Concert Review 25th February 2019 Paul Carman
Paul Carman – A concert performance that didn’t disappoint. At the start of the evening, as visitors came through the door, conversations were about how entertaining a recent Paul Carman concert had been. It was soon apparent the performance would be well attended.
Paul proved to be most entertaining. We expect our attending artists to be accomplished musicians, and they are, but Paul also brought with him a great sense of humour worthy of any stand-up comedian. When he wasn’t playing his music or making us laugh he was singing to us. Most should agree Paul gave us good entertainment to remember.
Paul’s instrument.
Korg Pa4X, In split mode with pedalboard –
Proving that a modern keyboard can successfully replace a two manual organ.
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: A concert – The Organist Entertains, BOKC, brentwood, brentwood organ, Brentwood Organ Keyboard club, concert, Live music, Paul Carman, steve morl
Concert Review – 26th November 2018 – Steve Allison
Sadly due to the untimely passing of Chiho Sunamoto the club was at a loss for an artiste to perform at our concert of the 26th November until Steve Allison revealed that he was available for the evening.
Steve gave us a night of music that was distinctly his own. Very much he seemed to favour ‘marches’ and if you were a lover of this style then it would have been your night. There was though variety but each segment of the evening contained music that Steve had no doubt deliberately grouped, due to perhaps, being able to maintain a tempo or backing. However the evening contained music that at some point would have appealed to all. Without him we would have been turning all away at the door. So a big thank you to Steve for entertaining us for the evening.
Some of the music we heard included.
A medley to commemorate WW1 The songs of the troops. ‘If’, A quick step medley in the style of the tower ballroom. One moment in time, A selection of ‘Spanish holiday music’ Angel in blue,. Misty, Unforgettable, Games lovers play. Barbaretta march, (Bridge to far) A selection of waltz’s, A samba, Oh my beloved father, Theme from the battle of Britain, aces high, Every thing I do, Solitaire.
Steve was recalled to provide an encore for which he produced a medley music in an ‘Um- Pah’ style.
All in all . Our thanks to Steve who rescued the evening.
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: A concert – The Organist Entertains, BOKC, brentwood, brentwood organ, Brentwood Organ Keyboard club, concert, Live music, mountnessing, Steve Allison
Concert Review 26th March 2018 – Dirkjan Ranzijn
Dirk, as he suggested we call him, arrived… He had just made the journey from Holland to perform for us. His character like the instrument he brought with him was much larger than life. We had an evening of great entertainment with a wacky sense of humour made all the more amusing because of the constant distorted translation from Dutch to English.
Dirk brought the audience into his performance and encouraged participation. We were rocking in our seats and some even found themselves jumping out of them at times or waving arms in the air to make the letters YMCA. The music we heard was a very accomplished performance and with the requested encore ran slightly overtime. Many rose to their feet at the end of the performance.
Amongst the music we listened to were; Beautiful noise, Lugarno (A piece composed by Dirk whilst in Switzerland) Bizet Carmen, Standing by, Valerie, Spirit of Norway, Willie Nelsons, “On the road again”. A medley from Grease, A rock and roll selection, because we believe, A Latin American selection, the Snow Waltz, Tequila sunrise, that will be the day, YMCA, Tulips from Amsterdam. Bless Em All, Unforgettable, and A medley from Les Miserables.
The encore was itself a medley of many other pieces.
Dirk’s instrument was a Bohm Sinfonia 480
Posted in Newsletters Tagged with: A concert - The Organist Entertains, A concert – The Organist Entertains, BOKC, brentwood, Brentwood organ and keyboard, Dirkjan Ranzijn, Live music, mountnessing, Ranzijn
Concert Review 27th Nov 2017 – Michael Sullivan
It was a cold November night perhaps that had an effect on the instrument Michael had with him to play? The adage, ‘Putting all your eggs in one basket’ never seemed more relevant. Perhaps we forget that’s what our artistes do when they sit in front of us with their ‘one’ instrument on which to entertain us for the evening. When things go wrong with the keyboard what do you do in front of that audience who expect to be entertained, but you as the performer are sat at the keyboard of a broken instrument? It was particularly the instruments foot pedals, these latched to the last note played and held the note. For Michael it must have been disastrous for his confidence and ability to entertain, it wasn’t really until the second half of the evening when Michael began to overcome problems with the instrument and his performance recovered.
A flavour of the pieces played included; Anything goes, Sleepy Shores, Liberty Bell, Puppet on a string, The Sound of Music, Buddy Holly pieces, Arrivederci Roma, A Gershwin selection, Tiger Rag, Maple leaf Rag, On the sunny side of the street, She wears red feathers, a TV medley including Cross Roads and Z Cars, and toward the evenings conclusion, MacArthur park.
Michael played a Yamaha Tyros 4 with 2 Yamaha MSR 250 powered speakers plus Ketron midi pedals linked to a Roland SC 33 sound module.
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: A concert – The Organist Entertains, BOKC, brentwood, brentwood organ, Brentwood organ and keyboard, Live music, Mike Sullivan, mountnessing
Concert Review 23rd October 2017 – Rod Pooley
The evenings were drawing in, how fast the year is passing. Our guest for the evening was Rod Pooley. He opened with a sense of humour that continued throughout. “It was good to be back in Essex after such a long time… and the only way is??” Of course many replied “ESSEX…” He was, he thought a young man when last he performed for us, there was a bit of friendly banter between him and our booking secretary about how he came to be overlooked for so long and then the concert began with, ‘windmills of your mind’. Followed by “Charlie Chan”. Between each piece thereafter Rod continued with his humour which never failed to raise a laugh, he was himself the brunt of much of it. We listened to the realistic sound of ‘the big band’, ‘orchestras’ film music and much more. Some titles from the evening were, ‘O Mio Bambino Caro’, ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ ‘All I ask of you’ and ‘Home’ by Michael Bublé. The evening was very well received by all with much applause. Rod commented that he hoped he wouldn’t need to wait another 14 years to be asked back again.
I am informed that, for those who like to know these things…
The instrument that Rod was using was the TRX Organ system based on Yamaha Tyros 5 with Hammond pedals.
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: A concert – The Organist Entertains, BOKC, bokc.BOKC, brentwood, brentwood organ, Brentwood Organ Keyboard club, concert, Essex, keyboard, Live music, mountnessing, Rod Pooley
