SamuelBLupowitz
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Posts posted by SamuelBLupowitz
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Eric Clapton (and associated projects)
Love it: Keep On Growing
Like It: The Cove
Hate It: I Wanna Make Love to You
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18 hours ago, Mitch Towne said:
Nice work on the pedals!
When it comes to pedals, it’s interesting that gospel organ and jazz organ have two totally different approaches.
Gospel players play their RH stuff on the bottom manual and their LH stuff on the top manual and cover most of the bass with their feet.
Jazz players play RH stuff on top, mostly because of the percussion I suppose, and play LH on the bottom manual. Most of the bass line work is done with the LH, while the pedals are used for emphasis. It’s a common misconception that Jimmy Smith was doing all
the bass with his feet. It was mostly LH. Joey D talked a lot about how it’s really the LH that does the work when playing jazz.
Which hand to use on which manual was one of the things that overwhelmed me the most when I first started playing a dual-manual organ. Eventually I figured top/right and lower/left was the way to go, if only because it made the associated drawbars more accessible to the non-playing hand (since the drawbars for the upper manual are on the left side of the console, and vice versa).
Does anyone know why and how these different approaches developed between jazz and gospel playing? Other than jazz players liking the percussion for the melodic work, that is.
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As long as we're discussing LH bass vs pedals, figured I'd do the prerequisite shoutout to my biggest inspiration in the world of keyboard players covering low end, Mr. John Paul Jones. He was always very clever about how to economically translate his very fluid, Motown-inspired bass guitar parts to his feet, but you can really cop his background as a church organist with his pedal work on this one. There's a nice close up around 22 seconds in.
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Just now, ProfD said:
IMO, Neal Evans (Soulive) is the best example of a modern LH bass player. He's an absolute monster in that area. Check him out.😎
Neal is one of those players who is right on the razor's edge between inspiring me to practice and making me want to quit music, hahaha.
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38 minutes ago, bill bosco said:
if they were using the vent , i wonder why they went back to miking a leslie ? i had read that the stones had one on stage but were using a vent for the house
Okay, sorry to keep dragging us slightly OT, but I found this interview with Chuck from last year that's full of cool tidbits: https://www.musicradar.com/news/chuck-leavell-rolling-stones-1
I pasted the relevent info below. Now if only someone can find a similar interview talking about the Springsteen keys...
You’re obviously an amazing pianist too, but surely you’re not bringing a full-size piano out with The Stones these days?
“Well, thank God for the digital age. Technology is so amazing. I’m using a Yamaha CP-4 for piano. And there’s a specialised phased Rhodes sound on there that I use. There’s also a Wurlitzer and that’s the real deal. I’ve yet to hear a digital reproduction of the Wurlitzer that’s as accurate as it needs to be, so I use the real thing. I use a real Hammond, too. Used to be the original Hammond B3 but I’ve retired that now and now use an XK-5. It’s still made by Hammond. Suzuki bought the Hammond name many years ago and they’ve worked really hard to recreate the sound of a B3 and they’ve finally done it. I’m really, really pleased with this instrument.”
Does that have a Leslie on it as well?
“I use a pedal called The Ventilator. A friend of mine, Greg Black, is a Hammond organ technician. He owns Black Hammond who do great work on Hammond organs, and he turned me on to it. I tried it in rehearsals and I was amazed. The first time I used it the sound man said ‘Man, that thing sounds incredible’. We used to have a Leslie inside an isolated case, but you still get a muffled sound and the wind sound of the horn spinning round but with this pedal just get a direct sound without any distraction. I’m very happy with it.”
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This is gold, Mitch. Thanks for the free lessons!
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10 hours ago, TommyRude said:
Why did they leave it in there? Is it possible that Chuck did this all in one take, and they decided that the feel and sound was so damn good they would live with the few very minor clams? Did they feel they attempting to "fix" it by overdubbing would not work?
I'd be willing to bet he did the take live on the floor with the band. You can hear the drum bleed in the piano track (unless they achieved the isolated track through some phase trickery and that's what I'm hearing). In that case, fixing a mistake that you never heard in a thousand listens until you heard the isolated track would have been time consuming, and ultimately more jarring for the listener than leaving it as-is. No pro tools for comps in 1973!
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14 hours ago, MAJUSCULE said:
Just found an isolated piano track of the original. Mm mm good.
Well, guess it's time to hit the woodshed again. His left hand (really, the interlocking of both hands) is grooving SO HARD.
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57 minutes ago, Outkaster said:
I would have to look for it but I remember hearing that about the Leslie because of the bleed from other mics. Years ago he'd have his Leslie to the left or behind him. I know the Stones did that because Al Goff made a road case that could hold the mics right in it and that was for the Steel Wheels tour. I would think that would suck having the Leslie just in a monitor off it. A lot of the Hammond and Leslie effect happens just with the presence of the instrument onstage.
I read that about the Stones too; I imagine that's part of why they wound up just switching over to a Vent (though my understanding is that the Leslies made a return at some point).
Slightly OT, but I remember reading once that John Paul Jones had to keep his Leslie offstage, usually in a dressing room or something, because Zeppelin was just too loud onstage to mic it up. Sometimes a stagehand would wander into the dressing room and his voice would go through the PA... I suspect that may have had something to do with why JPJ ditched the Hammond for other keyboards and synth bass pedals in the early 70s.
My understanding is that the current E Street Band tour is back to the expanded lineup (with backing vocalists and horn section) from the Wrecking Ball tour. I guess it's still tough to deal with that kind of onstage bleed with a Leslie. But also, if there's someone else whose job it is to move and carry it, I wouldn't complain having the real thing, even if it's offstage.
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Somewhere floating around the forum is a video of @Mitch Towne telling a joke while playing a blues with walking bass on his B3. I think it's relevant to this conversation, if anyone can dig it up.
I love playing key bass, and I can get around on the pedals a little bit too (heel-toe, baby). But it demands your focus, for sure. I'm no slouch as a bass player, but playing keyboard bass parts that are interdependent with right hand chords, melodies, and improvisation is its own skill. So I'm going to lurk on this thread and see what folks have to say -- it's a part of my musicianship I'm always excited to develop.
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A good friend/collaborator/multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter I often work with is a HUGE BNL fan. My wife adores them too. They're quite brilliant -- catchy songwriting, interesting lyrics, killer vocal harmonies, sense of humor, well-crafted arrangements. Devoid of the self-importance and angst that defines a lot of 90s rock and pop.
"Brian Wilson" is a great track, and I listen to "Deck the Stills" from their holiday album every year.
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This isn't going to fully illuminate a band on a dark stage, but a friend of mine picked up this $50 galaxy projector lamp from Target and set it up in his studio, and it gave it a really fun vibe, so I did the same for my own. I have occasionally brought it to gigs to add a little mood and color above the band (in a room with ceilings or a blank backdrop that will accomodate it) or around my rig. It can power off of USB as well as a regular AC plug, so if you have a laptop rig, or USB ports in your surge protector, that's an option as well.
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@Outkasteris a huge Springsteen aficionado; he might know. I know there was a period when Dan Federici was still alive that he dropped the Leslie and used a Boss Leslie sim, but I don’t know if they’ve continued to use a sim or if they have Leslies under the stage like The Rolling Stones do (though they were running Chuck Leavell’s B3 through a Vent for awhile too!).
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Congrats, Tom! I find session work to be very satisfying, and while I love hanging out in recording studios, there’s something that feels sort of like you’re getting away with something when you can do the work without ever leaving your house.
Aside that you can take (if it saves you stress) or leave (if you have a system that works for you): you can probably relax a bit about “maximum gain without clipping” if it took you a lot of finagling to get levels. Digital recording has come a long way, and it’s not like tape where you have to get it as loud as possible (without clipping) to beat the noise floor. As long as your levels aren’t insanely quiet and you don’t clip, you should be good. 😊
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I’ve always told myself that a great song can be performed on just piano and still read as a great song.
There are, of course, a ton of exceptions to that rule (as fun as my piano arrangement of Master of Puppets may be), and certainly I’ve been inspired to go different places harmonically and melodically based on the instrument or patch that I cue up.
But whenever possible, unless I’m hearing a specific sound in my head (this needs a Rhodes! I want to write something around an 808 groove!) I try to write first, arrange later. The surest way to stop your composition brain in its tracks is to Tone Quest before you have enough context to know what tones will properly support the music (and lyrics, if it’s that kind of tune). And if you’re in the middle of writing and you go “man, this electric piano I’m playing on just isn’t working — it needs a juicy synth patch,” that’s your compositional brain engaging with your arranger brain, rather than yielding to it.
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Thank goodness for monied music enthusiasts who enjoy sharing their gifts with artists. Can’t wait to hear the results!
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On 3/9/2023 at 1:51 PM, MAJUSCULE said:
Maybe one day someone will gift me a free grand piano!
I've seen a similar scam before as well; so disheartening. However, I casually mentioned to a bass player I work with pretty often that I really want a baby grand one day and he said "do you want mine? It belonged to my parents, I took it when they moved to Florida, and now nobody plays it."
May you be so blessed.-
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I am so grateful to all of you for taking the time to read and respond. So much of this has already been so helpful to hear. Glad I took the time to post.
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Been going through some life challenges, in part related to my musical goals, and I thought this group might have some good feedback, even if ultimately I'm the only one who can come up with the answers. This is a long post, though, so bear with me.
Like many of us, the last few years have really forced a change in perspective for me. A lot of my routines, musical and otherwise, were upended. I found some new outlets during the pandemic, and now that things have been leveling off, some old projects are trying to return to the fold. I have a lot of very cool opportunities to play fun music with interesting people, and plenty of things with at least a decent balance of the gigging musician's holy trinity (the gig, the hang, the paycheck). Consequently, I'm being pulled in a lot of different directions. And overall, I'm exhausted, and feeling... directionless.
I've always done a lot of things. I write music and lyrics, I sing, I play keys, I play bass, I record/mix/produce (a little), I do booking (begrudgingly) and promo (verbosely). I think I'm pretty good at most of it. And I like having a lot of diverse projects and outlets to express those skills. But my time and, increasingly, my energy are limited.
I've got recording projects that were left unfinished through the pandemic sitting, waiting to be wrapped up. That feels like a huge hurdle, especially for the ones where I was playing, recording, mixing, and handling all the logistics for. I've got some other gigs where I can sit back and be the supporting player and coast a little more, but now that the pandemic limitations are lifting, some of them are asking for demands on my time that just aren't going to be reasonable if I want to keep my house. Of course, those tend to be the projects with the best gigs, both experientially and financially.
And when I find myself back in more of a leadership position, it just feels like too much. I've done the self-sacrificing, pushing-the-boulder-up-the-hill on behalf of musical projects for so many years, and right now being that guy just feels like more than I have bandwidth for.
Six years ago, when I got my university tech support gig that gave me access to a recording studio and microphones and nice computers and audio equipment and health insurance, I shifted my longtime goal of playing music full time to being a dude with a solid day job who focused on playing the music that felt the most satisfying, not grubbing for whatever gigs could help make enough money to survive or get me to "the next level." This definitely felt like the thing that needed to happen when a lot of the people I played with regularly started having kids -- any thoughts of being more than a "local musician" kind of went on hold when my collaborators' priorities shifted to parenthood.
But I'm tired of playing the same half dozen local clubs/breweries/wineries for lackluster payoff, of being overbooked, of feeling like my music disappears into the ether no matter how hard I work on it. It's been a long couple of years. I try to choose my musical pursuits for the joy over anything else, but I still feel like I generally spend more money than I make (on gear, travel, what have you), and like everyone else, the last year or so has forced me to tighten my purse strings a little.The band that regularly pays me the best (I'm a hired gun, I have no involvement in the business side, and that's by choice) is also the one that requires me to take an increasing amount of time away from work and other things. They signed with a booking agency earlier this year, which is great and exciting news, but now they're asking for all my availability for the rest of the year, and asking us to try to book our personal time around the availability of the other band members. I hate to feel ungrateful for the opportunity, but the alarm bells are going off. I know the idea is that it's an investment, but as nice as it is to gradually chip away at my credit card and bulk up my savings account by playing cool shows, even tripling the amount of shows we play won't pay my mortgage, and I only have so much PTO to burn for my day job.
I should mention that the interpersonal dynamics of that outfit can be challenging, as well. I'm very good at keeping my mouth shut and getting along, but the deeper in I get -- the more I become "their keyboard player" instead of "the guy who jumped in and bailed us out during Covid, we're so grateful to have you" -- the more concerned I am about being beholden to their whims (which are sometimes unrealistic bordering on delusional; the 40-year-old vocalist is having her first child in early July and has every intention of getting back onstage three weeks later). My wife is also involved in that group, and she's nearing the end of her rope with it. I get it, but I'm also reluctant to give up the band willing to move my gear around the northeast to play more, better shows at festivals and colleges. They've offered to find some subs so that they can continue to power forward without needing us to be there at every single gig, which is a great deal, but I don't know how long I can realistically cherry-pick only the gigs I like before *I* become the sub (or get the axe). Now, I've got other more professionally-oriented projects (i.e., more than just Weekend Warrior, beer money gigs) in my orbit where I have an open invitation to be a part of it as much as I can, but the demands of travel are so much and the money is still scant.
It's the first time in my life I haven't had certainty about what creative project was next, or what I was trying to accomplish artistically (at the very least in the short term). It feels like a minor crisis, even if I'm trying to frame it as an opportunity. My wife and I don't have children, and we're not sure whether or not we'll go that route, but while we have a number of musical friends/colleagues with young kids, I know that would spell some huge changes for two married musicians. I don't want to waste the time we have to ourselves while we have more freedom.So I don't know, my friends. There's a part of me still feeling the pull to get up there and play in front of an audience. It's all the other stuff around it that feels exhausting. I'm sure if I give myself a little more time to get my head on straight, I can jump back in when I'm ready, and feel a little more sure of myself. But the world keeps moving, and waits for no one. I'm afraid of being left behind, whatever that means.
Wondering if anyone else has gone through a period like this, or maybe is going through something like it right now. Either way, I appreciate you hearing all this. It's been weighing on me, and I appreciate having this community to share with.-
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1 hour ago, Mike Davis said:
Wow. Sometimes we think our heroes lead charmed lives. I guess sometimes they do …
You're referring to the orgies mentioned in the article, I assume. 🤣
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Well, I'll be getting this book. Leon Russell was a musical giant; so much of what I would want my ideal musical career to be is inspired by him. I feel lucky to have caught him live a few years before he passed (so many great stories from that one ratty club show). Really looking forward to getting some more insight into who he was.
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On 3/4/2023 at 4:11 PM, o0Ampy0o said:
It has been 14 years since he passed away.
See, it's not large-scale events that make me feel the passage of time, it's little stuff like this that reminds me I'm getting older.
Thanks for the share (especially that MusicRadar article). I find those "all the parts the guitars, drums, and piano aren't already covering" keyboard gigs to be fascinating, since they're so different than anything I've ever done. Even when I've been a "second keyboard player" that's mean't I'm doing organ and clav while someone else does piano, that sort of thing -- not strings and horns and harmonica and whatever sound is missing from that one track they did in 1976. The breadth of sonic territory that has to be covered by the keyboard in Elton's band, same with another huge legacy artist like Dave Rosenthal with Billy Joel or Wix Wickens with Paul McCartney, is just massive. And it's wild to me to see the kind of setups these players wind up with in a touring organization where money is basically no object. They don't have to quibble over a few hundred bucks for a piece of rack gear -- they just get what sounds the best and works the best. And then buy six of them for good measure.
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26 minutes ago, nadroj said:
They should really switch it to the 145 Close setting as the default. That rotary sounds awful compared to the close setting - which still isn’t perfect.
I was going to say that the Leslie sim sounds different than I remembered, even though it's been awhile since I've used my Electro 4D for organ. But you're right, I definitely have the Leslie set to close and tweaked some other things from the defaults.
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Ooh I remembered something else! You know what can really make the percussive, pitchless Hammond stuff speak if you're leaning into it? Drench it in reverb or delay! I personally love spring reverb before the Leslie, but everyone has their own preferences. If you're just doing little stabs that are subliminally part of the track, it can be way too much, but if you're doing something like the intro to Hush where you really want those slaps to hit you in the face, I'll crank the verb to get all Whole Lotta Love.
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Springsteen organist Charles Giordano
in The Keyboard Corner
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This is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to make sure I caught at least one show on this tour, despite the astronomically high ticket prices. The decade since I saw him last just flew by, and my wife is a huge fan of Bruce's songwriting but has never seen him live. It's amazing to see McCartney and Elton John doing huge shows at their age, but neither of them put on shows with the sheer stamina and athleticism as Bruce, and you gotta see it while you still can.