Elizabeth Harrison
Elizabeth Harrison
July 3rd 2010
Yamaha EL900
What a delight to welcome both Elizabeth and her Mum to the BKC on this balmy summer's evening and what a super turnout for her concert. Elizabeth hails from Chipping, near Preston, in Lancashire and plays a white Yamaha EL900.
Looking fetching in her black trousers and top set off by a sparkly turquoise bolero top, she opened her program with a lively march Out Of The Blue before continuing with an equally lively samba, Amor. Next some Glenn Miller sounds for Cheery Cheery Bee and then straight into Sambalena composed by Vic Hammitt.
Roy Orbisan's In Dreams was set to a nice rumba rhythm with sunglasses to match! Peter was, of course, operating the video cameras and hey presto, the organ manuals changed into pretty colours.
After that Elizabeth launched into her first medley with Dream - Harbour Lights - Unforgettable - Misty and Don't Laugh At Me. Keith was not having the best of evenings as some of his equipment had stopped working, but Keith being Keith, he still managed to set some nice background colours and patterns throughout the evening, well done Keith!
The Peanut Polka followed with "peanuts" jumping around the back of the stage, before we heard Aces High. This young lady likes her marches! Another medley followed with Put Another Nickel In - Sweet Georgia Brown - Swannee - Hello Dolly - Change Partners - Bring Me Sunshine - Mammy and Lady Be Good.
Elizabeth is one of those ladies who can't sit still, she not only plays the organ but also drives tractors (she has 15 in her collection!). She has a coach license, runs a small gardening business and does cleaning jobs. Promptly fetching her ostrich feather duster, the handle fully extended, she started to dust above the stage curtain and soon produced a shuttle cock! We didn't really think that badminton was on the program tonight……., however Lonely is a Man Without Love definitely was.
Some beautiful church organ sounds for the Prelude In Classic Style by composer Gordon Young. For something totally different and for all the Wimbledon fans we heard Sporting Occasions, composed by Leslie Statham (aka Arnold Steck), who originally served in the Welsh Guards but following his retirement from the service in 1962 concentrated on a career as a composer and arranger. Changing tack again we were treated to Vienna City Of My Dreams and Nights Of Gladness, swiftly followed by Love Is All.
Time for refreshments and the raffle, and also a chance for Keith to reset the background colours and for Elizabeth to change into a bright red bolero top. We were ready for some more superb entertainment. She opened the 2nd half with High School Cadets before delighting us with some Caribbean sounds and bossa novas, i.e. Fly Me To The Moon - Blame It On The Bossa Nova - Guantanamero, before King Cotton made an appearance.
Then an Andy Williams tune, I just can't remember the title…..Well, you could just "see" the Musicbox Dancer (an international hit in the late 1970's), doing her stuff on top of the jewellery box, before upping the tempo for Rollercoster. Then a lovely rendition of This Is My Song, sung originally by Petula Clark.
If you were in the mood for some tangos Jealousy - The Blue Tango and Amapola were just the job. Another march, Semper Fidelis before the audience sang Happy Birthday to Stephen. Elizabeth followed this with Too Young - Magic Moments and Sleepytime Girl and from Carousel If I Love You before launching into another medley with the theme from Howard's Way (Always There) - True Love Wins - Strangers In The Night and I Could Have Danced All Night swiftly followed by Five Foot Two - Bye Bye Blackbird and Bob Bob Bobbin.<1007-Elizabeth-Harrison.html/p>
John must have smelt food for he charged towards the stage (to take a picture) when Elizabeth struck up for the Teddy Bears Picnic - Didn't We Have A Lovely Day The Day We Went To Bangor and Ship Ahoy.
What a delight it is watching Elizabeth play, her delightful smile never leaves her face nor is there a note of music in front of her, how does she do it? Needless to say, the audience demanded the traditional encore and with a Model Railway Exhibition taking place in the hall next door, the Orange Blossom Special was just right.