Tony Stace

Tony Stace

December 1^st 2007

Once again Christmas time was upon us and who better to welcome at the club than the one and only Tony Stace who opened his program with Food Glorious Food (had he seen the Christmas goodies in the kitchen?), Pick A Pocket Or Two, I'd Do Anything & Consider Yourself One Of The Family, all of course from Oliver and played on his faithful Yamaha HX1 organ, now some 21 years old. In Tony's capable hands, it still produces the most amazing sounds.

The next 6 minutes produced What A Wonderful World, Sunrise Call and Once Upon A Time In The West. All this set to a Christmassy background with the drapes, rope lights, lanterns, icicles, spot lights & snow flakes, the latter courtesy of Keith.

L'Estudiantina by Waldteufel was next. A new addition to his program is a medley of Al Johnson tunes - Toot Toot Tootsie, My Dear Old Mammy, Give My Regards To Broadway, Rockabye My Baby, You Made Me Love You, Four Leaf Clover, California & Babyface, great selection Tony, all enhanced by differently coloured spots going round the hall.

From his Dizzy fingers tape Cavatina, Wonderful Land & Apache, much enjoyed by the audience. Latin American music is always much appreciated, we had Adalito, Villa Vita (composed by Franz Lambert), Sao Paolo Me Amora & The Parrot & the Fortune Tellers Hat. Some requests from the audience followed which began with Portrait Of My Love, Mona Lisa finishing off with Misty and to conclude the first half La Danza.

Ann, Pauline and I had prepared some 125 plates of mince pies, sausage rolls and chocolate Swiss roll, which soon disappeared as the audience collected these and their drinks. Following the extensive raffle, inclusive of a Christmas cake made by Ann, we were ready to enjoy the second half.

Multi coloured sleighs set the scene for a Winter Wonderland, Have Yourself A Merry Christmas & Dreaming Of A White Christmas with snow flakes in the background, then Silent Night, Away In A Manger, Jingle Bells & Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

Tony continued with a Frankie Valley medley, i.e. Ragdoll, Walk Like A Man, and Sherry & Save It For Me. We were then treated to some golden oldies like The Old Ragged Cross, the love theme from The Thornbirds, Cara Mia & The Last Waltz before he upped the tempo with the lively King Cotton march and an equally lively Annen Polka by none other than Strauss. If that was not enough we then had a 4 ½ minute finger exercises in the shape of Nola. Well done, Tony!

Some more Latin music, this time Desafinado, Besame Mucho and Mambo Jambo with revolving spot lights going round the ceiling. Another polka, this time the Tick Tock one.

A very nice evening of superb music by a fabulous musician was drawing to a close. We had enjoyed a full house for the evening, which made for a great atmosphere in the hall. Tony's encore for us was another medley of seasonal music. Yes Santa Claus Is Coming Into Town, Little Town Of Bethlehem, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Silver bells, Mistletoe & Wine. Then it was time to take in the Lambeth Walk, We Wish You A Merry Christmas and in traditional British Style Auld Lang Syne. Super.

Our thanks to Tony for a wonderful evening which put us all in "the mood" for the festivities. On behalf of the club, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a healthy and musical New Year.

Catharina.

Why not come along to a Basildon Keyboard Club Concert, you will be made very welcome, have a great evenings entertainment, a complimentary cup of tea or coffee with biscuits and of course experience the delights of live music played on top of the range electronic organs & keyboards by the best players.