Chas
I agree but in a limited way. I started using drum machines when my drummer moved and I couldn't find a decent replacement. Then on to Arrangers so I didn't have to carry two keyboards, bass pedals, and a drum machine. I can play piano and Hammond pretty good but your very limited in the Styles you can play with those alone IE: dance music.. Using an arranger has expaned my songlist greatly. Things now are changing again and its DJ's and Karaoke acts or a million Acoustic Guitar player/singers. I'm trying to go back to solo piano and vocals if I can fine the right place.
For home players the Arranger is just a lot of fun and does allow a mediocre player to up his game.
Bill, you're correct; but you also touched on something else that's not talked about much that exists today that DIDN'T exist 'back in the day'. Nowadays, journeyman-type performers are expected to cover a gazillion different genre's in a single gig. That's where an arranger shines. Back in the day, if you were a blues performer, you played blues....all night. If you played jazz, or country, or rock, or folk, same thing. Now, with the aid of electronics, we can cover practically any genre' and sound pretty good doing it. Purists will hate it but the great unwashed masses will find it totally acceptable. As Donny would say, that's just the way it is these days. The question is, are you, as a PROFESSIONAL musician, willing to 'dumb down' a musical performance in order to eke out a very modest income. Truly high-end clubs/hotels/CC's/Restaurants will still favor a solo pianist/singer over any other kind of 'single' act. Always have, always will. Just no substitute for the real thing (and they know it). These are hard truths but nevertheless, truths.
We can deny it till the cows come home but Donny is correct; there are not only very few arranger KB's in NH's but probably even more so in other more audience-critical venues. We can't definitively prove this because we don't have scientifically derived numbers to back it up, but I CAN say that in my ENTIRE LIFE, I have never seen an arranger KB in ANY venue ever. Maybe I just lead a sheltered life (but I don't think so).
chas
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