".

Do you do any Floyd Cramer stuff, like On the Rebound (nice and peppy) or the classic, Last Date?

Ian
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Yamaha Tyros4, Yamaha MS-60S Powered Monitors(2), Yamaha CS-01, Yamaha TQ-5, Yamaha PSR-S775.