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
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
27th February 2017, Another cold evening for a concert but we were treated to a comprehensive evening of great musical variety at the hands of John Cooper, hands which he was rubbing together to warm his fingers, two of the heaters in the hall were out of order. At least by the forthcoming March concert we should be moving into spring and perhaps warmer weather? John punctuated his music with a good sense of humour between pieces. As he started to play he slipped off his shoes to operate the pedals in his socks. He didn’t want to scratch the pedals… Whilst playing, John’s father maintained a projected video relevant to the music as an inset on the screened images of keyboard and pedals.
The evening opened with music in the stile of James last, the Elizabethan serenade, we heard music from Les Misérables, a variety from Disney, Hans Zimmer’s pirates of the Caribbean. Further pieces included, The Rose, Hero, Unforgettable, Bring him home, Conquest of Paradise, Palladio, and a very soulful rendition of ‘Morning in Cornwall’. Eventually the concert reached the end of the evening and John returned to play ‘Time to say goodbye’ as his encore.
The instrument John brought with him was a Yamaha Stagea ELS-02C. Apparently these are very rare in the UK perhaps only two models including John’s. It seems one can be purchased here for £25,000 or as John did, journey to Japan and bring your own back for about £6,000 or was it £8000? Well out of interest I checked and today you can buy one direct in Japan for 1,036,800 Japanese Yen or in good old GBP £7,862.96p
John’s Yamaha Stagea ELS-02C
Posted in Concert Review Tagged with: A concert - The Organist Entertains, BOKC, brentwood, concert, john cooper
