Impressive Rendition of a Thelonius Monk Classic:

Scott - KEWL! It's an interesting song and he did a great job - S910 did too! Thanks!

Randy

WEIRD! I thought it said "Jazz buff says you needn't play on S910." Like, he was slamming you, haha.

Bill - Yep, strange name! I would like to hear the history on the naming of this tune.

Oh - what the hey! I Google'd it!

WIKI says: "...inspired by a protegé of Monk's, the jazz singer Charlie Beamon; Monk wrote a song and told Beamon he was going to name it after him, to which Beamon replied "Well, you needn't"."

And there you go! KEWL!

Randy

Well, that version is a bit elevatoresque for my taste, but the fellow certainly has nice chops and licks. Well You Needn't is a fun tune to play. Another tune that is kind of similar is A Night In Tunisia.

Scott, I'm not sure if the focus of your post is the music or the instrument. Presuming it is the music, here is my little group performing A Night In Tunisa on a local TV show.

I'm glad to see this post. Dave is one of my favorites here. This is a great example of the differences between arranger play and real interaction between people "playing" off of each other.

Night in Tunisia is a great tune to illustrate the difference because of the abrupt tempo change...one of the classic tempo changes in contemporary music.

The arranger is a good example of excellent musicianship AND the differences mentioned above.

Sadly, today, economics, personality conflicts, available jobs, etc. make totally live group play impractical, sometimes, and, frankly, a Pain in the A** other times.


But, "ain't it GREAT"?


Good work, Dave!


Russ

This video was sponsored by Yamaha USA. As this is an 'arranger' forum, I posted it to show what one can (elevator-ish or not) do with a jazz tune in auto accomp mode. Certainly no comparison (not even close) to playin' with top flight live jazz cats, as you did so well. I really enjoyed your keyboard performance with the JazzItUp! band, especially your soloing! Second to that, its still really fun & rewarding to emulate a jazz combo on the arranger minus the 3am late hour smoke & booze. Dave, your kb's vocal scat samples sounded great but I wasn't won over by the sound of the piano sample . . . overly brittle and harsh to my ears. Which Roland piano patch did you use? btw: I still fondly remember the times we met at Namm when you were a GEM rep. Enjoyed watching you play back then, but man, it's a treat to see you 'let loose' and really shine playing with your JazzItUp! band group.

I like it...I like it a lot!

Thanks for the great find.

Ian

Now, imagine that, after he played the head the first time, he could hit a button, and the LH chord input was taken over by the Chord Sequencer, and he could play solos with BOTH hands, or strip the arranger down to bass and drums and then comp alternate chords with the LH, or pick up another instrument and blow, etc., etc., etc..

His LH repeats itself basically verbatim every chorus. What a waste of what is probably a VERY good LH...

Personally, at this tempo, I think I would have preferred perhaps a Latin, or Latin Jazz approach, as most jazzers are used to hearing that one at bebop speeds when swung. Impressive guitar chops, though, don't get me wrong. And nice to hear something other than a lollipop!

Diki - good call! One of the things I want to do (when I get some free time!) is to put together some bass and drum tracks using my BIAB "Real Tracks" jazz sets, then import them as MP3's onto the board. Then I should be able to link the Mp3's to registrations, which would make it easier to save each song's setups.

Diki, very well put. I hope Yamaha's arranger division is really listening and taking our need for a chord sequencer seriously.
The fact that the Korg PA3X will include a chord sequencer should not be taken lightly.

Mmmm...maybe the S-920 will have a chord sequencer?

Nah...that's probably just watercooler gossip....or, maybe not?

Ian

Mmmmm again...history shows the S-series usually have a new feature not on the current Tyros model.

Hi Scott,

I'm glad you posted the video because it is nice to see an arranger used for a song that might be thought of as non-arranger material. And Like I said, the player has some nice chops. The only thing that I didn't really care for was the vibes w/harmony patch. Might have been nice to play a short solo with the vibes sound sans harmony though. All in all, very cool.

As for the piano sounds on the video I posted, I couldn't agree more. I absolutely hated that piano sound. I have since upgraded the RD300SX to an RD700GX w/SuperNATURAL Piano Expansion. It is a far better acoustic piano sound than the 300SX, still not the perfect piano sound, but at least acceptable.

It was certainly fun meeting you and other forumites at NAMM over the years. I miss those times.

Maybe if I get some free time I'll record A Night In Tunisia on my Pa588 and post it here as to stay in context of the arranger forum.

Dave

We honestly need EVERY decent player of arrangers to start bringing the Chord Sequencer to the forefront of manufacturers' consciousness. It isn't really a feature that benefits the beginning player, as he rarely has a LH capable of more than the chord input anyway, but for the more advanced player, the amount of sheer REPETITION the LH has to do is tragic.

So, you aren't going to hear a litany of calls for the feature from THEM, it is going to have to be the more advanced player that brings it to their attention. And as we are probably well in the minority, that means we ALL will have to make the noise!

Simply put, if you have a decent LH, if you like soloing expressively using the bender, if you play ANOTHER instrument (guitar, sax, accordion, another keyboard etc.) a Chord Sequencer or Chord 'Looper' (for those that might be thinking that the CS is an offline process, not something you do live) is one of the handiest things you'll ever get. It blurs the boundary between being spontaneous in arranger mode and being rigid in SMF song mode...

I hope they implement it in future models in the next 10 years or so.....but I for one would never use it as it isn't part of my style technique of playing an arranger KB.
But I can see some may find it interesting. Korg has it now in their new releases, so I would wonder how many people will buy a PA3x using the CS feature a motivator to purchase..?

For me I'd rather see more of the great Ketron features implemented in Yamaha arrangers of the future like ...BASS LOCK, DRUM LOCK, Mic EFX off on stop,etc.

BIGGER Display screens on All Arrangers also.

Let's face it everyone wants Different features ...... and the more they put in the more you will put in out of your pocket.

Cheers to all manufaturers for what we already have now on the market....I'm happy!

A chord sequencer would be ideal for me....switch to a guitar for solos. I don't use mp-3's, etc., but I do leave drums on, play bass with my foot and solo with guitar. This would open up all sorts of possibilities for me.


Russ

It's just one of those features that, until you've used it extensively, it doesn't sound that revolutionary. But once you have had one, not having one is like lopping off an arm!

You want to go out front and schmooze, Donny, if you are in arranger mode, you are screwed. Even for 'entertainers', it is a boon...