Keyboard April 2014

download Keyboard April 2014

of 27

Transcript of Keyboard April 2014

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    1/70

    04.2014 | $5.99A MUSIC PLAYER PUBLICATION

    ROLAND FA-06Back in the Workstation Game

     YAMAHA MOXFHard-Hitting Studio and

    Gig Machine

    SYNTHMASTERSof Synth Sleeper Hit

    HK LUCAS NANO Your PA for Small Gigs?

    WAYS TO PLAY LIKEBENMONT TENCH

    BOLD HARMONICMOTION FORJAZZ PLAYERS

    CLICK TRACKWORKOUT FORRUSSIAN DRAGONS

    REVIEWS

    CHICK

    COREAKeeping a Vigil on Your Musical Voice

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    2/70

    NEW!

    OSCILLATE! Nord Lead 4 is a virtual analog synthesizer with 2

    oscillators per voice and 4 slots. New features include Wavetables with

    formants, Hard/Soft Sync, Noise-generator with dedicated filter and a true

    Unison-mode for meaty leads!

    MODULATE! 2 LFOs and a Modulation Envelope can control

    anything from filters to effects and even offer very flexible triggering options.

    FILTER! Nord Lead 4 features 7 filter types including an extremely steep

    48 dB low-pass filter, two amazing simulations of the legendary transistor

    and diode ladder-filters and a powerful drive for distorting the sound

    internally in the filter.

    MUTILATE! Color your sounds with simulated tube amp distortion,

    sample-rate reduction, comb-filtering, a talk box-effect and a compressor.

    Each slot also features a tweakable delay with analog-mode plus reverb.

    SYNCHRONIZE!  Arpegg iators, LFOs and delays can all besynchronized to the internal Master Clock or an external sequencer.

    IMPROVISE! The flexible Morph functionality offers unprecedented

    control over your sound while playing. Change multiple parameters at once

    - gradually with the mod wheel or velocity - or instantaneously with the

    powerful new Impulse Morph buttons.

    Listen to sound demos:nordkeyboards.com/nordlead4

    Handmade in Sweden by Clavia DMI AB

    With innovative new live features, advanced layering and synchronization options,

    new filter simulations and powerful effects, the new Nord Lead 4 is a flexible synth

    that’s just as brilliant on stage as in your studio.

    Nord Lead 4R - Rack mountable table-top version

    Nord Lead 4 - 49-key synth version

    Follow us:facebook.com/nordkeyboards

    For more information contact

    [email protected]

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    3/70

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    4/70

    MicroBrute is the tiny analog synth with

    vast possibilities. The MicroBrute puts all the

    essential building blocks of an analog classic

    into a package that’s pure hands-on fun. If

    you’re new to synths, you’re looking at one

    of the most unique sounding synthesizers we

     think money can buy. And if you’re a synth

    “The MicroBrute is a pure analoguesynth, and it sounds like one. TheMicroBrute will become a signicantsuccess in its own right.”

    Sound on Sound, 02/2014

    veteran, MicroBrute is also a seriously capable

    semi-modular sequence-able beast. Wait till

    you hear how it sounds

    Tiny in size, tiny in price, huge in sound, and

    vast in potential. We’ve had so much fun with

    MicroBrute: Now it’s your turn.www.arturia.com

    Looks tiny, sounds massive

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    5/70

    Sub 37 TributeEdition

    taktile-49

    LSR308

     Apollo Twin DUO

    Push with Live 9 Intro

    MOXF8

    “Best service I’ve received from ANY store!”Wyndell from Mckinney, TX

    Knowledgeable Staff, Top Brands, and Competitive Prices –That’s the Sweetwater Difference!

    *Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer for details or visit Sweetwater.com/financing.**Please note: Apple products are excluded from this warranty, and other restrictions may apply. Please visit Sweetwater.com/warranty for complete details.

    ( 800 ) 222-4700Sweetwater.com

    24 MONTHSON SELECT BRANDS, USING YOUR SWEETWATER

    MUSICIAN’S ALL ACCESS PLATINUM CARD,

    THROUGH APRIL 30, 2014*

    SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE

    2-YEAR WARRANTY**Total Confidence Coverage™ Warranty

    FREE PRO ADVICEWe’re here to help! Call today!

    FAST, FREE SHIPPINGOn most orders, with no minimum purchase!

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    6/70Keyboard  04.20146

    APRIL 2014CONTENTS

    12 In our monster eight-page report, we go hands-on with the latestand greatest gear to make its debut at the biggest musical

    instrument and pro audio expo in the western hemisphere.

    50 WORKSTATION

    Roland FA Series

    54 WORKSTATION

     Yamaha MOXF and Karma-

    Lab KARMA Motif software

    58  SOFT SYNTH

    KV331 Audio SynthMaster

    62  PA

    HK Audio Lucas Nano 300

    64  APP

    Master Record

    66  Five things in-demand sideman Henry Hey has

    learned about Playing Soft Synths Live.

    KEYBOARD (ISSN 0730-0158) is published monthly by NewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, San Bruno,

    CA 94066. All material published in KEYBOARD is copyrighted © 2013 by NewBay Media. All rights reserved. Re-

    production of material appearing in KEYBOARD is forbidden without permission. KEYBOARD is a registered trade-

    mark of NewBay Media. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER:

    Send address changes to KEYBOARD P.O. Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement

    #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

    NEW GEAR

    TALK 

    22 LEGENDS

    Jazz fusion and multi-keyboard pioneer Chick Corea

    returns with new compositions and a new band, the

     Vigil. Get his advice for keeping a vigil on your own

    musical development in this candid interview.

    26  SONG STORIES

    Hear straight from songwriter Marc Cohn about the

    transformative trip that busted his writer’s block and

    led to the iconic hit “Walking in Memphis.”

    30  TALENT SCOUT

    With a jazz-infused technique and fearless senseof musical exploration, Ariadna Castellanos is

    making amenco hot again.

    32  PLAYLIST

    What we’re listening to this month.

    10  Voices from the Keyboard community.

    34 LATINFive ways to play like Heartbreaker

    Benmont Tench.

    38  JAZZ

    George Colligan on harmonic motion.

    40  TECHNIQUE

    Kimmel keysman Jeff Babko on playing to a click.

    44  THE ART OF

    SYNTH SOLOING

    Two-handed techniques

    inspired by Chick Corea.

    46  BEYOND THE MANUAL

    Music production wizard Craig Anderton serves up advanced tips

    and tricks for working with MIDI

    tracks in part 2 of MIDI Reloaded.

    48  DANCE

    Create the square wave synth

    bass predicted to be the dance oor

    sound of 2014.

    Online Now!

    keyboardmag.com/april2014

    Web-only special: Great

    pianists check out high-end

    grand pianos at NAMM!

    HEAR 

    SPECIAL REPORT: THE LATEST FROM NAMM 2014

    PLAY  

    REVIEW 

    KNOW 

    CODA

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    7/70

    Download the NEW iPad App— 

    Keyboard

    Magazine

    Go to  www.keyboardmag.com/ipad

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    8/70

    Keyboard Magazine  isNOW AVAILABLE ON THE iPAD!

    Get the NEW  and IMPROVED 

    Keyboard Magazine app today!

    You’ll have lessons penned by music’s brightest

    stars, hands-on workshops that help players master

    the latest tools, the most heavily-cited equipment

    reviews in the business, and much more right at your

    fingertips. Keyboard  is the only place to learn which

    notes to play and which knobs to turn—empowering

    musicians of all styles and skill levels to use music

    technology the way they want to.

    To download the app for FREE go

    to www.keyboardmag.com/ipad

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    9/70

    Designed and built in California Visit davesmithinstruments.com

    Dave Smith

    Instrument DesignerCo-Creator of MIDI

    Grammy® Winner

    Over the past 40 years,Dave Smith has designed more ground-breaking synthesizers than anyone, ever.

    Dave Smith Instruments has the largestline of analog and digital/analog hybrids y n t h s i n t h e w o r l d . T o p t o b o t t o m ,D a v e S m i t h I n s t r u m e n t s ’ a w a r d -winni ng, A merican-made productl ine inc lude s a synthe s ize r fore ve ry ne e d and budge t , f romthe flagship Prophet 12 to theaffordable and ultra-port ableMopho product family.

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    10/70

    EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Michael Molenda [email protected]

    EDITOR IN CHIEF: Stephen Fortner [email protected]

    MANAGING EDITOR: Debbie Greenberg [email protected]

    EDITOR AT LARGE: Jon Regen

    SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Jim Aikin, Craig Anderton,

    David Battino, Tom Brislin, Michael Gallant, Robbie Gennet, Scott Healy,

    Ken Hughes, Peter Kirn, John Krogh, Richard Leiter, Mike McKnight,

    Tony Orant, Francis Preve, Mitchell Sigman

    EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Grace Larkin

    ART DIRECTOR: Damien Castaneda [email protected]

    MUSIC COPYIST: Matt Beck

    PRODUCTION MANAGER: Amy Santana

    PUBLISHER: Joe Perry jperry@nbm edia.com, 212.378.0464

    ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, EASTERN REGION, MIDWEST

    & EUROPE: Jeff Donnenwerth [email protected],

    770.643.1425

    ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, WESTERN REGION & ASIA: 

    Mari Deetz [email protected], 650.238.0344

    ADVERTISING SALES, EASTERN ACCOUNTS: 

     Anna Blumenthal [email protected], 646.723.5404

    SPECIALTY SALES ADVERTISING, WEST: Michelle Eigan

    [email protected], 650.238.0325

    SPECIALTY SALES ADVERTISING, EAST: Jon Brudner

     [email protected], 917.281.4721

    THE NEWBAY MUSIC GROUPVICE PRESIDENT PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Bill Amstutz

    GROUP PUBLISHER: Bob Ziltz

    EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Brad Tolinski

    SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST: Bob Jenkins

    PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT MANAGER: Beatrice Kim

    DIRECTOR OF MARKETING: Chris Campana

    MOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNER: Tim Tsuruda

    SYSTEMS ENGINEER: Bill Brooks

    CONSUMER MARKETING DIRECTOR: Meg Estevez

    CONSUMER MARKETING COORDINATOR: Dominique Rennell

    FULFILLMENT COORDINATOR: Ulises Cabrera

    OFFICES SERVICES COORDINATOR: Mara Hampson

    NEWBAY MEDIA CORPORATEPRESIDENT & CEO: Steve Palm

    CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: Paul Mastronardi

    CONTROLLER: Jack Liedke

    VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL MEDIA: Robert Ames

    VICE PRESIDENT, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT: Denise Robbins

    VICE PRESIDENT, CONTENT & MARKETING: Anthony Savona

    IT DIRECTOR:  Anthony Verbanic

    VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES: Ray Vollmer

    LIST RENTAL

    914.925.2449

    [email protected]

    REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS

    For article reprints please contact our reprint coordinator at

    Wright’s Reprints: 877.652.5295

    SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS?

    800-289-9919 (in the U.S. only) 978-667-0364

    keyboardmag@computerfulfi llment.com

    Keyboard Magazine, Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853

    Find a back issue

    800-289-9919 or [email protected]

    Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited

    manuscripts, photos, or artwork.

    VOL. 40, NO. 04 #456 APRIL 2014

    Follow us on

    Keyboard  04.2014 8

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    11/70

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    12/70

    VOICES FROM THE KEYBOARD  COMMUNITYTALK 

    10 Keyboard  04.2014 10

    Recently, a parenting blog piece called “Te High

    Cost of Music” showed up in my Facebook feed.

    It wasn’t terribly recent itself, but I’ve seen many

    forms of the complaint it expressed: $60 per

    hour—the going rate in the author’s affluent

    suburb of Boston and places like it—is too much

    to pay for music lessons for kids.

    Te author quotes U.S. labor stats showing that

    several ostensibly tougher jobs pay less. She then

    argues that assuming roughly 40 hours per week, a

    piano teacher makes $120,000 per year. Assuming

    $60 per hour is an accurate median (debatable), the

    error here is that most music teachers don’t book

    anywhere near 40 hours of lessons each week. Why

    not? Kids have school most of the year, making for

    a brief late afternoon window for other activities.

    Seriously, if you’re pulling $120K a year teaching,

    let me know and I’ll hang out a shingle myself.

    Not that you shouldn’t be. Countless stud-

    ies have shown that music education improves

    academic performance and social skills, so I’m

    always indignant when folks who would never

    haggle with a car mechanic or hairstylist have no

    shame about doing so with a music professional.

     At the time of this writing, the piece seems

    to have been pulled from the host site, Parenting

    Squad, so I don’t want to throw mud. Kids have a

    myriad of different needs, all of which must be bud-

    geted for, and that ain’t easy. Tat said, I believe thatmusic is fundamental—and our kids are worth it.

    Te original Korg Kaossilator has a cool rhythmic quirk you can recreate with almost any sampleror audio editor: If you record a loop on the Kaossilator and then increase the tempo, the instru-

    ment chops samples off the end of the loop to make it t the shorter duration. (Te typical way to

    t a loop to a faster tempo is to time-stretch it or raise its pitch.) By dialing in the right tempo on

    the Kaossilator, you can chop off eighth-notes or entire beats, turning a 4/4 groove into 6/8, 3/4, or

    other feels. You could also chop beats manually in your DAW for fresh variations. Hear an example

    at keyboardmag.com/april2014. David Battino

    THE  POLL

    Q: IS THE

    NAMM SHOW

    STILL A

    RELEVANT

    SOURCE OFGEAR INFO

    FOR YOU?

    Polls rotate every two weeks, and can be found at the bottom of our homepage.

    Key Secrets Crop and Roll

    Stephen Fortner

    Editor

    Connect

    Comment directly at

    keyboardmag.com

    twitter.com

    keyboardmag

    facebook.com

    KeyboardMagazine

    SoundCloud.com

    KeyboardMag

    Keyboard Corner

    forums.musicplayer.com

    email

    [email protected]

    Editor’s Note

    NO

    16%

    THE WHAT?

    6%

    YES

    78%

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    13/70

    1104.2014  Keyboard 

    The Emphase is a “concept car” synth under development at Non-

    Linear Labs, the brainchild of Native Instruments’ Stefan Schmitt.

    The concept? A custom keyboard sending high-resolution (not MIDI)

    controller data to a DSP engine based on NI Reaktor. No computer

    is required, and for gigging, the keyboard works detached from

    the control panel; the latter accepts overlay labels for its myriad of

    assignable buttons. Aesthetically, it reminds us of the Synclavier II, but

    is sure to be far more powerful and not involve a second mortgage.

    Follow the Emphase’s progress at nonlinear-labs.de

    My First _______________. David Rosenthal“I began playing piano when I was seven,” recalls multi-keyboard master and Billy Joelmusic director David Rosenthal, “but my first experience with a synth came at age 15

    when I went to music camp at Glassboro State College.” While attending, Rosenthal

    heard Isao Tomita’s synth-fueled reinvention of Pictures at an Exhibition and was floored.

    “It gave me goose bumps,” he recalls. Luckily, the camp had a Moog Modular on site

    and Rosenthal jumped at the chance to dig in. “The teachers gave me a little class

    and I tried to figure out signal paths as I went,” he says. “Between that experience and

    hearing the Tomita album, I knew—this is what I wanted to do, no question.” So inspired,

    Rosenthal worked two summers to earn enough cash for a Roland SH-1000, on which he

    reproduced the sounds of his favorite Tomita records, and emulated the stylings of Yes,

    ELP, and Chick Corea. “I used that first synth to help one of my high school bands win

    the Garden State Arts Center talent show playing ELP’s ‘Hoedown,’” he says, laughing.

    “Today, I still have it in the original case.” Keep up with David at davidrosenthal.com. | Michael Gallant

     _______________iano w en I was seven ” recaSynthesizer 

    NEXT TECH >>THEULTIMATE HYBRID?

    30 YEARSAGO 

    TODAYOur April 1984 cover fea-

    tured Joe Sample of the

    Crusaders, who has recently been touring with Wayne Henderson

    and Wilton Felder of the original Jazz Crusaders lineup. April has

    long been our NAMM report issue, and keyboards spied at that

    year’s expo included prototypes of the Kurzweil K250 and Rhodes

    Mark V (with MIDI out), as well as Casio’s dual-manual monster,

    the Symphonytron 8000. Also, Eddie Van Halen talked about play-

    ing synths on the album (wait for it) 1984.

    +

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    14/70

    Keyboard  04.2014 12

    NEW GEAR 

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    15/70

    1304.2014  Keyboard 

    MOOG MUSIC SUB 37

    The Sub 37 is the first more-than-monophonic Moogin 30 years, with a duo mode that squeezes out two

    voices of polyphony. Technically it’s  paraphonic,

    meaning that the oscillators feed a common filter and

    amp, but “paraphony” would sound like we’re talking

    about Milli Vanilli. Expanding on the Sub Phatty

    with more presets, loopable envelopes for filter and

    volume, and an arpeggiator, it provides everything

    Moog purists want while also taking off in a more

    experiment-inspiring direction. In fact, we think it has

    the sweetest features-to-price balance of any Moog

    synthesizer currently made.

    $1,579 list | $1,499 street | moogmusic.com

    See even more gear in our monster

    video report from NAMM 2014.

    NEW SYNTHS

    G MUSIC SUB 37MO

    Sub 37 is the rst more-than-monophonic Moogeyears, with a duo mode that squeezes out two3

    es o  po yp ony. Technical y it’soic   parap onic,

    ning that the oscillators eed a common lter andea

    , but “paraphony” would sound like we’re talkingmp

    t Milli Vanilli. Expanding on the Sub Phattyo

    more  resets, oo a e enve o es  or  ter an  it

    me, and an arpeggiator, it provides everythingolu

      urists want while also takin o in a morMoo

    riment-inspiring direction. In act, we think it hasxp

    weetest eatures-to-price balance o any Mooge

    hesizer currently made.ynt

    9 list | $1,499 street | moogmusic.com$1,5

    See even more gear in our monster

    video report from NAMM 2014.

    NEW SY HS

    BY STEPHEN FORTNER, FRANCIS PRÈVE, AND THE KEYBOARD CONTRIBUTORS

    Our Favorites from

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    16/70

    Keyboard  04.2014 14

    CLAVIA NORD LEAD A1

    With real analog having made such a huge comeback in

    recent years, why go with a virtual analog hardware synth?

    Polyphony for the price, signal routing flexibility, and moredigital-sounding timbral options when you want ’em are three

    reasons. Where the Nord Lead 4 (reviewed Dec. ’13) was the

    successor to the Wave, the Swedes intend the Lead A1 to

    replace the Lead 2X in their more-affordable slot. Compared

    to the 2X, you get more polyphony, more waveforms, MIDI

    over USB (finally), an effects section including reverb, and

    comprehensive sync-to-host-tempo options.

    $2,099 list | $1,799 street | nordkeyboards.com

    KORG MS-20 KIT

    Not to be confused with last year’s MS-20 Mini, this limited

    release is a full size analog replica of the original MS-20.

    You assemble it yourself, but a soldering iron is thankfully

    not among the tools required. Notably, Korg has included

    both the earlier (aggressive and self-oscillating) and later

    (creamier) filter designs from the originals, letting you switch

    between the two. You still can get all the same sounds from

    the MS-20 Mini, which also makes more sense if your other

    analog gear uses 1/8” patch cables. But if you’re a collectorand/or would prefer a 1/4” patch bay, snap one up, as Korg is

    only making around 1,500 units.

    $1,599 list | $1,399 street | korg.com

    ELEKTRON ANALOG RYTM

    Elektron’s MachineDrum has become a favorite among

    hardware-loving producers, thanks to its tweakable dedicated

    synth engines for each percussion element. This new remix of

    the MachineDrum formula boasts eight hybrid drum voiceswith both sampling and analog tone generation options, with

    a built-in analog compressor and distortion for good measure.

    Add 12 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads, throw in a

    16-step sequencer, toss with some decidedly digital reverb

    and delay, and you’ve got a drum machine that covers all

    the bases and then some. The price point places it squarely

    between Korg’s Volca Beats and Smith and Linn’s Tempest.

    $1,549 list | $1,499 street | elektron.se

    Wave Your Hands in the Air . . .The Theremin is a haunting, mesmerizing, and infamously difficult instrument. Moog Music aims to change

    that with the Theremini, which we had to tear ourselves away from to see the rest of the NAMM Show. It’s

    based on the Animoog synth engine, and can give various forms of assistance including visual feedback

    about your hand position, programmable lowest and highest possible

    notes, even scaling that won’t let you play a bad note. For

    the $299 street price, anyone can rock more like Clara—

    and with the EDM crowd always looking for the next

    rush, we bet it finds its way into a few DJ rigs.

    . .difficult instrument. Moog Music aims to change

    ay from to see the rest of the NAMM Show. It’s

    orms o assistance including visual eedback

    st possible

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    17/70

    1504.2014  Keyboard 

    ROLANDRD-800

    Often, a

    keyboard’sspecs don’t

    scream

    anything special. Far less often, we play said keyboard and go,

    “Oh, there it is!” Such a keyboard is the RD-800. “SuperNatural”

    programming; four zones that you can quickly split, layer, and

    mix on the fly; lots of knobs for tweaking the sound in real time; a

    Tone Color knob that macro-adjusts the sound (e.g., stereo spread

    on a grand piano or tine-like quality on a Rhodes); high-end

    weighted action; blah, blah, blah. Here’s what that doesn’t convey:

    The RD-800 sounds so fantastic across the board, and its action

    has such exquisite finger-to-music connection, that it’s getting

    early raves from everyone who touched it at NAMM—including us.

    Forget everything you know about the RD series—this is different.

    $2,999 list | $2,499 street | rolandus.com

    STUDIOLOGIC NUMA CONCERT

    Studiologic

    is the in-

    house brandof world-

    dominating

    keybed maker

    Fatar, and the latest of their Numa stage pianos aims to

    incorporate many of the features of higher-end offerings

    from competitors, such as triple velocity sensors per key

    and modeling of acoustic nuances including sympathetic

    resonance. Upon first play, we thought it indeed sounded

    richer and fuller than previous Numa pianos. It certainly got

    on our gotta-review-it radar, so stay tuned.

    $2,199 list | $1,999 street | studiologic-music.com

    KAWAI MP11

    We actually

    didn’t see

    the MP11 at

    NAMM, as

    it launched

    February 17.From what we do know, the MP11 ups the game from Kawai’s

    former flagship, the MP10 (reviewed Mar. ’11) in the areas of

    sampling, action, and a user interface that sports more gig-

    useful tone adjustments. As on the MP10, three separate

    panel areas cover sound selection and control: acoustic piano,

    electric piano (which includes Clavs), and “sub” for everything

    else (pads, strings, mallets, etc.). A small but big thing is that

    the onboard XLR outs have a ground lift switch, or as we like

    to say, the good kind of buzzkill.

    $3,299 list | $2,800 street | kawaius.com

     A keytar is like a fedora: Donning one makes you either look bad-ass (e.g.,

    Jordan Rudess, Polysics, or George Duke) or like a dorkus maximus (e.g.,

    a certain magazine editor), with intentional irony as the only possiblemiddle ground. For those who dare, the fun factor is undeniable, and Korg

    and Alesis ramped it up this year.

    KORG RK-100S

    Billed as a redux of their

    RK-100 from the ’80s, the

    RK-100S is in fact much

    nicer. The hardwood

    body has to be seen and

    held to be appreciated,

    with a fit and finish you

    might expect from some

    far smaller company’s

    boutique instrument.

    The three-quarter size

    keys are surprisingly

    comfortable for soloing,

    and you get one ribbon

    controller on the neckand another running the

    length of the keyboard.

    Inside is a MicroKorg XL+ engine, which can do virtual analog

    synthesis, intentionally digital tones, and vocoder effects (via

    an optional headset mic). Battery power and a programmable

    arpeggiator round out the feature set.

    $899.99 list | $699.99 street | korg.com

    ALESIS VORTEX WIRELESS

    Last year, the Alesis Vortex controller turned

    heads for bringing aftertouch, velocity sensitive

    pads, and a MIDI-mappable tilt sensor to almost

    an impulse-buy price. Because it could run

    on four AA batteries, the big question was,

    “But does it do wireless MIDI?” The Vortex

    Wireless does, via a built-in transmitter and

    USB receiver dongle you plug into your sound

    source. A custom soft synth from Sonivox is

    included, featuring patches programmed forthe Vortex’s control capabilities.

    $299 list | $199 street | alesis.com

    We’ll be reviewing both the RK-100S and Vortex Wire-

    less in depth, but our initial feeling is that while the

    Korg’s craftsmanship and built-in synth make it highly

    desirable, its price point puts it in the “because you

    can” le whereas the Alesis is more “because how can

    you not?”

    STAGE PIANOS KEYTAR HEROES

     

    t

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    18/70

    Keyboard  04.2014 16

    Roland’s Aira (pronounced “eye-rah”) series was the stuff of speculation at NAMM

    time, and not exhibited on the show floor. Common to all the Airae is a technology

    Roland calls Analog Circuit Behavior. Their engineers studied vintage TR-808 and

    909 drum machines, the TB-303 Bassline, SH-101, Jupiter, Juno, and System 100 and

    700 modular synths, and VP-330 vocoder, paying careful attention to how all the

    original components actually interact. We got to play with them at a secret, invite-only hotel suite. Our first impression is that they sound great and are wickedly fun

    to use. Roland has also taken a “chicken in every pot” stance with the pricing.

    Roland bills the System-1 as a “plug-out” synth, because it can run emulations of

    classic analog synths that you program patches for on your computer, then pipe

    into the System-1, take to the gig, and play using the standalone hardware. The

    first such emulation is the SH-101. It also has a native two-oscillator subtractive

    architecture. Currently, the hardware is in two-octave form only, but we hope for

    a “System-61” with a full keyboard and maybe even more knobs and sliders. The

    version we played was a very early prototype—the rest of the Aira line being much

    more fully baked as of NAMM—but the sound was in-your-face yet lush, not unlike a

    Jupiter-8. Design features include a video-style jog wheel for pitch-bend, which can

    also do glitchy breadkdown effects Roland calls “Scatter.” Street price: $599.

    The TR-8 Rhythm Performer is what’s generating the big buzz. Note the contrast

    with Roland’s historic term for a drum machine, “rhythm composer,” and hence the

    implication of live use. It emulates the sounds of the TR-808 and 909 perfectly, and

    simultaneously recaptures and improves upon the experience of entering drum hits

    as the sequence runs via volume faders and tone-sculpting knobs for such things astuning and decay. The Scatter function is on hand as well. Street Price: $499 at the

    end.

    The TB-3 Touch Bassline is a bass synth and sequencer in the style of the TB-303,

    the most obvious cue that it’s from the future being its backlit touch membrane in

    place of the original’s piano-key buttons. It emulates all the sounds of the TB-303,

    adds new bass, lead, and FX patches, and the touchpad can act as a keyboard or

    X/Y controller for playing with continuous pitch or creating modulation. Street

    price: $299.

    The thing about the VT-3 Vocal Transformer is that you get a great sounding Darth

    Punk machine for $199. We think we’ve seen some of these vocoder chops before,

    such as in the Vocal Designer mode on the V-Synth XT, but never has the price of

    admission been this low.

    TR-8 Rhythm Performer

    TB-3 Touch Bassline

    VT-3 Vocal Transformer

    AIRA 51

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    19/70

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    20/70

    Keyboard  04.2014 18

    ANALOG OUTFITTERS

    ORGANIC

    We reported on these

    in February’s New Gearcolumn, but having

    played them at NAMM,

    mention bears repeating.

    They’re MIDI controllers

    for playing software

    clonewheel organs, and

    the feel is impeccable—we didn’t think a tactile experience

    could make an emulation  sound  more real, but now we’re not

    so sure. Contact the manufacturer for pricing on the dual-manual, single-manual, and 44-key Mini models.

    analogoutfitters.com

    ARTURIA BEATSTEP

    This has to be the 

    runaway bang-for-

    buck hit of NAMM

    2014. Cleverly

    disguised as just a

    pad controller, it’s alsoa hardware sequencer that can drive software instruments

    via USB, hardware via MIDI (a five-pin adaptor is included),

    or analog synths via its CV/gate outs. We saw one flawlessly

    playing a vintage Oberheim SEM. The pads are both pressure

    and velocity sensitive. So whether you need drum machine-

    style groove entry or a primary sequencer for your modular

    synth rig, you’re covered. For peanuts.

    $129 list | $99 street | arturia.com

    M-AUDIO TRIGGER FINGER PRO

    Speaking of drum pads

    and step sequencers,

    M-Audio has revived

    their Trigger Finger

    controller with a Pro

    version that really lives up

    to its name. Housed in a sexy

    aluminum case with multicolored

    backlit pads, a gorgeous four-lineLCD display, hardware step sequencer,

    and transport controls, the Trigger Finger

    Pro is a huge leap beyond the original. It also

    includes its own plug-in host environment, Arsenal, that can

    itself be hosted as a plug-in or operate standalone. Throw in

    samples and loops from Toolroom Records, plus AIR Drums

    and the Hybrid 3 soft synth (remember when that was a

    Digidesign thing?), and you have all the makings of your

    next dance floor hit. Of all of the portable controllers we sawat NAMM, the TFP seems most poised to find its way into

    countless gig bags, and the price is certainly right.

    $449 list | $399 street | m-audio.com

    BEHRINGER

    MOTÖR 61

    We haven’t seen

    motorized faderson a MIDI controller keyboard since CME’s VX series back in

    2007. The Behringer’s faders are also touch-sensitive. For both

    ergonomic and space-use reasons, it could make a lot of sense

    to combine your black ’n’ whites and DAW control surface into

    one slab that occupies that prime desk real estate between

    your monitor speakers. The rest of the feature set—endless

    rotaries, velocity-sensitive drum pads, and Mackie Control

    protocol—is robust, the price is hard to argue with, and there’s

    no extra charge for the umlaut.

    $449.99 list | $299.99 street | behringer.com

    KORG TRITON TAKTILE

    Billed as a controller

    augmented by

    classic sounds

    from the Triton

    workstation,

    the Triton Taktile

    comes in 25 or 49 keys, and focuses on lots of tactile (get it?)control: A Kaoss-style X/Y touchpad that can play riffs in a

    user-specified scale, a ribbon that doubles as an increment/ 

    decrement clicker just below that, and velocity-sensitive pads.

    The 49er has eight knobs and twice the pads. There are also

    soundless siblings answering simply to Taktile, but for an extra

    100 bucks, one might as well have the patches onboard.

    25 keys: $490 list | $249 street

    49 keys: $679 list | $499 street

    korg.com

    Though MIDI controllers aren’t the first thing most

    folks think of when they think of Samson, we love their

    Graphite line because the keys feel good and it offers a

    lot of controls for the price of dinner for two at a trendy

    gastropub. For the space challenged, they’ve now released

    25- and 32-note mini-keys versions. In an interesting design

    choice, the 25-key model (shown, $79.99 street) actuallypacks in more controls (eight knobs and four drum pads)

    whereas the 32 ($69.99 street) is for those who need “just

    keys.” Find out more at samsontech.com.

    INNOVATIVE MIDI CONTROLLERS

    ER PRO

    exy

    ico ore

    four-line

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    21/70

    1904.2014  Keyboard 

    KORG GADGET

    Korg’s Gadget iOS app will

    change the way groove-

    makers think of their iPads.Gadget delivers 15 soft

    synths (including three drum

    machines,) each specializing

    in a different EDM flavor.

    Then, Korg took it further

    by adding full-featured

    sequencing that’s actually usable in

    iOS with few compromises. They added essential effects like

    reverb and a limiter—and a track freeze function so you can

    actually finish a project. Since this is an iPad app, Korg baked

    in all kinds of modern compatibility tools like CoreMIDI and

    WIST, as well as in-app sharing via SoundCloud, Dropbox,

    Facebook, and Twitter. While we’ve seen quite a few iOS

    DAWs, Gadget is the first single app that can go toe-to-toe

    with laptops when it comes to electronic music production.

    $28.99 at iTunes App Store | korg.com

    VIR2 ACOU6TICS

    Vir2’s Electri6ity instrument tookelectric guitar emulation to a level of

    authenticity that gave real guitarists

    yet another reason to be mad at

    keyboard players. Acou6tics does

    the same for the acoustic guitar. Six

    guitars are covered including steel,

    nylon, and 12-strings, and with some

    practice triggering the articulations,

    you can get all Michael Hedges orRichard Thompson pretty quickly.

    Seriously, it’s pretty sick.

    $399 list | $299 street | vir2.com

    VI LABS RAVENSCROFT PIANO

    The Ravenscroft is a boutique

    concert grand piano handmade

    in Arizona. How does it compare

    to well-known marques? If a

    Ferrari or Porsche is too ordinaryfor you, it’s the McLaren. The

    makers of TrueKeys are now

    virtualizing it. At press time, it was still under development,

    but we do know that it has exhaustive sampling to capture

    things like key release, repetition strikes, and four stereo mic

    positions—requiring a total of 38GB of disk space. This should

    be a doozy.

    $199.99 street | vilabsaudio.com

    IZOTOPE BREAKTWEAKER

    Co-designed by one of

    the most influential EDM

    artists of the past decade,BT, BreakTweaker puts

    Brian Transeau’s nano-scale

    approach to groove editing

    within reach of mere mortals. BreakTweaker keeps the process

    straightforward with six instrument tracks, each offering a

    wide array of synthesis tools including sampling, wavetable,

    additive, FM, and AM—along with a boatload of filtering,

    processing and modulation amenities for zeroing in on really

    detailed percussion sounds. From there, iZotope incorporated

    micro-editing tools that facilitate BT’s trademark production

    techniques, much like their previous collaboration, StutterEdit,

    but on a per-track, per-event basis. Thirty-second-note

    fills that collapse into audio-rate buzzes? No sweat. Tuned

    micro-flams? Got it. Morphing drums that go from massive to

    miniscule over the course of a few events? Nailed.

    $249 list | $199 street | izotope.com

    EDM BUNDLE FOR OMNISPHERE

    Comprising all three electronica-orientedpatch collections for Spectrasonics’

    Omnisphere soft synth— Ascension, EDM

    Ignition, and EDM Fire—this caught our

    attention for rising above the button-

    pushing loop-jockey stereotype that

    trained keyboardists might associate

    with electronic dance music. It does all

    the expected affectations and much

    more, but in a way that’s eminentlyplayable and musical. If you don’t make EDM, you’re still

    sure to find inspiration for film/TV work and synth-driven

    songwriting.

    $59.97 list | $49 street | ilio.com

    WAVES METAFILTER

    Though Waves is best known

    for high-end audio processing

    plug-ins for engineers and

    record producers, MetaFilteris best thought of as a virtual

    version of a synth filter that

    you just had to have for

    your Eurorack modular rig

    because it was made by some

    mad scientist in a garage. Its

    cutoff, resonance, and delay

    can be modulated by three sources: an LFO, an envelope

    follower, and the onboard 16-step sequencer. It’s also fullyMIDI-controllable.

    $200 | $99 introductory price | waves.com

    VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS AND PLUG-INS

    STUDIO AND LIVE ESSENTIALS

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    22/70

    Keyboard  04.2014 20

    MOTU 828X

    FireWire has left the building—and PCIe cards won’t be farbehind if Apple gets their way. Now, it’s all about Thunderbolt

    if you have it and USB2/3 if you don’t. That’s why MOTU

    chose their most popular box, the 828 series, to inaugurate

    what’s sure to become a trend in computer audio interfaces:

    both types of connectivity. On the USB side, they’ve opted

    for USB2 over 3 for maximum compatibility, as USB2 devices

    work fine on USB3 ports but not the other way around.

    Otherwise, it’s the 828 Mk. 3 we all know and love.

    $999 list | $849 street | motu.com

    UNIVERSAL AUDIO APOLLO TWIN

    This 192kHz beauty packs the benefits of

    UA’s Key Buy-winning Apollo interface

    into a desktop wedge. As in that piece,

    “powered plug-ins” (which include many

    excellent emulations of classic recording

    gear) run on their own DSP, and because

    the DSP lives in the audio interface,

    you can opt to track through plug-ins as though they werehardware. This is especially relevant given UA’s new Unison

    mic preamp modeling, which is frankly the best technology

    of its kind we’ve yet seen. Single- and dual-DSP versions are

    available, and an optical port lets you hook up an eight-channel

    lightpipe preamp to expand the inputs. The price is right, too,

    but since the Apollo Twin is Thunderbolt-only and Mac-only,

    you’ll need a pretty recent Mac to use it.

    Solo: $879.99 list | $699 street

    Duo: $1,129.99 list | $899 street | uaudio.com

    MANLEY CORE

    Manley? Isn’t their stuff

    for A-list engineers

    and producers who

    can throw thousands

    at their recording front end? Maybe, but the Core puts much

    of what those A-listers love into an all-in-one channel strip, at

    a price targeted at committed home studio dwellers. You get a

    transformer-matched tube preamp that can take mic, line, andguitar-level signals; ELOP compressor with fixed 3:1 ratio; three-

    band EQ with sweepable mids; and brick-wall limiter. Uniquely,

    the compressor operates upstream of the mic pre, making

    clipping all but impossible. If you’re ready and able to add that

    one deadly serious channel strip to your recording rig, this is it.

    $2,250 list | $2,000 street | manleylabs.com

    FOCUSRITE ITRACK DOCK

    This very nice iPad dock and

    audio/MIDI interface is, for

    starters, the one to get if

    your iPad is of the Lightning

    variety. Its Lightning

    connector slides into one

    of two positions so that either an iPad Air/fourth-gen or a

    Mini can sit centered and snugly. You get two of the super-

    clean mic preamps Focusrite is known for, and a USB type A

    port as a MIDI input, letting you piggyback a keyboard or padcontroller to play your iOS soft synths.

    $249.99 list | $199 street | focusrite.com

    QSC TOUCHMIX

    QSC matures the concept of

    touchscreen live mixing in a way

    that’s easy for musicians who

    run their own sound to grasp, yet

    familiar to engineers accustomed

    to reaching for a fader. Versions

    exist with eight or 16 preamps on

    XLR inputs, each with two stereo line-level pairs in addition.

    What was most striking to us was that you get everything 

    you’d expect from a larger digital console in terms of I/O,

    routing, and effects, in the footprint of a drum machine. It’ll

    record multitrack mixes directly to an attached hard drive

    (letting you turn that great gig into the band’s demo), has

    a lot of “wizards” to help novices get set up and sounding

    good quickly, and has an advanced mode for more seasonedsoundfolk who want to get their hands on every parameter.

    TouchMix 8: $1,199.99 list | $899.99 street

    TouchMix 16: $1,799.99 list | $1,299.99 street

    qscaudio.com

    MACKIE VLZ4

    The original MS-1202 put Mackie

    on the map because it sounded

    decent, was tiny, and had enough

    inputs to be the live or studio

    traffic cop for multi-keyboard

    rigs in the late ’80s and early

    ’90s. Coming in all sizes from

    the tiny 402 to a 32-channel

    console, the VLZ4 generation

    adds Mackie’s Onyx mic preamps to all XLR-equipped input

    channels, lower noise and higher headroom all around, and

    bright color-coding for easy operation in the dark.

    Prices vary based on size | mackie.com

    SOFTUBE CONSOLE 1

    Until now, we’ve associated Softube with guitar amp and

    cabinet modeling—of the extremely excellent variety. Console 1

    applies those coding chops to mixing, combining emulations

    of channel strips from coveted

    large-format recording consoles

    with a dedicated hardware control

    surface. The inaugural channel tobe modeled is from the SSL 4000E.

    $1,149 (est.) |

    softube.com

    g consoles

    ware control

    l channel tohe SSL 4000E.

    STUDIO AND LIVE ESSENTIALS

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    23/70

    Though Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum-

    selling Gavin DeGraw was raised in a prison town

    two hours north of New York City, and had seen

    harsh reality from an early age, the hippie vibe

    of nearby Woodstock lingered in the air, offering

    a feeling of limitless possibility and freedom.

    “Music was definitely part of our family culture. Mygranddad played music. My granddad’s brothers

    played music. They were basically like a bunch of farm

    kids who played music,” DeGraw says. “My dad plays

    guitar and he’s a great singer. He wasn’t a piano player,

    but he could figure it out and say, ‘Here, check this out.’”

    DeGraw says his exposure to live music at an early

    age helped him build a passion for learning to play.

    His brother already had a three-year jump on playing

    guitar, so DeGraw gravitated toward the piano.

    “My family was unusually supportive about playing

    music because they just loved music. So when I told

    them I wanted to play rock and roll, they were like,

    ‘Cool, yeah, go do that. Good idea.’ It was weird

    how there was no way to be rebellious about it.”

    DeGraw’s songwriting reflects that freedom,

    incorporating aspects of several different popular

    music genres into one album, from stripped-down

    Americana and analog synthesizer sounds to hi-tech

    electronic dance sounds.

    Read the entire interview and see the keys toGavin’s sounds at guitarcenter.com/gavin-degraw 

    NEW ALBUM

    MAKE A MOVE 

     Available on iTunes

    GAVINDEGRAW.COM

    YAMAHA ARIUS DIGITALPIANO IN POLISHED EB0NY

    (VDPC71PE)LIST: $2499.00 

    $1499.99

    SPARKING KEYS TO CREATIVITYGAVIN DEGRAW

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    24/70

    Keyboard  04.2014 22

    LEGENDS »  SONG STORIES » TALENT SCOUT »  PLAYLISTHEAR

    BY JON REGEN

    CHICK COREA KEEPING A VIGIL

    Continuous growth has been a mainstay of Corea’s career since its inception. Fromearly landmark outings like Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, to his work alongside

    Miles Davis, to his acoustic and electronic explorations with Return to Forever and

    the Elektric Band, the only thing you can predict about Chick Corea is that you just

    don’t know where he’s headed next.

    On The Vigil , he returns with a captivating set of compositions and a ferocious band

    with which to bring them to life. “Galaxy 32 Star 4” brims with ensemble interplay

    and electric piano prestidigitation. “Planet Chia” pits Corea’s signature Spanish-

    tinged piano work against shifting harmonic and rhythmic tides. On “Portals to For-

    ever,” Corea’s revered Rhodes sound—custom-sampled into his Yamaha Motif XF—

    anchors a trance-inducing stew of guitar, horns, and percussion. At 72 years young,

    Corea has never sounded more energized on record. He took time to speak to us

    about the project, and about keeping a vigil on your own musical identity.

    “I WANTED TO GIVE A NAME TO THIS BAND THAT HAD A SPECIALNESS TO IT,”

    legendary pianist and composer Chick Corea says of his nimble new group, the Vigil.

    “I haven’t had my own band where I write the music, hire the musicians, and oversee

    the project, for over ten years. I missed the sense of musical community that hap-

    pens in a band—the kind of environment where things are constantly growing.”

      A  R  N  E

      R  O  S  T  A  D

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    25/70

    2304.2014  Keyboard 

    What was the impetus to put this new bandtogether?

    In this day and age with the nature of live work,

    I can’t expect even a young, upcoming musician

    to hang with me if I’m going to take a break. He

    or she has got to do other gigs. So I thought that

    this time, I’d put together a band where the con-

    cept will continue to be the same thing. I gave it

    a moniker, the Vigil, and then whoever’s going to

    be in it will be in it. And so far, everybody from

    the first group I put together is still here, except

    that the bass position has changed a little bit.

    Te name “Vigil” is about me wanting to stay

    connected to the music I grew up with and love—

    the lineage of Black American jazz music. As I

    learned more about the music of the world, I con-

    nected with Spanish-speaking communities: South American music, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Tose are

    my personal, musical roots and communities by

    choice. So I want to keep a “vigil” on that.

    It’s also about how there are always invita-

    tions from presenters of music such as record

    companies and promoters. Te businessman’s

    idea of how to make something a success is by

    observing what kind of music “brings people out”

    and then doing more of the same. I understand

    that way of thinking—it’s “business sense.” But

    it’s an invitation to an artist to compromise. So an-

    other part of the Vigil was to not make that com-

    promise, which I’ve never really done, but it gets

    harder and harder to

    avoid. For example,

    we “stretch out” and

    play rhythms that

    are grooving to me,

    but sometimes theaudience doesn’t

    pick up on them

    because they’re so

    subtle. Tese are

    almost the exact

    opposite of the ele-

    ments that make

    music easily reach-

    able by audiences,

    like vocals and nice

    steady rhythms.

    But I want to keep

    that sense of ad-

    venture in music. Otherwise I’m gonna die! I

    need unknowns in the music I’m playing with my

    friends—enough improvisation and spontaneity

    to keep me interested.

    How did you choose the particular membersof the band?

    I knew I needed to get musicians who were young

    enough in their musical careers that the gig

    would be good for them. Tere’s a point where

    musicians need to start forming their own bands

    and doing their own thing. For instance, I worked

    with [bassist] Christian McBride and [drum-

    mer] Brian Blade, who are two of my favorites.

    Christian had agreed to do the first summer tour

    with this band. But he couldn’t do the recording

    because our schedules conflicted. With young

    musicians, the exchange between what they give

    me and what I can give back to them is nice and

    even. I give them gigs and some adventurous

    music to play, and they give me their time and

    their devotion to come on the road and stay inthe band. Tat’s how I found [guitarist] Charles

     Altura, who’s an amazing musician and quite a

    sensitive concert pianist as well. Stanley Clarke

    recommended him to me.

    I’ve known [drummer] Marcus Gilmore since

    he was a kid, because he’s Roy Haynes’ grandson.

    Roy brought him by the Blue Note when he was 14

    and told me, “Listen to my grandson play.” Marcus

    got up and we played my tune “Windows,” and he

     just knocked me out. I thought, “Tank God there’s

    a guy that age who can play with that rhythm feel.”

    Carlitos del Puerto on bass was also recommended

    to me by Stanley Clarke. He’s having a blast.

    Were you thinking of

    this band in particular

    when you wrote the

    music for the album?

    It would be a fairy storyto say I wrote all of this

    music for  this project,

    because the practical

    side was that when I

    made the decision to put

    the new band together, I

    didn’t want to take two

    years to make it happen.

    I wanted us to go out on

    tour the next season.

    In order to do that, I

    needed to make a record

    quickly. So I pulled com-

    positions that I had been writing. I had written

    “Galaxy 32 Star 4” for the 2011 Return to Forever

    reunion, but we never got around to playing new

    music, so I had that composition sitting there.

    “Planet Chia” I wrote for an experiment that

    Stanley Clarke and I did at the Blue Note in early2012. “Portals to Forever” was actually the only

    piece I wrote specifically for this band.

    What about the song “Royalty”? Tat one

    has a great piano intro. . . .

    Roy Haynes invited me to play on his record-

    ing about a year and a half ago. I admire Roy so

    much and we’ve been friends for so long that I

    wanted to write a song and dedicate it to him. So

    I wrote a song in 3/4 time and called it “Roy-L.”

    I brought it to the date, but it didn’t fit. He liked

    it, but he wanted to do more of an improvisation

    with piano and drums on a couple of tracks. We

    didn’t use it, so I had the song.

    "When you playthat phrase orwrite that song,how are yougoing to knowwhen it’s good?When someone

    else tells you?Wrong."

    You didn’t announce any song titles when you You’re also using the Minimoog Voyager on the idea of “the Vigil”—to have that hour or two

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    26/70

    24 Keyboard  04.2014 24

    You didn t announce any song titles when you

    played at the Blue Note. Was that intentional?

    When we rst started touring, for months I was

    announcing every tune. I was trying to make

    it entertaining, and everybody in the band an-

    nounced different tunes so that the audience

    got a touch of their personalities. It seemed likeit was going over well, but it became a strain to

    keep switching hats, from making the music to

    being an announcer. So recently on the Asian

    tour, I thought, “Tey can nd out the name of

    the song anyway, so I’ll just play and keep things

    seamless.” Te musical ow just kept going  that

    way, and it allowed almost a rest period in be-

    tween tunes where I’d play a little soliloquy.

    Tere’s a goal I have that I think everybody in

    the band shares as well, which is that we all wantto get across to an audience. We want to please

    them in some kind of way. We don’t want to pan-

    der to them, but we want to include them. Tere’s

    no rote way to do that. You don’t have to smile

    and bow all the time, or tell a joke or announce

    song titles. Or , you can if you feel like it. But if

    the intention is there to include the audience,

    that’s the most important thing.

    When I heard you play your own Rhodes

    sound on the Yamaha Motif XF8, I felt like Iwas sitting in front of an actual Rhodes.

    Tat’s a sample I did of my vintage, beautiful,

    tweaked-over-decades Rhodes Mark V. Every time

    I’d come back from a tour, my technician Brian

     Alexander out in Los Angeles would tweak it up

    and improve things on it. By the time we sampled

    it around ve years ago, it was really in beautiful

    shape. Later Yamaha gured out a way to take

    these huge samples we’d created, and allow them

    to be placed in Flash memory and played on the

    Motif XF. It’s a good illusion. It works for me, plus

    I don’t have to repair my Rhodes every time it

    spends ten hours bouncing around in a truck on

    the way to the gig.

    You re also using the Minimoog Voyager on

    this project?

     Yeah. It has a sound that sails over the ensemble.

    What piano are you playing on the road

    these days?

     Yamaha has a new concert grand called the CFX,which is my favorite piano of all time. Tat same

    technology is also used in their seven-foot grand,

    the CF6, which I wanted so that I could t the

    percussionist on the stage. I’m enjoying playing

    that piano so much. I’ve played Yamaha pianos

    since the 1960s.

    Why Yamaha over other pianos?

    Tey’re nice people! [Laughs.] Really, they are.

    What happened, though, was that each new itera-tion of their concert grand became better and

    better. By the early 1980s, I actually preferred the

     Yamaha concert grand to the Steinway. Now with

    the CFX, it ’s absolutely my favorite. Plus, Yamaha’s

    R&D department is quite active and intelligent.

    Tey’re always improving their instruments. Te

    Motif XF is beautiful. I’d like to get deeper into the

    sonics and synth engine inside of it.

    When I saw you live at the Blue Note, there

    was an almost continuous evolution to eachsong. How do you stay so seemingly excited

    at every turn?

    Well, if I’m not interested in what I’m doing,

    how can I get anyone else interested? It’s just a

    matter of pulling elements together. Life keeps

    changing, the world changes, promoters change,

    audiences change. For an artist, the changes that

    are happening in our society aren’t always in an

    “up” direction. But I consider the challenges part

    of the adventure. For example, just to travel and

    be on tour these days is really hard, compared to

    ten or 20 years ago. Now it’s stressful, so I have to

    tell myself, “If I’m gonna play music and present

    it to audiences, I have to travel.” It gets back to

    the idea of the Vigil to have that hour or two

    onstage that’s unencumbered and problem-free

    enough that we can get into the matter at hand,

    which is just making music.

    What words of advice do you have for aspiring

    artists who hope to have a career like yours? All of the musicians that I know and admire

    had one simple intention: Tey wanted to lead

    a creative life and create something they really

    loved. It gives me great pleasure to see others,

    especially young guys and girls who are coming

    up, want to make music. I know they might need

    some encouragement, because they might not

    be getting it in their homes. Teir parents or

    their teachers might be saying to them, “Hey, you

    should do something more predictable,” or, “Youneed to have something to fall back on.” But I like

    to encourage others into the arts, and one of the

    things I tell them is that it’s a great life. Te rea-

    son why is because you’ve found something that

    you love to do. Ten, in addition to that, you not

    only get to enjoy the feeling of doing what you

    love to do, but you also get to see someone else

    receive pleasure from it. So it’s a good life, and it’s

    something that people everywhere really need.It’s what keeps us alive.

    If I were to offer one concept or piece of advice,

    it would be this: Tink for yourself . Because what

    happens when you study music is that all of this

    information is coming in at you. You read books,

    your teachers tell you things, you look at Youube,

    you see musicians play live, and so on. It’s like a ow

    that comes into you, but in order to be a musician,

    you now have to do something that directs that ow

    outward. You have to play your instrument. So when

    you play that phrase or write that song, how are

    you going to know when it’s good? When someone

    else tells you? Wrong. You’re going to know it’s good

    when you know it’s good. You have to be your own

     judge. Tere’s a kind of integrity and ethics about it.

     You have to take on the responsibility of your own

    tastes and say, “No, that wasn’t as good as I wanted

    it to be.” So if you say that, you must have some

    concept of how you want it to be. Tat’s good. Sonow make it how you want it to be! Tink for your-

    self. Tat’s my whole philosophy.

    Chick Corea and the

    Vigil live in 2013.

    Sampling Chick’s

    Rhodes for the

    Yamaha Motif

    keyboardmag.com/april2014

      S  A  K  U  R  A  I   T  O  S  H  I

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    27/70

    HEAR LEGENDS » SONG STORIES  » TALENT SCOUT » PLAYLIST

    HEAR E EN DS S N ST RIES TALENT S UT P LAY LI T

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    28/70

    26 Keyboard  04.2014 26

    HEAR HEAR

    The Songwriter’s Predicament Around that same time, I was reading an interview

    with James aylor. Te interviewer asked James

    what his antidote for writer’s block was. James

    responded, “I do a geographic,” meaning that he’d

    attempt to reawaken his sensibilities just by being

    someplace unfamiliar. He said, “I’ll take my guitar

    and put it in the trunk of my car, or I’ll get on a plane

    and go somewhere I’ve never been, hoping to nd

    some idea I wouldn’t get just by sitting at home.” I

    thought I’d try that as well. Memphis was the rst

    place I decided to go in my search for inspiration.

    Beyond just trying to cure writer’s block, the

    trip was also about nding my songwriting voice.

    By that time I’d already been a songwriter for many

    years. I’d struggled in Los Angeles, playing all the

    clubs, but had never been signed. Later when I came

    to New York City, I started having success as a ses-

    sion singer, but I still didn’t get a record deal. One

    night while listening to all of my demos, I came to

    the realization that I shouldn’t be signed, because I

    didn’t have any great songs yet. My voice was good

    and the demos were interesting, but the songs were

    only just okay. I was 28 years old and not in love

    with my songs. James aylor had written “Fire and

    Rain” when he was 18, and Jackson Browne wrote

    “Tese Days” when he was only 17. I thought, “I’m

    already ten years older than these geniuses. It’s

    never going to happen for me.” So it was a pretty

    desperate time, and I went to Memphis with that

    struggle at the forefront of my mind.

    I did all the touristy things you’re supposed to

    do. I went to Graceland, and I saw Elvis Presley’s

    tomb and his airplanes. I also went to the Rendez-

    vous restaurant for ribs. But a friend told me there

    were two things in particular that I had to do, thingsthat would forever change me. Tey would later

    become the centerpieces of “Walking in Memphis.”

    Transcendent ExperiencesTe rst thing was go to the Full Gospel aberna-

    cle Church on a Sunday morning to hear the Rev-

    erend Al Green preach. I’ll admit that I didn’t go

    for religious purposes—I went to hear one of my

    favorite singers sing. But it didn’t take long until

    I had chills running up and down my spine. Te

    service was so deeply moving that I found myself

    with sweat running down my face and tears in my

    eyes, totally enveloped by everything I was see-

    ing and hearing. Tere was something incredibly

    I FIRST WENT TO MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE IN 1985. I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS A

    place I had to visit because so much of my favorite music came from there. From

    Al Green, Ann Peebles, and everything on Hi Records, to Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes,

    David Porter, and the Stax catalog, an almost endless stream of brilliance and soul

    came out of Memphis. I was aware early on that just like Detroit and the music of

    Motown, there was something going on in Memphis that was utterly inexplicable. It

    was part of what me want to be a musician in the first place.

    Walking inBY MARC COHN, AS TOLD TO JON REGEN

      E  R  I  K

      V  A  L  I  N  D

    MYRI  AM  SANT  O S

    KA

    YDA

    Fig. 3. Cohn with

    h i l f h

    Fig. 2. The legal pad

    hi h h

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    29/70

    2704.2014  Keyboard 

    powerful about Al Green’s voice in that context.

    Even after three hours of continuous singing,

    his voice only got stronger  and his band only got

    better. I sat there crying in the church, aware of

    the irony of how I used to cry in Synagogue in

    Cleveland as a kid—but because I wanted to get

    the heck out of there! Al Green’s service was one

    of the great experiences of my life.

    Te second thing was to go to the Hollywood

    Café in Robinsonville, Mississippi, about 40 minutes

    outside of Memphis, and hear Muriel Davis Wilkins

    sing. I’d never heard of Muriel before, but I took myfriend’s advice and went anyway. Te Hollywood

    Café had supposedly once been a slave commissary,

    but it was now a lovely little restaurant that served

    fried pickles and catsh. Muriel was a schoolteacher

    who on weekends made extra money playing mu-

    sic. When I arrived, Muriel, who at the time was in

    her 60s, was onstage playing a beat-up old upright

    piano and singing Gospel standards like “Te Glory

    of Love” and “Nearer My God to Tee.” I felt an im-

    mediate connection to her voice, her spirit, her face,

    and her smile. I was totally transxed by her music.

    While many of the patrons were busy eatingand not paying close attention to Muriel, I couldn’t

    take my eyes off her. During her breaks, the two

    of us would talk. Muriel asked me why I was there,

    and I told her I was a songwriter trying to nd in-

    spiration. I also told her a little bit about my child-

    hood—how when I was two and a half years old,

    my mom had passed away very unexpectedly, and

    about ten years later, my dad had passed away and

    I’d been raised by a stepmother. My mother’s death

    was a central event in my life, and I’d been writinga lot about it over the years, both in songs and in

     journals. I think a part of me felt stuck in time,

    like I’d never quite been able to work through that

    loss. Muriel was as sweet as could be, and she was

    Memphis

    the “Muriel” of the

    song, pianist Muriel

    Davis Wilkins.

    on which Marc Cohn

    first started working

    out the lyrics.

    MARC COHN ON THE GENESIS OF HIS 1991 PIANO HIT

    Fig. 1. The first line of the lyrics to “Walking in Memphis” over its signature

    opening piano arpeggio.

    really funny, too. I remember that she asked how I

    ll d l t Wh I t ld h h li d

    nal lyrics yet (see Figure 2 on page 27). I was still

    ki th “ h t f El i ” d th

    ply trying to write songs that sounded complete with

    j t d i dI’d dth ith littl

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    30/70

    28 Keyboard  04.2014 28

    spelled my last name. When I told her, she replied,

    “You mean, like corn?” We had a lot of laughs.

    By midnight, the Hollywood was still packed,

    and Muriel asked me to join her onstage. We soon

    realized that there wasn’t a song in the universe that

    both of us knew in common. A quick thinker, Murielstarted feeding me lyrics to Gospel songs so that I

    could catch up in time to sing somewhat in rhythm

    with her and make up my own version of the melody.

    Some songs I was vaguely familiar with, and some I

    didn’t know at all. Te very last song we sang togeth-

    er that night was “Amazing Grace.” After we nished

    and people were applauding, Muriel leaned over and

    whispered in my ear, “Child, you can let go now.” It

    was an incredibly maternal thing for her to say to me.

    Just like sitting in Reverend Al Green’s church, I wasagain transformed. It was almost as if my mother was

    whispering in my ear. From the time I left Memphis

    and went back home to New York City, I knew I had a

    song in me about my experience there.

    Pen on Paper

    Tere have been countless songs about Memphis,

    so I knew if I was going to go down that road, it

    needed to be deeply personal. Within a few days ofcoming home, I began to write the song on guitar.

    I think I already had the opening line, “Put on my

    blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane.” I start-

    ed playing an arpeggiated gure that I liked, but

    it didn’t take long for me to realize that I couldn’t

    play it very well on guitar. So I went to the piano,

    where that kind of rolling rhythm was easier for

    me to play. Ten I added that rst line to the piano

    riff (see Figure 1 on page 27) and I was off to the

    races.Te music for “Walking in Memphis,” except for

    the bridge, is really just the same thing over and over

    again. It’s an attempt to keep things simple so that

    the narrative is what the listener focuses on. Te

    story keeps changing; it goes from one scenario to

    another, all following the thread of my elation, de-

    scribed in the lyric “Walking with my feet ten feet off

    of Beale.” What’s being expressed is my love of music

    and the spiritual transformation I’ve always feltthrough it. Te line, “ell me are you a Christian child,

    and I said ‘Ma’am I am tonight’” . . . even in the mo-

    ment I wrote it down, I knew I was getting closer to

    nding my songwriting voice. o this day, people still

    ask me if I am a Christian. While I have to admit that

    I enjoy the confusion the lyric brings, the thing that

    makes that line work is the fact that I’m a Jew. So

    many great artists over the years needed to hide the

    fact that they were Jewish to protect themselves and

    their families from anti-Semitism, so I’m proud of thefact that I could come right out and practically an-

    nounce my religion on the rst song I ever released.

    I kept writing and rewriting the lyrics. Even

    in some of the later drafts, I still didn’t have the

    working on the “ghosts of Elvis” verse, and there

    were still some things that weren’t in place yet.

    When I nished the song, I felt like I had com-

    pleted a jigsaw puzzle. I wasn’t sure if it was a “hit,”

    because I was still years away from being signed

    to Atlantic Records. Six months later, after I wrotemany of the songs that would later comprise my

    album Marc Cohn, I went back to the Hollywood

    Café to play them all for Muriel (see Figure 3 on

    page 27). After I nished, Muriel said to me, “You

    know the one where you mention me at the end?

    Tat’s the best one you got!”

    Later in 1986, my engineer and co-producer Ben

    Wisch and I made a piano/vocal demo of “Walking in

    Memphis” in a studio in New York City. At that point,

    I wasn’t thinking about how my songs would workwith a band or on record. I wasn’t thinking about a

    groove or what a guitar player might play. I was sim-

     just me and a piano, and I’d record them with a little

    Sony Walkman. Years later, after I signed with At-

    lantic and it came time to turn that demo into some-

    thing they thought would work on the radio, I barely

    knew where to start. After many different versions of

    it with just as many different musicians, I went to Pe-ter Koepke, the guy who signed me, and said, “Maybe

    this just needs to be a piano/vocal track. Or maybe it

    shouldn’t be on the record at all.” He replied, “If it’s

    not on the record, I’m not sure we’re going to make a

    record! So you better go gure this out, because we

    think this just may get on the radio.” Later, I went

    back to the label and said, “I’d like a shot at producing

    this record with Ben Wisch, who I made the demos

    with in the rst place. He got a great sound on my

    voice and on the piano, and that’s at least half of whatthis is all about.” Atlantic ultimately agreed, and the

    rest, I guess, is history.

    “Marc was basically signed to Atlantic Records because of ‘Walking in

    Memphis,’ co-producer Ben Wisch says. “We probably recorded it five

    different times in different configurations. On one version, we actually had

    Steve Gadd playing drums in the studio. It was after midnight and we wereall frustrated because the recording wasn’t going well. And Steve said, ‘Let’s

    all switch instruments!’ That version didn’t work out, but I’ll never forget

    Steve’s devotion to getting the song right. Eventually, we settled on a band

    that featured John Leventhal on bass, Denny McDermott on drums, and Chris

    Palmaro on Hammond organ. Everything was based around Marc’s singing and

    piano playing. We recorded live to 24-track tape at Quad Recording Studios in

    New York, with any editing done between entire takes of the song. The piano

    sound is very in-your-face, not unlike Bruce Hornsby’s sound of a few years

    prior. We used the old Steinway grand at Quad Studios, and I miked it with a

    pair of AKG C451 condensers. Those are bright mics, and I put a fair amount of

    compression on them. For vocals, Marc sang through a vintage Neumann U67

    tube condenser microphone through a Teletronix LA-2A compressor and then

    into an SSL console with outboard API EQ.”

    BEN WISCHON RECORDING“WALKING IN

    MEMPHIS”

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    31/70

    Having fun is an essential part of the creative

    process. The brilliant sound, feel, and styleof Korg’s SP-280 Digital Piano will remind

     you why you enjoy making music. It’s getting

    back to basics …only better.

    KORG.COM /SP280

    HEAR  LEGENDS » SONG STORIES » TALENT SCOUT »  PLAYLIST

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    32/70

    30 Keyboard  04.2014 30

    AriadnaCastellanos

    HOMETOWN: Madrid, Spain.

    INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Piano, violin,

    harp, and drums.

    DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND: “Flamenco mu-

    sic mixed with a classical background, plus jazz

    harmonies and improvisation.”

    MUSICAL TRAINING: “I studied classical piano

    at the Guildhall School of Music in London, aswell as the Berklee College of Music in Boston. But

    amenco music is really learned from people in the

    street—from guitarists and singers in Spain—and

    from many, many records.”

    FIRST GIGS: “Classical concert halls when I

    was six years old. My rst amenco shows were

    in Spanish tablaos in Madrid.” [Tablaos are cafés,

    nightclubs, and less formal venues where amencois performed. —Ed.]

     

    MUSICAL INFLUENCES: “Paco de Lucia,

    omatito, Jerez, Debussy, Ravel, and Calle 13.”

     

    FAVORITE KEYBOARDS: “I’m a fan of

    acoustic pianos, especially Bösendorfer.”

    WHAT I’M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW:

    “Silence. I use music to change my state of mind,so when I’m feeling down, I play energetic mu-

    sic. When I feel sad I play aggressive music to

    give me strength, and when I’m extremely happy

    I allow myself a soft, romantic song.”

    BIG BREAK: “Meeting Javier Limón, the eight-

    time Grammy award winner who has recordedmany famous amenco, jazz, and modern artists

    such as Paco de Lucia, Alejandro Sanz, Wynton

    Marsalis, and Bebo Valdés. He recorded my rst

    album Flamenco en Black and White. Tis year he

    was nominated for the Latin Grammy as Producer

    of the Year for my album. Another big break would

    be winning the Presidential Scholarship at Berklee,

    as I’m the only Spanish musician to ever receive it.

    I’ll always be extremely thankful to them for allow-ing me to come to the United States and open my

    mind and music up to a whole new world.”

    WHAT’S NEXT: “I’ll tour Spain in March

    2014. I’m also recording a new album entitled

    Flamencool with producer Javier Limón.”

    ADVICE: “Always be

    humble, yet never let

    anybody pull you down.Nobody knows everything,

    yet we’re all special. Also,

    always love the music more

    than yourself onstage.”

    FLAMENCO-MEETS-JAZZ PIANIST AND COMPOSER ARIADNA CASTELLANOS

    has been wowing audiences around the globe with what has been called “a brutal

    technique and a wild intuition” on the piano. Find out more at ariadnacastellanos.com.

    BY JON REGEN

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    33/70

    Call 800-217-5207 | musiciansfriend.com

    Helping musicians for over 30 years.

    65,000+ Products.

    Free Shipping, No Minimum.

    45-Day Returns.

    Lowest Price Guarantee.

    HEAR  LEGENDS » SONG STORIES » TALENT SCOUT » PLAYLIST

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    34/70

    32 Keyboard  04.2014 32

    HERBIE HANCOCK

    The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988

    This 34-CD compendium celebrates the legendary keyboardist and composer’s recorded output for the

    storied label, including eight albums never before released in the United States. Covering everything from

    his electrified outings like Sextant  and Head Hunters, to acoustic works like his V.S.O.P quartet/quintet and

    his soundtrack to the film ’Round Midnight , the collection is further proof of Hancock’s enduring artistic

    legacy. Key track: “4 AM.” | herbiehancock.com

    MARC CARY FOCUS TRIO

    Four Directions

    Jazzer Marc Cary has been crafting an alluring vision since anchoring the piano chair in vocalist Abbey

    Lincoln’s band. Cary’s latest offers a myriad of keyboard sonorities, from the synth-laden, Indian

    explorations of “Todi Blues” to the backbeat-infused acoustic adventures of “Tanktified.” (Cary also shines

    on Rhodes electric piano on a number of cuts.) With nods to everything from R&B to smoldering straight-

    ahead jazz, Four Corners is worth a spin. Key track: “Spectrum.” | marccary.com

    STACEY KENTThe Changing Lights

    While vocalist Stacey Kent has been a veritable institution in Europe for the last decade plus, it’s only

    recently that her well-deserved acclaim has migrated stateside. Her new album The Changing Lights 

    should help speed up the process, with a near perfect blend of bossa nova-tinged soul and buoyant band

    interplay. Kudos to pianist Graham Harvey for framing Kent’s vocals with artful accompaniment. Key track:

    “This Happy Madness.” | staceykent.com

    KOREL TUNADOR

    The Early Mournings EP 

    Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Korel Tunador (Katy Perry, Goo Goo Dolls) surprises on his sophomore

    solo release The Early Mourning EP , which marries sonic tricks with killer song licks. From the synth

    shimmer of “You Dropped a Bomb,” to the funk strut of “Bringing You Back Down,” Tunador proves he isn’t

    afraid to take center stage and tell his own side of the story. Key track: “My, My, My.” | koreltunador.com

    HELEN SUNG

     Anthem for a New Day 

    Jazz pianist and composer Helen Sung’s Anthem for a New Day  is a hard grooving aural affair. From post-

    Bop burners like her original “Brother Thelonious,” to a classically-cadenced take on Duke Ellington’s“It Don’t Mean a Thing,” Sung soars alongside bandmates Reuben Rogers on bass and Obed Calvaire

    on drums. When clarinet master Paquito D’Rivera guests on her rendition of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s

    Rhumba,” Sung proves she’s more than up to the task. Key track: “Chaos Theory.” | helensung.com

    BENMONT TENCH

    You Should Be So Lucky 

    Long regarded as the pinnacle of rock keyboard tastefulness, Benmont Tench delivers a

    knockout punch with his debut as a bandleader, on the Blue Note label. Four over four

    decades, Tench has anchored Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with his signature swirl of

    Hammond, Wurlitzer, and piano. But on his first solo outing, Tench surprises with a captivating

    collection of original songs. Recorded entirely to tape by legendary producer Glyn Johns

    (Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, the Who), the album features cameos by Petty, Ringo Starr, and

    alt-country crooner Ryan Adams. But the real star here is Tench, whose songs sear with

    heartbreak (“Today I Took Your Picture Down”), humor (“Blonde Girl, Blue Dress”), and piano

    perfection (“Wobbles”). We all knew he could kill on the keyboards, but YSBSL proves thatTench is a devastatingly great singer and songwriter. Key track: “Hannah.” | bluenote.com

    BY JON REGEN

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    35/70

    POP/ROCK » JAZZ  » TECHNIQUEPLAY

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    36/70

    34 Keyboard  04.2014 34

      œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    G

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    Fmaj7

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    C6

      œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    Ó Œ ‰ J

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    j

     

    Œ

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    j

    œ œ

    œ œ

    &

    &

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ> œ œ œ> œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ> œ œ œ> œ œ œ œ

      œ

    Œ

    Piano

    B3

    1. Blending Tones

    Finding the right part is alwaysimportant, but picking what

    sounds you use can be just as

    vital. Some big staples of Ben-

    mont’s sound are the Hammond

    B-3 organ, acoustic piano, and

    Wurlitzer electric piano. Benmont

    even finds ways to blend these

    sounds into a tasteful combina-

    tion of their own. Ex. 1 demon-

    strates this, starting with piano

    only and then adding in an unfor-

    gettable B-3 riff that announces

    the song in the best way possible.

    Benmont played a part similar

    to this on the om Petty and the

    Heartbreakers song “Don’t Do Me

    Like Tat.”

    IN THE LEXICON OF ROCK KEYBOARDISTS,

    one doesn’t go far before coming across the one

    and only Benmont Tench. Known primarily as the

    ever-so-tasty keyboardist for Tom Petty and the

    Heartbreakers, Benmont is a consummate  song 

    player. Every note he plays is for the betterment

    of the song. He can often be found playing an

    affecting Hammond B-3 organ solo, or finding a

    keyboard part that blends so perfectly in a song

    that it would literally cease to be the same song

    without it. There is no way that anyone could dis-

    till Benmont’s taste, feel, sounds, and parts into

    only five elements, but we’ll give it our best shot!

    Ex. 1.

    PLAY 

      œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

      œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    Ó Œ ‰ J

    Amin/D

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    j

     

    Œ

    G

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    j

    œ œ

    œ œ

    Fmaj7

    &

    &

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    >

    œ œ œ

    >

    œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    >

    œ œ œ

    >

    œ œ œ œ

      œ

    Œ

     

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

     

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    Ó Œ ‰ J

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    j

     

    Œ

    œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    j

    œ œ

    œ œ

    &

    &

    œ

    œ

    œ œ œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    C6

    œ

    >

    œ œ œ

    >

    œ œ œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    j

    œ

    œ œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    3

    Amin/D

    œ

    >

    œ œ œ

    >

    œ œ œ œ

      œ

    Œ

    G

    5 WAYS TO PLAY LIKE BenmontTenchBY MATT BECK

    G7

    œ

    A7   D7

    œ

    2. Breaking StylisticBoundariesJust because a song has a defined

    Ex. 2.

    & 4

    j

    w

    w

    w

    w

    j

    .

    .

    œ

    œ

    œ œ

    œ œ

    œ œ

  • 8/20/2019 Keyboard April 2014

    37/70

    3504.2014  Keyboard 

    &

    ?

    4

    4

    j

    w

    w

    w

    w

    j

    .

    .

    œ

    œ

    œ œ

    œ œ

    &

    ?

    j

    w

    w

    w

    w

    j

    .

    .

    œ œ

    œ œ

    œ œ

    &

    ?

    4

    4

    Œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    R

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    3

    w

    w

    E

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

     

    w

    w

    A

    Œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    R

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    3

    w

    w

    E

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

    œ

     

    w

    w

    A

     

    œ œ œ œ

    A min9

    œ œ œ œ

    A min

    œœ œœ œ œ

    D min9   D min

    œœ œ œ œœ

    G sus   G G 2   G sus

     

    œ

    œ

    œ

    3

    œ œ œ œ

    A min9

      œ

    œ

    œ

    3

    œ œ œ œ

    A min

    w

    œœ œœ œ œ

    D min9   D min

    w

    œœ œ œ œœ

    G sus   G G 2   G sus

    Just because a song has a defined

    musical style doesn’t mean you can’t

    infuse different sections with other

    alluring sounds. ake Ex. 2, a honky-

    tonk piano part dropped smack into

    the bridge of an otherwise driving

    rock tune. Tat’s the genius of Ben-

    mont ench—he’s always crafting

    parts that serve the music and make

    it soar. Tis example is in the style

    of a part Benmont played with the

    Heartbreakers on the classic song

    “American Girl.”

    Ex. 4.

    Ex. 3.3. T Is for TasteHow do you define taste? Te answer

    is, you just know it when you hear

    it. Benmont is revered among fellow

    musicians for his ability to make the

    music shine without ever “show-

    boating.” Ex. 3 illustrates a typical

    Benmont piano part in the chorus of

    a song. Notice how he delineates the

    chord changes by creating an infec-

    tious piano melody out of them in

    octaves. Listen to his playing on the

    om Petty tune “Here Comes My Girl”

    for further examples of his sympa-

    thetic sonics.

    4. UnexpectedInstrumentsBenmont is always open to finding

    unexpected sound sources to lift asong higher. While primarily known

    as a master of acoustic and electro-

    mechanical instruments like piano,

    electric piano, and Hammond organ,

    Benmont often works wonders on

    synths as well, even though they

    might seem unlikely in a rock context

    such as the Heartbreakers. Ex. 4 

    shows how he might weave his magic

    on an analog synth patch.

    ?

    4

    &

    ?

    j

    w

    w

    G7

    w

    w

    j

    .

    .

    œ

    A7   D7

    œ

    œ œ

    œ œ

    TOM PETTY AND THE

    HEARTBREAKERS

    Damn the Torpedoes

    RYAN ADAMS

     Ashes & F