I never really thought of working the mic as a compensation for vocal technique weakness, just a way to get more different colors from your voice. Moving in and out and working the proximity effect can add a lot of presence and intimacy when you want it, and remove it when you don’t…

Maybe it’s a more recent phenomenon, but the trend towards karaoke may have increased the audiences’ tendency to assume that’s what’s going on. Maybe it’s the increase of singers doing pro jobs that have a ‘show’ keyboard in front of them (like Elvis’s guitar!) and totally fake playing. But I certainly wouldn’t blame a non-musician audience member that saw me come out front while my backing kept going (no matter how stripped down) and got the impression it was ALL tracks. The odds of anyone knowing the difference are pretty slim..!

That’s why NONE of my tracks have solos. That’s why I look in dismay at newer keyboards like the Event that will happily inject a sax solo along with your chords without you playing a note (on the sax, that is!). And that’s why I’ll NEVER let my arranger play itself and walk out front. It took too much effort to convince them that ALL the solos and much of the comping is actually me. I don’t want to make that effort for naught…