Mills Dude

It's the theme. Happens with the Dynamic theme and been happening from the time it was added a year or so ago. I prefer this theme so I just live with the oddity of having to refresh the page when I hit next.

Touching on what Steve Nathan said, a good singer is doing way more than just hitting notes. They are communicating the mood and emotion of the music with the most expressive of instruments. Sinatra wasn't the king daddy of crooners so much about his vocal gymnastics, it was the way he could capture and evoke the heart of the song. For me, original key has never been a perquisite for that. I love the high voice guys of the 70s and 80s as much as anybody - Steve Walsh, Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, etc. But dude they're all in and around 70+ years of age. Sure I love to dabble in the 'look what happened to ...' as much as the next guy but Father Time is a cruel beast and none of us can escape it. I can't expect someone 50 or 60+ to have all the same ability they had in their 20s, its just not realistic. Elton John started losing his vocal range in the 1980s but he's had an extremely fruitful career since then. I saw him about 10 years back and "Someone Saved My Life" was like a 4th down and sounded great. Is it painful to hear someone straining to hit notes they used to effortlessly hit? Sure it is, but maybe there's too much emphasis on turning these people into a jukebox to relive our nostalgia. There's so much emphasis on "It needs to sound like the original recording made 40-50 years ago". One of the reasons I choose not to gig in bar bands anymore. I can get my nostalgia fix by cranking up tunes in the car and its way cheaper. Of course there's some that haven't seemed to have lost a step in the range department. This just popped up on my youtube feed - Jon Anderson with the Band Geek guys in LI. Jon is 78 and sounds wonderful, good for him.

I also love how that first soloist on alto seemed to tell the other featured soloists "Hold my beer" and proceeded to lay down a master class in weaving bop lines into a pop/funk tune.

I started up that Phil Collins video and in the first couple of bars thought "Oh that dude on piano is cooking, really brining the funk ... greasy". Only to find out -- Duh, yeah, its Duke.

Definitely try speaker stands and foam to place them on before you go down the new monitors rabbit hole. Its a fairly inexpensive route and likely good to have if you decide to ditch the JBLs for something different.

Richard Wright "borrowed" the D7#9 from "All Blues" on "So What" as a way to get back to G. Not sure about an Eb triad, but the #9 moves down the the b9 for a turnaround back to G or its relative Em. I remember seeing this clip sometime ago, found a snippet on the youtube. Adding to my post ... Found a reddit discussion about this -- The editor here is showing its been deleted but its viewable in my browser. A comment of note is --

My ex's cousin lives in the Villages and her family has property in Orlando, so I've been there a bunch of times. Its is a mecca for live music. There's something going on every day either in the squares or in the many restaurants that dot the squares. A dude I used to play with moved down to Leesburg more than 10 years ago. He does a one-man band gig, Jersey Frank, at restaurants playing guitar with an iPad for backing tracks. He's got gigs up the wazoo playing mostly late 60s and 70s tunes. Since its all seniors, the prime time is in the 4-8pm range, happy hour. I guess after that is when they all go wild and give each other STDs 😄. I've definitely thought about retiring there and maybe getting some gigs. The place is a time machine, a way to relive the glory days. Even the 2 bowling alleys there are filled every night with league bowlers, something else that's died out everywhere. Just wish it was closer to the Gulf or the Atlantic.

I just listened to the first few cuts, super compressed and no ambient mics, but for us Kansas freaks its pure gold. The title indicates this was recorded in Maryland at the Merriweather Pavilion, which is also one of the venues where cuts from Two for the Show were taken. Possible that this is one of the sources or maybe a rejected recording due to some technical issues. Maybe the crowd/ambient mics weren't recorded or maybe this is the just the sound board recording and its worked its way through the old bootleg system. Whatever the case may be, its Kansas at their peak and really shows how good a band they were. A bunch of yokels from the prairies of Kansas (the state) who were able to write and perform prog rock with the best of the 'em. I don't think they get quite enough due from the prog rock fans, maybe because they're not British and prog identifies more with that flavor. Maybe because they weaved in a bit of 70s heavy guitar rock along with the keyboard laden prog approach. I was 12 in 78, I had Point of Know return on cassette to play on my first boom box, but I hadn't started playing yet and I was more interested in the hits. It wasn't util the mid 80s in HS when I hooked up with other musos and found my group that was into prog. Kansas, Yes, Genesis, ELP were all the rage for us and we dug deep but at that point the prog ship had sailed. Kerry in those days was just ripping off one masterpiece after another. I'd put him up there with Tony Banks as a keyboardist and composer and of course he could lead with guitar also. Just a great musical mind, the whole of Left Overture is a masterpiece. The AD record, Art of the State, is another of his masterpieces but I love all the great prog from Masque, Song for America, etc. Essentially 2 lead singers who also blended so well. I've read somewhere that the band didn't really grasp how good Steve Walsh's voice was until they started recording the first record. On this bootleg I get to hear Dave Hope on bass really well. To me, he's a pretty unsung hero of the group. He gets a great tone and just rips through those bass lines. Hope and Ehardt really put down the "Kansas groove". Add the grinding Hammond from Steve and its the Kansas secret sauce recipe, their umami. My brother-in-law is really into prog metal like Dream Theater and Tool. We were on a road trip a number of years ago and I put on Masque. He only knew the big Kansas hits and was blown away about how much it sounded like an early influence for those bands he liked.

Simply stated, a legend. He's on my Mt. Rushmore of jazz artists. Just the records, Speak No Evil and JuJu, would put him there. Add all the other important body of work and its an accomplishment that very few can come close to. A life well lived.

As someone who was flying a ton before Covid, not music related, I just want to reiterate what @Reezekeyssaid. Biggest factors for leeway are your airline status and the mood of the check-in agent. Greasing the skycaps is also a good strategy. Another factor could be the size of the jet. A larger jumbo, 737 and up, gives more leeway than a smaller CRJ jet. If you're doing regional travel within Alaska, it may be more probable to get these smaller jets or maybe even a prop commuter.

I was just listening to Trick of the Tail in the car on the way home. Its been a while since I had a listen and this thread was on my mind. As others have stated, Tony is less pyrotechnics and more compositional. On this record, he really shines on the later. The outro on Entagled is a tour-de-force, some of the best Mellotron playing he's ever done. That middle section in Mad Man Moon, and the rest of the tune, just amazing. Ripples, with all that tension and resolution, so well done. He's like a one man orchestra. I wont even discuss the big tunes from that record that everyone talks about. I always loved those "hidden" gems. Its always been my favorite Genesis record because for me its all Tony and what he does best. You could make a similar argument for Wind & Wuthering, but I lean towards Trick. He is the master of the mellotron. Such a clunky, finnicky instrument but I don't think anyone used it better than he did.

The Chris Cross record is one of my all-time favs. I still listen to it from time to time. Yeah its the very definition of Yacht Rock but its got some tasty playing, great production and good song writing. Kind of intersecting with the recent thread on Michael Omartian. I've always thought this record was Dan-Lite since many of the session players intersect. Rick Beato did a vid last year about the ending guitar solo in Ride Like the Wind, how its so killer but yet buried in the mix. He talks about some of the other great solos on the record, Larry Carlton & Eric Johnson also. The other Carlton solo is on a tune called The Light is On. I could listen to him play the two solo section in that song all day.

The more you guys uncover about this board makes me want it. If I were to start gigging again, I'd probably pick one up. All this talk about Nord and the Stage models being the swiss army knife and costing an arm and a leg. This board seems like a budget swiss army knife for cheapos like me. Attach an iPad, buy a few apps and you get your Hammond simulator and other synths.

Okay Boomer! Yeah, this phrase has jumped the shark, but I still love since I'm technically not a boomer, just missed the cutoff by 2 years. Arguably her peak was early 90s. I adored Luck of the Draw when it came out. I resurrected it a few years ago when I was traveling for business a lot, still a great listen. The passage of time is funny. She hit the peak something like 30-35 years ago. When I was a young lad in HS, early 80s, 35 years prior was the pre-Rock era. I can't even think of a song or artist from the early '50s. Was this still the big band era? Certainly never heard any of that on the radio in those days. Back then the NY oldies station, WCBS 101, mostly played 50s RnR, doo-wop, etc. Was Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby or whoever was big in those days still winning Grammys for new music in the 80s? Sure Frank Sinatra was a cultural icon but I don't think Bonnie Raitt falls into that category. Its a testament to the staying power of the Rock genre. I guess you could say its kind of on life support these days but most here are still reaping the benefits of that era with gigs and such. I wonder what will be the main genre in another 30 years and if rock music will still be heard. I gotta think so but who knows. By no means a dig on Bonnie Raitt. She's a wonderful talent and I'm happy for her to get some recent recognition.

Akai had the Synthstation 49 out about 10 years ago. But looks like the idea was abandoned as it only supports the old iPads with the original connector (pre lightning) up to iPad 3, I believe. I bought the other model for my son, Synthstation 25, that you could plug an iPhone or iPod touch into. I didn't spend much time with it. The idea was flawed in that, I think, it only supported the Akai software on IOS. But I wholeheartedly agree that its beyond time for some manufacturer to tap this market as IOS has matured, iPad dominates the tablet market and musos are using them much more than 10 years ago.

Holy 80's Batman! I actually had this on VHS and vinyl back in the day, "GRP Live" I believe it was called. Totally forgot about this. Rittenour plays the Synthaxe on one of the tunes. Not really jazz, GRP was representative of the "smooth jazz" era well except for the Elektric Band records. I remember enjoying that tune in particular and always assumed it was a heavily processed CP-80 but on closer listening the sound is quite different. CP-80 has a more "twangy" sound. I'm sure it weighs as much, if not more, as a CP-80.

I downscaled everything a few years back, selling all the gig boards, leaving me with only a VPC1 and my PC primarily running PianoTeq. At that point, I was really only interested in playing piano, rhodes and wurly. For that purpose, the VPC1 is fine but the action certainly isn't perfect. I find it a bit heavy at times but even more than that it seems to bottom out a bit early and whatever escapement exists seems off. While I've not played and MP11, its supposed to have better action than the VPC1 which as always is highly subjective. Recently, I've been looking to wade back into the synth realm. I've got Arturia's V-collection but the VPC1 is pretty underwhelming as a controller KB. Its really bare bones, no sliders, buttons or wheels. So I've been considering augmenting with a Keylab 61 or altogether dumping the VPC1 for a Keylab 88 (or something more synth friendly) and getting a P515, ES920 or perhaps higher level digital designed for home use like Kawai CA series or one of Yamaha's Clavinova or Avant Grand models. But my angle is to have a piano like experience for home with the addition of a studio KB for messing around. Probably different than your goals. MP11se seems like a good choice but its not a controller first as the primary function of the panel is to manipulate onboard sounds. Sure its got wheels but a lot else is missing. However, the action is considered top notch for the form and price range. There's definitely a frustrating gap between the cheapo controllers and the flagship workstations that are focused on internal sounds but can also act as good controllers. The market is centered on home "producers" as opposed to players. The '90s market driven by rack mount synths gave us better pure controller choices like the CME, Midiboard, etc. I don't foresee the market changing where manufacturers start introducing better controllers.

Hmm, I'd lean towards the guys that pushed the harmonic envelope in the post-bop era. Alive - Herbie Hancock Passed - Bill Evans (He's probably my #1 all time) Honorable Mention - McCoy Tyner, Lyle Mays (Did he ever play anything 'not-so-good' on the piano?)

I caught the last half of that and I thought about this thread during the final tunes that Paul Simon sang. While his singing voice certainly isn't what it was, the other voice, the one that is able to convey his spirit and vision, is perhaps stronger. I thought his performance of Graceland and Sounds of Silence, arguably his 2 greatest songs, was very powerful. Perhaps its the accrued wisdom of his years or the realization he's in his twilight years and still has something to communicate. Either way, I was blown away with his performance. I delved back into Simon's catalog a few years back. I had never heard Hearts and Bones before, the song as well as the rest of the record is great. Of course having Richard Tee and Steve Gadd in your backing band helps. One of my best concert experiences was seeing Simon on the Rhythm of the Saints tour. I was always a casual fan, but became more of an admirer in the last 10 years or so. I caught most of that Springsteen interview with Stern on S/XM recently, haven't seen the HBO telecast. I have a similar feeling about Bruce that perhaps his vocal ability has lagged a bit with age, but his artists voice is strong as ever if not stronger. I'm not a big Bruce fan, I dig the hits. But hearing him belt out his tunes solo with that aged patina in his voice evoked a healthy dose of goosebump moments. Jackson Browne is another who I've always liked. I still listen the Hold Out and Runnin' On Empty records regularly. Same story with him, the voice is not what is once was but his ability to deliver a song might be better than ever. James Taylor, what more can one say? The man is ageless. We're in that era where those great artists from the singer/songwriter era are in the twilight but they still have a voice and I'm still listening.

So Rob, what's the plan moving forward with the new iPad? Are you going to standardize on that and ditch the iPhone for your future AWB gigs? Are you still going to use the iPhone for your local one-off gigs? Its been great following along while you test the waters.

Amen to that. I was lucky when I was young, my older sister (not a player) was into that 70's early "smooth" jazz. I grew up hearing a lot of Jeff Lorber, Spyrogyra, etc. Then the drum machines took over and squashed all the life out of it. Tom Schuman is another great Rhodes player. Something about that original Motif that made it great for his style. Jeff likes to hit it hard when he gets going and pull a lot of bark out of the Rhodes. The action on the Motif could really bring that out. But like we say with all great players, he could probably sit down at a $100 keyboard and you'd instantly know it was him.

I did this for years with my home studio setup. The goal wasn't to mix recordings, so using near field monitors wasn't necessary. I wanted to be able to practice with full sound enveloping the room. Using full range speakers made sense. I coopted my early 90s stereo, rather cheap Pioneer receiver and a set of Bose 201 bookshelf speakers. Tape outs from the mixer to the receiver, it sounded great and plenty of headroom to crank when I needed it. I'd have other musicians come in sometimes to jam, it worked well. Playing with an acoustic drummer was a problem at times but isn't it always. I get that many disregard this kind of setup as not being "pro" enough. A few years back, one of the 201s died. I replaced the whole thing with a set of Presonus Eris 4.5 speakers which I'm not as happy with.

Recording yourself is like standing in front of a mirror naked under fluorescent light. I don't think there's many who would listen back to themselves and think they don't suck. But its a great way to improve any of aspect of your playing or singing. You just gotta get over that initial "oh god" feeling and keep doing it. For a while, I always recorded my practice sessions, either on audio or just midi. Sure I sucked, but I got better. Occasionally you hear something that sounds good, almost pro level, and it helps to keep you on track.

Tim, like I said in another thread, we are like "brotha's from another motha". Sure, I love Fragile, but it's no where near my favorite Yes record. Certainly, Rick Wakeman is a prog keyboard god but I like the Yes records he wasn't on better with the exception being CTTE. CTTE is a masterpiece in all regards. For me, Fragile lacks some of the group cohesiveness that made the other records great, kind of like ELP Works Vol. 1. If I were to rank my top 5, I'd do - 1. Relayer, 2. CTTE, 3. Drama, 4. 90125, 5. Yes Album. Fragile would be next and the rest kinda fall off a cliff for me. I like Tales but I agree that it "collapses under its own weight". I love what Moraz does on Relayer, all that great Rhodes work and comping, the mellowtron and moog leads. Relayer is probably the most "fusion" Yes record. My fantasy would have been that Bruford came back to the drum chair for that one. I still go back and listen to Drama pretty often. I just loved that record. Sure its got flaws, Trevor Horn trying to mimic Jon Anderson and Geoff Downes not being on the same level as Rick Wakeman. But I love the textures with the Fairlight and the keyboard playing is quite tasty. I was never the biggest Steve Howe fan but I think he's at his best on that record, with his playing on Relayer a close 2nd. Chris Squire as always is wonderful to listen to on any Yes record. I came of age in the early 80's, so 90125 is right in that sweet spot. Its a great record, the production is awesome (thanks Trevor) and just a fresh take on a sound, 70s prog, that became tired. I trot that out pretty often, not a bad track on the record except maybe 'City of Love'. I like the vocal tradeoff between Rabin and Anderson, who I think was at his vocal peak at that time.

I'd have to put Allan Holdsworth at the top of the pyramid. His approach to the guitar was so unique, sure he could shred but he could do so much more. I was always amazed by the amount of expression he could squeeze out of a single note. Then there's his chordal approach by plucking and the chord shapes he was able to make along with an unorthodox approach to harmony. He was famously unable to read, not sure how true that is but it was part of the lore of him eschewing traditions. I vividly remember the first time seeing him live, simply gobsmacked watching him pluck those chords on 'Shallow Sea'. The guitar frustrated him, so he went full bore with the ill fated Synthaxe for a bunch of years until it became untenable. I wasn't a big fan of the Synthaxe but he claimed it allowed him to express himself in a better way. There are and have been imitators but he was the pioneer. Bill Connors did a few records, which I think are great, where he basically tried to sound just like Holdsworth. Other than him, so many great guitarists I could listen to all day -- Metheny, Gilmour, Scofield, Mike Stern, Scott Henderson