[disklavier] Doug McKenzie Piano Jazz
2000-01-09 by Todd Muncy
One of the best piano jazz
zip files in our vault, present since the site was set up, has been the work of
Doug McKenzie of Australia. The self extracting zip file is called
McKenzie.exe and it was put in the "Piano Bar" folder (probably should
be in Jazz Piano folder). If you missed it, you should check it
out.
Recently I came across Doug's
e-mail address on a news group and sent him an invitation to join this group,
which he readily accepted (Hi Doug!). I just received a nice note from him
with 25 first class midi files attached that are not in the zip file we had in
the vault. He suggested I screen them and put any worthy pieces up in the
vault.
After a couple hours of
critical listening last night over a couple of bottles of (Australian)
Chardonnay with the wife, I have uploaded all 25 in the file
"Doug_McKenzie_Piano_Jazz.zip". This time you will find it in
the Jazz Piano folder, where it probably belongs. What became most clear
in listening to these selections is that I am not "worthy" to judge
the work of such a fine musician. They are a wonderful mix of solo piano
and jazz piano trio, with a fairly consistent volume range. It was not
necessary to doctor them with veloset.
Here is what Doug told me
about himself and the music:
Thanks
for the interest Todd.
Unfortunately I do not have a disklavier - the closest I have come is to
have played one in a local music shop!
The midi files that you have, were played in using a Yamaha digital - a
Clavinova portable (PF P-100). I don't know if this model was released
in America.
I am more or less a professional musician, playing gigs in our local
area and teaching in a Jazz studies course at a tertiary college in our
area. I also run a small wholesale plant nursery. The town we live in is
Ocean Grove - south coast of the State of Victoria - about 20 minutes
from a large city (Geelong) and 1 hour 15 mins from Melbourne.
I am attaching a zip file of some other songs that I have sequenced that
are not in the other zip file on your site. You are welcome to select
any that are O.K. and put them up on your site
Most of the things that I have done have been done for students of mine,
or for use in the course(s) that I teach. For the most part they are
minimally edited, and are either solo piano, or jazz piano trio style. I
never (or very very rarely) quantize any part of them, and I try to play
them in in real time at or close to the final tempo. I do correct any
serious mistakes, but they are far from perfect - each time I re-listen
to one I've done, I find myself cringing when I hear some of the things
I have played!
Regards
Doug
Unfortunately I do not have a disklavier - the closest I have come is to
have played one in a local music shop!
The midi files that you have, were played in using a Yamaha digital - a
Clavinova portable (PF P-100). I don't know if this model was released
in America.
I am more or less a professional musician, playing gigs in our local
area and teaching in a Jazz studies course at a tertiary college in our
area. I also run a small wholesale plant nursery. The town we live in is
Ocean Grove - south coast of the State of Victoria - about 20 minutes
from a large city (Geelong) and 1 hour 15 mins from Melbourne.
I am attaching a zip file of some other songs that I have sequenced that
are not in the other zip file on your site. You are welcome to select
any that are O.K. and put them up on your site
Most of the things that I have done have been done for students of mine,
or for use in the course(s) that I teach. For the most part they are
minimally edited, and are either solo piano, or jazz piano trio style. I
never (or very very rarely) quantize any part of them, and I try to play
them in in real time at or close to the final tempo. I do correct any
serious mistakes, but they are far from perfect - each time I re-listen
to one I've done, I find myself cringing when I hear some of the things
I have played!
Regards
Doug
Please join me in welcoming
Doug to the group and thanking him for so generously sharing his work.
Doug, please feel free to upload any and all of your piano work directly to our
site vault anytime the mood strikes you. Thanks a million for what you
have already contributed.
Todd Muncy
tmuncy@...
tmuncy@...