Don (Korg80), I actually credited Percy Sledge for creating and leaving the world a classic in that genre'. But for me, capturing one moment in time does not necessarily make one a great singer. Sorry if I offended your sensibilities, but I ALWAYS thought Percy was a lousy singer. His death didn't change my opinion. But music being subjective, if Percy is your cup of tea, more power to you.

Gary, I wasn't knocking Jay Bird Chalmers, just his performances of 'What's going on' and 'Ain't no mountain high enough', two Marvin Gaye classics. I think he was fine on the Pop and Standards stuff. I was just making the point about staying within the material you do well and not trying to cover everything.

I DO think, however, that his (Jay Bird) series of performances does expose one weakness of arranger-based gigs, and that is the repetitive nature of them. Taken singly, they may sound okay, but one after another all night is probably more 'perfect' drum loops and bass patterns than I could handle as an audience member.

I have heard some great arranger performances, but they were all or mostly all, true professionals (ie. Marco Parisi) doing a single demo with a balls-to-the-wall performance aimed squarely at selling that instrument.

Let's face it, arranger keyboards and OMBs have much more to do with economics than music. JMO, of course.

chas