FOR OUR MUTUAL DANCING + LISTENING PLEASURE Friday August 17 4pm and 915pm >
1)”Good Morning Starshine…” from ‘Hair.’
Continuing our Studio 54 journey, here’s a great number to start our live performance segment. From the 1967 Galt MacDermot musical, “Hair,” this music fits our disco theme very nicely.
Six of the seven pieces John’s playing tonight, are all his own arrangements, while the 7th one is his own composition. ‘Good Morning Starshine,’ reveals a typical bit of John’s musical whimsy, as he often likes to make reference to his own ‘classical’ background…
2)”La Paloma Cha cha…”
Continental loves its Latin dancing, so here’s a bit of a break from our disco music. The Kawai ES8 Digital Keyboard John’s playing tonight is pretty well state-of-the-art. Along with a variety of instrumental sounds, it contains 100 different percussion rhythms for dancing…and each style often has it’s own variations. Incredible!! As Brian calls it, ‘truly a one man (or woman) band.’ So, here we go with rhythm #98, variation #2… Everybody Cha Cha!!
3)”The Pink Panther”
Let’s settle things down a little, with an air of ‘mystery.’ It’s almost impossible to hear this music and not recall the antics of the impish pink feline…or the the hilarity of Peter Sellers! The piece is a bit on the subdued side, with a nice, cool jazz shuffle by the one-and-only, Henry Mancini….But beware of the ending and don’t fall over!!…
4)”Moon River”
The inspiration for this next piece comes from, one of any dancer’s favourite movies, “Shall We Dance.” In it, Ms Mitzi asks J-Lo and her partner to give the bewildered male students, something to inspire them…the beautiful slow walz danced by the professionals, to this most famous Mancini tune, leaves the guys speechless. This is John’s interpretation of that lovely moment. No percussion this time…just the piano to set the ideal Romantic mood…
5)”Down by the Lake”…a musical parody on Swan Lake tunes by John Loomis.
….John loves ballet and has recently taken some beginner instruction as a ballet ‘character actor.’ Tonight is the first public performance of a piece he composed, while considering two memorable themes from Tscaikovsky’s wonderful ballet score…see if you can recognize them.
With an eclectic mix of jazz, ragtime and boogie, it shuffles along with a ‘cool’ swing.
6)”Begin the Beguine”
Let’s go back to Latin again….Time to sway along to this very famous music by the genius of Cole Porter. John’s ‘hired’ quite a large percussion section to accompany this piece. Often performed in the movies of its time, written in 1935, it still retains its timeless charm…
7)”The Phantom Theme” from ‘Phantom of the Opera.’
The music from this amazing Andrew Lloyd Webber show, gives no sign whatsoever of losing its popularity…It’s story, based on Leroux’s great novel, continues to fascinate us….
John has to slip away for a few moments, in order to prepare this piece with ‘just the right touch.’ So, while we’re waiting, let’s listen to John entertain us with a recording of his arrangement of a piece that sets the mood…”The Music of the Night…”
Well Brian…that’s it. And I think I’ve got the right music to reappear on. My performance of this piece is saved in my photos. It’s too long to email, so we can download it into your computer on Thursday…..So then, I’ll try to change my clothes as quickly as possible, re-enter, menace the audience, and make it to the keyboard with the ideal background accompaniment. My Goal: To freak out some members of the audience! 
5 Star
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