James Sargeant
James Sargeant
February 5th 2011
Yamaha Tyros 4
It was a very blustery February evening for our concert night, which saw a return of our good friend James, who was delighted to be with us again to show off the new Tyros 4.
He opened his concert with me 'Fly Me To The Moon', set to a blue background by Keith. A spoof, by the same title, is, of course, currently on TV. James then launched into some Latin numbers with the 'Samba De Orfeu - Brazil and Invitations'. Some absolutely outstanding piano sounds have been sampled for the T4 and some exquisite strings, which made for beautiful registrations for Michelle Legrand's 'I Will Wait For You'.
It's a well known fact that James likes a bit of big band, Count Basie made an appearance with 'Shiny Stockings'. Jerry Alan was a great influence on James, who he had the pleasure of meeting in 1978. James ended up having a short lesson on the Lowrey Holiday D325, the piece he was given to practise was LeRoy Andersen's 'Forgotten Dreams', a real finger exercise and beautifully played by James.
A kaleidoscope of revolving shapes set the scene nicely for 'Smile Away Each Rainy Day' by Henri Mancini and 'Let's Call The Whole Thing Off'. We all recall the days of Mack & Mable and 'I Won't Send Roses'. This was an absolutely beautiful rendition, played without rhythm, once again showing off the piano, strings plus the oboe.
Rhythm activated shapes made for a great background for 'Out Of Nowhere', using drawbar sounds, super - and finishing off the first half with 'Caravan' we were ready for refreshments and the raffle.
A very lively jazzy number opened the second part of James's concert, namely 'Rockhouse'. Piano and organsounds featured for 'A Million Lovesongs'. Another Henri Mancini song next, in the shape of 'It Had Better Be Tonight', a big band number which was also released by none other than Michael Buble, with Keith using his Moving Rays as a backdrop.
The Doodah voices on the Tyros 4 are absolutely out of this world with James using them to good effect for a Manhattan Transfer's 'Four Brothers'. James then continued with a piece of music recorded by George Michael 'I Can't Make You Love Me' before announcing that he was down to his last number(s). This was a medley of tunes by the Carpenters, too numerous to mention, whose music is still popular to this day. The encore featured 'If I Never Play Another Tune' by Matt Monroe.