Dave Ferris

Hey Brad, Dan Goldman passed this on to me awhile ago. I'm not sure if Nick is still involved with them up in Santa Barbara. https://rhodesmusic.com/the-rhodes-showroom-ca/ At that same time he said they were also working on getting a demo at a site in Santa Monica. I don't know if that ever came about but you could drop Dan or Nick an email and find out. I'd also wager a guess that there has to be someone in LA with an MK8 that Dan or Nick could put you in touch with to demo it.

Pierre (actually Pierre's wife) just posted these photos from the closing concert on his recent tour, where celebrated his 84th Birthday. https://www.facebook.com/pierresfinepianos/posts/pfbid0DbrMGbDm1YThDMJ4m92rLcohqpXvyBo7rjrLVWR1JBKLsSAynSJTGrewcj4JDNC9l Check out the huge red road case for Pierre's Fazioli 278. That's Pierre's beautiful wife posing with Herbie and at the piano. Nice closeup of Herbie and Chris Potter. And an entire band shot from a distance.

Obviously not "keyboard" related but I think many of us came up on the Allman Brothers, their concept and signature sound. I know the "Brothers & Sisters" album, when Chuck came on, was pivotal in my development - "Jessica", "Southbound". And how many times in my youth did I play "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and his beautiful "Blue Sky". RIP. https://www.jambase.com/article/allman-brothers-band-dickey-betts-obituary?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0s0gjV21IeeW5XFwEYsHHEcVFCNtUuY8zf9plUMrrs7Txc9SICqfE2kv8_aem_ATIPtXv1wn62akc-7xg_0ZZolKFqW9h-sqo7ZlhCZClyem3gEKb06ShSWEQe48B3v-TZqiS_PKdvGEpg_r_KsgQK

It was Herbie Hancock's birthday yesterday. 84 years young! Long may he continue to play on. My humble birthday tribute to the Master.

This is a little longer video then I usually do. It was around 1 AM the other night after futzing all day trying to get this iRig Pro Duo working with my DPA 4011s. It was working perfectly for awhile, I did a couple short test takes and it sounded good. But for whatever reason it stopped working and I was getting jittery/ distorted audio. So being super frustrated and tired I said F it, and went back to the iPhone 14 mics and made this take of the great Luiz Bonfa tune, "Gentle Rain". What an interruption in the creative flow and total groove killer messing with this tech stuff.

Al, thanks a lot. Yes I have a special place in my heart for Skylark. I've probably played a half dozen CF6s since they were released and this particular one was the nicest by far. So between this CF6 and the new CFX Concert grand I played at the Sherman Oaks location back in Dec., these two were easily the best Yamaha pianos I've ever played in my life. They both had a rich and really sweet tone to them. The new manager there at Santa Monica said they had just gotten this CF6 in to replace the one that was bought in Jan. by the great session / studio player Craig Doerge. A name I hadn't heard in awhile but did I ever listen to him a lot on all those records from the 70s.

About a month ago I was over at Faust-Harrison (formerly Keyboard Concepts) in Santa Monica and had the pleasure of sampling this luscious sounding Yamaha CF6. A fantastic piano in every way! This is "Skylark".

Trippy two hand pattern #2 based off a Minor Maj.7 structure. Going around the circle of fourths with some hiccups in the middle...and then adding a little intercom effect at the very end from the house for good measure.

One chorus on Pensativa, medium up tempo.

And the other thing- the club has a brand new Steinway B that was fine for people like Fred Hersch to Kenny Barron to Brad Mehldau. Did Herbie really need to put the club through all of that? Sounds like a tad bit of ego was involved on his end.

Thanks! Yes Rob linked a video. Here's a little longer one. I was at Pierre's store when they were sizing the 278 to make sure it fit in that flight case. Pretty wild! That particular piano is the one in the photos below, a 2020 year of manufacture. It took the place of the 2017 model that I played in the video. I didn't make a video of the 2020 but I actually preferred the tone of the older one. Regarding the change over-- since Herbie is the most visible non-classical endorser of the brand, Paolo Fazioli, the founder/owner, likes to get him a new one about every 3 years. But because of the higher demand and their limited production, they pushed him getting another one off to next year. Yeah, must be nice.

I'm would assume the Yamaha would be great given their incredible high level of consistency in all their CF/SX/CX models, but especially the handmade CF/SX in particular. The D is another animal. While I feel they are the concert grand that everyone aspires to, they are still hit and miss. You definitely have to play it, they can highly differ, piano to piano. When you have a good one (along with an experienced concert level tech to look after it), a NY or Hamburg, there's nothing like it. Moritaka Kina, who's now the head tech for both the LA Phil and SF Symphony said the other day --" We now have a Fazioli and Bosendorfer in our back room for visiting Artists to choose from at Disney Hall, as well as a newer NY & Hamburg D. To me a Steinway D is the closest piano that would be an extension of the human singing voice". He's super busy but I'm trying to get him over to do some more work on mine this month. Possibly install new hammers but we'll see. I can attest to Pierre's 278 being out of this world! Edit-- The iPhone 14 mics while being surprisingly good for what they are, don't at all do it justice. You have to sit behind this piano to truly experience it.

Congrats on the sale Chris! Pianos under 30K do move a lot faster, plus it's a C7e. A good year for those. It's not a good market for 9' concert grands or anything priced around, or over the 100K mark. Here's three that have been languishing a year, or almost a year. Just a tad newer serial # then mine. They've dropped the price twice now in the year it's been listed. https://reverb.com/item/61690825-steinway-2004-model-d-9-concert-grand-2004-black?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=Criteo-US-Conversions-2021Q4&utm_content=2x2 The 7' CF6 in brand new shape where her husband passed away. She listed it last July. https://www.pianomart.com/buy-a-piano/view?id=53272 And Pierre's 2017 Fazioli 278 that was Herbie's touring piano before his current one. He put this up last June. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166203502469?hash=item26b2802f85%3Ag%3Axx0AAOSw4BFknxdl&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwCE3hbQs1g6TF6r%2BhDrZhSoQr1keBZN%2FylKX6WrAaac%2FDtdMH&fbclid=IwAR0cUuSkCB6lyaXdchprfWa4s6UquLheSiRjaem6vZpY0Bq9HUwRSzBWCQM

I've probably mentioned this before at one point, we went to the same high school together. McCluer High, in the Ferguson/Florissant school district of St. Louis, Mo.. Mike was a year older then me and graduated in 1970. I saw him often as a kid in four different bands. The first time I might've been 14 and he was in his first band of any note which was called, Jerry Jay and the Sheratons. They were playing on a flat bed truck in the parking lot of a local Dodge dealer as a celebration of their opening. The band was very popular, they played all the "sock hops" and "Y-dances" at the area's grade and high schools. It was a large band, they had as many as six horns horns at times, all very straight laced looking, no long hair or hippie look, which was just starting to gain traction. In that sense, they appeared less threatening for all the Catholic school functions. They played mostly Soul music- Sam & Dave, Arthur Conley, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, etc.. They also threw in the token Top 40 hits of the day from groups like the Buckinghams and The Association. They also played at a very popular teen club called the Castaway in Ferguson. A club that also had a group called "The Hour Glass" in their rotation, which featured Greg and Duane Allman. Pre-Allman Brothers. As time went on, the whole Jerry Jay horns/suit thing became out of fashion with the kids and it was all the Hippie/Psychedelic crowd that started coming to the Castaway. Mike was in three bands - Del Rays, Blue and The Guild. No horns, mostly guitar driven except for Mike on his Wurlitzer EP. All groups had super high quality lead vocalists and harmony. While most bands of the time had turned to covering groups like the Moby Grape, Cream, Nazz, Beatles, Doors and the like, Mike was an anomaly singing Burt Bacharach/ Dionne Warwick hits like "Do you know the way to San Jose", "Always something there to remind me". The Del rays recorded the latter song with the Jerry Jay horns and was very popular on AM radio in STL. The photos in the video primarily show him in his Jerry Jay days with the suit. From the Metro STL Live Music Historical Society, organized by my old friend, Drummer Greg Bishop, who painstakingly put this site together years ago. The Blue's page. Which also features some live tracks from a reunion gig in 1988. http://www.stlmusicyesterdays.com/Blue.htm Jerry Jay & the Sheratons http://www.stlmusicyesterdays.com/Jerry Jay.htm The Guild http://www.stlmusicyesterdays.com/Guild.htm By the early 70's Mike and the Guild, like he mentioned in the interview, had hooked up with the Blytham Booking agency up in Champaign, Ill.. Like he also mentioned, the head agent there, Irving Azoff had took a liking to Mike , his voice, style and songwriting. Next we knew, Mike had moved to Ca.. Word filtered back he was starting to play with some big names. Through the close knit music community, we all heard about when he got the short lived Steely Dan gig and it was like he joined the Beatles or something. After that the whole thing just kept snow-balling for him-- Doobies, "what a fool believes", solo career. Definitely the ultimate local North County guy does good beyond belief scenario. I enjoyed the interview myself.

Fantastic! Only watched a short bit of it right now but quick impressions -- the Yamaha CFX grands sound great, really a nice, smooth recording. I'd be curious to know if they are the latest generation of CFXs. Since there are no music racks, I don't know any other defining characteristics on the new ones. Not normally a fan of the "two piano" format but they play off each other nicely and very musical from the little I've heard. Never a shortage of chops and fireworks from Geoff. Billy always sounds wonderful. Looking forward to hearing more when I have time. Thanks for posting.

Whatever it is, go slow and ease into it. Injuries from any technical work, classical or jazz, most often occur when cold and not warmed up. Same applies to working on lines, chord voicings and tunes. It can take awhile for everything to be in sync, especially the older we get. For jazz, I like to start slow so I can visualize the changes of a tune very clearly before trying to play anything at faster tempos. I often play transitional passages, like key changes, out of time before I put everything together. Many years ago I sat in a recording session where my friend, Vibist Jon Nagourney, had hired Kenny Barron for his CD. Kenny came into the studio, gave his cordial greetings to everyone and went straight to the piano and began playing what I call the second section of Joe Henderson's "Inner Urge" at a very slow tempo. This is the EMaj. 7 +11 | DbMaj.7 +11 | D Maj.7 +11 | B Maj.7+11| etc. section. He would stop and play a line out of tempo, or very slowly to connect the chords in that Maj.7+11 Lydian sequence. Within ten minutes he was playing that section up to speed. He took a break, they got some levels for another 15 minutes and started recording. It was definitely enlightening. The brain, ears and fingers all need to be working as one. Sometimes it can take me a solid hour before I feel like I'm in sync. On the other hand, some days I sit down and the stuff just flows out seemingly endlessly and effortlessly from the get go.

I was in a mellow mode late last night on a cold, rainy night in LA. A short version of the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic, "O Grande Amor".

Some choruses on "You Stepped Out of a Dream" on the AvantGrand in the living room.

Thanks, good to know. I need a new one after 15 years. My old one still works, just getting a bit wonky.

In a Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington). Blowing over the first two A sections, melody on the bridge and out. On a super nice Fazioli 228 at Pierre's Fine Pianos a few weeks back. As always for best audio, listen with good phones or studio monitors.

There are many classical pieces to work on that incorporate stride techniques. Here's a couple I've worked on over the years. I play the Chopin nowhere near at the tempo that concert classical pianists do but you still can highly benefit your playing in this area by getting them solid at slower tempos. Debussy And Chopin Or of course you can go to the source and study the many Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Teddy Wilson, etc., transcriptions and apply the same concept of getting them solid at slower tempos. And the Scott Joplin rags as well.

Thanks appreciated ! No I've taken a cue from Reezekeys' and Al Quinn's modus operandi the last 9 months or so. The 16" folding steps. RCFs sit perfectly on them and sounds great ! No ear fatigue for anyone. https://www.amazon.com/Acko-Inches-Folding-Kitchen-Stepping/dp/B01MA0N1P3

Last tune of a very long but memorable evening! Around a thousand people were filing out of the ballroom and many were getting up onstage having their photos taken with guest of honor. At 83, she must've been exhausted! Apologies for having to view my mug the whole time but there was nowhere else to set my phone. At least you can hear the CP88, that's all that matters anyway.

The CP88 + RCF TT-08A mk2s + JMK Audio JM-110 were all singin' in tandem last night for the Public Counsel's William O. Douglas Award at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. Encore did the sound/ production and both FOH and monitor mix gave the piano sound as one of the best they'd ever worked with. FOH guy said "exemplary". They said, you guys are making our job too easy, we don't have to do anything. Honoring a special guest and John Coltrane fan. She requested "Equinox", we played it twice. She also asked for "Mr. PC" and "Blue Bossa". A side-- our Sax player, the Great Dale Fielder, just had triple by-pass surgery only two weeks ago. He sat out on some tunes as his energy was sagging and he could feel the stitches being stressed when he blew too hard. But overall, man what a trooper and memorable night !

Late last summer an old friend asked me to put together a Jazz Quartet for his 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. He was going to rent a Yamaha C7X from Faust-Harrison (formerly Keyboard Concepts) but at the last minute something with the scheduling on the store's end got messed up, so the only rental they had in the chain wasn't available. He didn't want me to play my regular keyboard so I said, how about you pay for a mover and we use my AvantGrand N3X? He didn't know what it was. So I explained to him the concept of a hybrid digital piano, showed him some photos of it and he was good to go with it. It actually probably worked out better then the acoustic because we were out in this huge backyard of his horse ranch out in Old Agoura. When we started at 5PM, it was still really hot but he provided shade cover and a stage that the movers had to lift the AG up on. After the sun went down it got pretty chilly. Usually with an acoustic under those kind of temp fluctuations, the tuning becomes a nightmare when it gets damp. No worries there. We ran it through a rented sound system and it worked out great. Good movers, no issues on either end.