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
Concert Review 25th September 2017 – Alex Payler
25th September and summer was over, the evenings drawing in and maybe that was why the turnout for our concert by Alex Payler was so disappointingly low. We even delayed the start of the evening hoping for a few more attendees.
Alex provided a captivating performance of live music with varied genres. He performed on his very capable Yamaha. There surely ought to have been content to please all. The evening opened with a lively rendition of Palladio soon contrasted by the minuet from the L’arlesienne suite by Bizet. As the evening progressed we heard music from film, stage, TV and the classics. Perhaps the style of his music should described as orchestral rather than Hammond, how the listener appreciated what they listened to would depend on their preference of style but the performance itself was absorbing, rounded and accomplished. At the end of the evening Alex was applauded and an encore requested for which he played Brazil by Ary Barroso
Alex’s instrument was the YAMAHA Electone Stagea ELS-02C. As well as being the first pro-player to import this very special instrument into the UK, he is now one of the leading exponents of this particular model in the world.
Alex’s concert content
PART 1 [Approx. Running Time—1:00Hr]
PART 2 [Approx. Running Time—1:00Hr]
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: A concert - The Organist Entertains, Alex Payler, BOKC, bokc.BOKC, brentwood organ, Brentwood Organ Keyboard club, mountnessing
Concert review – Matthew Bason 24th July 2017
Our concert of the 24th July 2017 was the first with the new start time of 7.45pm, at least that was the intention. There had been an accident on the nearby A12 with the road effectively blocked all the way to Chelmsford, diverted traffic was then passing outside the hall. The audience was arriving for the night’s performance yet there was no Matthew Bason! To the relief of all though he did appear after an extensive diversion and the concert started only five minutes later than intended.
Multi talented Matthew gave us a taste of his “One-Man Musical Variety Show”. During the evening he not only played the Roland atelier AT350 punctuated with his own brand of humour, but a Yamaha piano, the accordion and we listened to his excellent singing voice. Matthews rendition of bring him home brought part of the audience to their feet. Mathew introduced differing stiles into his music; we heard music played on his Roland emulating a Hammond, a selection of gospel music, Classical, orchestral, and film music, to mention a few.
Matthew introduced us to Helga whom he produced form a suitcase, Helga the Piano accordion. On Helga he played for us his Brexit medley collection each piece relating to an EU country. The medley included, Tulips from Amsterdam, O soli Mio, amongst others.
Amongst just some of the music played by Matthew were. Blue tango, blue waltz, blue bossa, Misty, Amazing Grace, I’m all shook up, lets twist again like we did last summer, Brahms lullaby, 12th street rag, A selection from Abba including, Dancing queen, Mama Mia, tragedy, and thank you for the music. Other pieces included, the Rudetzky March. Hebrew slaves, Duke Ellington’s Caravan, River Kwai march, Bring him home, A homage to Dean Martin (who would have been 100 this year) included among others, Every body needs somebody, and sway. We also heard, somewhere over the rainbow, all the things you are, and Circus Renz.
Matthew’s “One-Man Musical Variety show” certainly fulfilled its promise of variety and was well applauded.
Matthew’s Roland Atelier AT350 and Yamaha Piano
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: BOKC, brentwood organ, Brentwood Organ Keyboard club, Live music, Matthew Bason, mountnessing
It was a warm summer evening with a good number of attendees in the audience for our evening concert performed by Elizabeth Harrrison. She began by introducing herself as a farmer, a driver of big machines and goods vehicles. Elizabeth’s boyfriend, also a farmer but their two farms were she said, 26 miles apart. Elizabeth made an appeal to the audience, she was a collector of tractors, at one time she had 13 but presently only 8, she did however want to find a Massey Ferguson 35, 3 cylinder tractor, and appealed to anyone in the audience who may have one for sale. There was much amusement but no offers. Elizabeth hadn’t had much luck with a shopping trip either, out for vacuum cleaner bags she returned home with a dog instead. The dog, a black and white border collie needed a new home, its owners were emigrating.
So the music started for an audience already amused. Unusually for an artiste, she performed facing us; throughout the evening she punctuated her performance with facial expressions that were themselves quite entertaining. Elizabeth is an accomplished entertainer with a performance repertoire that included something for everyone. Amongst the music she played were; themes from west end shows, strangers in the night, Choo Choo Samba, Too Beautiful To Last, A 1960s Selection including Three Steps To Heaven, I Only Want To Be With You, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Its A Heartache, Georgie Girl. Marches- Out Of The Blue, Dancing Dustman. Viennese Waltz Selection including Over The Waves, Ciribiribin, Chrysanthemum Waltz, Nights of Gladness. Classical – Prelude In Classic Style, and House of dreams. We were also led in a sing song that featured well known cockney and wartime favourites, My old mans a dustman, Ain’t she sweet, Run rabbit run, when your smiling and Bring me sunshine.
Elizabeth’s instrument was a Roland ATELIER Combo AT-350C with Pedal board and a “Tower Organ in a box” module.
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: BOKC, bokc.BOKC, brentwood, brentwood organ, Brentwood organ and keyboard, Brentwood Organ Keyboard club, concert, Concert 26th June 2017, Elizabeth Harrison
