THE PIANO As I said earlier, although I have always been at the forefront of using synthesizers etc., the piano is now once again my favourite instrument. I love its tone, its instant flexibility, the long history with all kinds of great music, and the fact that it gives back not a touch less and not a touch more than I put into it when playing. It has subtle changes of mood of its own as it is played - even the weather affects it. The only trouble with the piano is that, although up to now there was nothing quite like a real piano, you normally either have one to play or there is not one available in the venue. I am pleased to report, however, that I can now play a superb grand piano, with the quality of sound and much of the subtlety of the real thing. I can now even provide classy romantic piano music if you have no piano!

PIANO, KEYBOARDS, ORGAN and ACCORDION   All of these have special moods of their own and different uses depending on the venue and the occasion.   Regardless of whether your premises have a real piano available, I can now give you the evocative expensive sounds of a beautiful grand piano absolutely anywhere, with a highly impressive sound taken from a real up-market grand. I can now play for you a superb 88-note digital piano the sampled Kawai MP9000, with real piano sound and even a real grand piano hammer action. The only thing it does n`t have is strings to go out of tune and spoil the effect!

KEYBOARDS With keyboards I can vary the pace in a different way, going from a romantically styled grand piano and strings sound one moment to a gentle jazz guitar or even classical guitar number the next and back again in an instant, while the effects and EQ on my amplifier and mixer set-up can change in an instant from an intimate small room feel for a light jazz piano solo to a concert hall or big-screen musical effect for a full orchestral sound. For most occasions my Wersi keyboard does all that is necessary, and more.

ORGAN I almost always use organ with at least one other keyboard, even though my current portable, a Wersi has an orchestral sound of its own, warmer perhaps again than the keyboards and giving infinite mixing possibilities. For dance music and artiste backing I would always use the full set-up. Then again even an organ Hammond solo is very agreeable in the context of a varied programme and takes me back to the days when this was all that was available and we imagined that we could hear "all the instruments of the orchestra" in that alone.

ACCORDION The Accordion is an instrument which is physically demanding to play and I would normally expect to play only two or three half-hour sets on it in an evening. However I can, for a slight addition to the fee to allow for the extra set-up time, provide music on a more continuous basis by using keyboard with occasional 20 minute highlights on accordion, just long enough for the novelty of the instrument to make its effect.

Obviously if playing for a French evening on accordion, I would include mainly French and numbers with a continental flavour, occasional popular operatic tunes, Edith Piaf, Michel Legrand and older favourites such as Bridges of Paris and so on, mainly on the musette sound. Similarly for an Italian evening mainly continental, Neapolitan, operatic melodies, although in both cases a touch of variety from more modern ballads and musicals may come in handy.

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My repertoire depends to a large extent on which instrument I am playing, my audience, the style of venue and whether I am playing alone, in a band or with a drummer or backing cabaret. One of my delights in backing cabaret with organ, keyboards or piano, is to absorb and re-inforce the style of the artiste I am working with, whether it is for standards, jazz, country, heavy rock, rock and roll , modern ballad, old favourites or even operatic. For cabaret of course my music-reading and sight-reading skills come to the fore - although rehearsal is good, the sheer adrenalin rush of producing a live performance for the first time in front of an audience only two minutes after first meeting the performer and quickly scanning the music is hard to beat.

As I have already covered accordion repertoire in that section let me deal with my approach to playing piano and keyboards. Keyboards will be similar to the piano repertoire, although with build-ups to string orchestra and some breaks for pseudo jazz or classical guitar, electric piano etc. as previously mentioned. Any good tunes from any style from classics to 40s, 50s and Sinatra era jazz and modern ballads make up a good piano or keyboard programme. There is even a useful overlap bridging the generations, where for example Beegees songs will be interpreted as Boyzone ones and vice-versa and Andrew Lloyd Webber compositions. Many popular classical tunes, presented in a modern manner that will also please even the uninitiated. I am currently based partly in Yorkshire and partly in Cornwall.

PLAYING STYLE I am always altering my musical preferences but at the moment for background music I like to play in a smooth full but flowing romantic style with slight jazz overtones, inferring, rather than overstating (or thumping out!) the rhythm. Although I greatly enjoy working with other musicians I do not usually use a rhythm unit. In my view it makes for easier more relaxed listening (particularly when customers are eating!) and with the style I have developed it is definitely not missed.

All my playing is entirely live and I do not use MIDI files or backing tracks. Not only does this produce a more natural relaxed atmosphere, but in my view I can more flexibly echo and manipulate the ambience and mood of the room by maintaining full musical control in this way. However, if you look at other parts of this site, you will see other styles that I can call up, depending on the needs of the occasion.

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