Right-Click to Download    While I use my Yamaha arranger keyboard for mostly pop music, it can also duplicate orchestral sounds… and what better time to trot out an orchestra than at Christmas.

I heard the New York Philharmonic’s version of this song and thought I’d see if I could duplicate each instrument on a keyboard.  The Yamaha has great digital renderings of almost every instrument that sound so incredibly real.  Back in the day, when string synthesizers were first introduced, I bought one and lugged that 90 pound sucker around for years.  It sat on top of my Fender Rhodes piano that weighed 130 pounds (needless to say I was in way better shape back then), but it could only “kinda-sorta” sound like violins.  It was really pretty pathetic.

It’s not just strings anymore, and my Yamaha weighs just 22 pounds (whew).  Through digital sampling, now any instrument can be duplicated.  If you can play a piano, you have an entire orchestra at your fingertips…. or a rock band… or even bluegrass (a banjo is the most difficult to mimic – but who would want to anyway?).  You are the conductor or band leader…  and what a power trip that is.

Nobody’s gonna sing this arrangement, I know.  I’m just throwing this out there to show off my keyboard.  Karen thinks I should be sleeping with it, but that’s another story…

  Download    … is my two front teeth. This one isn’t my idea. A guy from Australia wanted this tune as a sequence so I thought I’d put it on the Christmas List. A few months ago, he wanted “Three Blind Mice” (this is what I’ve been reduced to). Apparently, he’s doing “kids” venues (I hope). So, singers, you might want to try this for a little fun. His only instructions to me were “make it cute”. Folks, this is as cute as I get…

  Right-Click to Save    If you like jazz, you’ll enjoy this. If you don’t like jazz – you’ll hate it.  The song is “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” – in case you don’t recognize it.  Personally, I love playing in a jazz style – mostly because I’m not good or patient enough to play in a “structured” way.  I’m a “hack’ and I know it.

It was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in 1934 (before my time).  It sold 30,000 copies in 24 hours, so apparently that qualifies as an instant hit.  I grew up listening to Perry Como sing it, then Bruce Springsteen massacred the tune and ruined it for me.

You can’t sing this version, so it goes on the Instrumental Jazz list, or you can download it here.  You might pay attention to the guitar throughout this arrangement – you can’t play the keys that fast for a long period of time so I used the ‘arpeggiator” built into the Yamaha – I love that thing.  It let’s you pick and sustain notes indefinitely…which is heaven-sent for a lazy keyboardist like me.  I used 8 tracks for this one – piano, bass, drums, organ, marimba, synth brass, tenor sax, and that lovely guitar.  It all comes together for a nifty, though different, combination – unless, of course, you don’t like jazz.

  Right-Click to Download    This Christmas tune has been recorded by every singer from LeAnn Rimes to Madonna to Homer & Jethro (go figure that one).  The original recording was done way back in 1953 by the one and only Eartha Kitt.  It was a huge hit for her so she re-recorded it 10 years later with a more uptempo arrangement (if something works just keep trotting it out there, I guess).  Madonna’s popular rendition in 1987 was based on Kitt’s latter version.

Since Madonna has the moral turpitude of a snake, we elect to perform this song in the original Eartha Kitt style – besides, it’s more fun and Karen gets to use her “Betty Boop” voice.  If you’re lucky enough to have a Yamaha workstation keyboard, use the “voice oohs” setting on track 14…. the backup vocals are surprisingly realistic.  Of course, if you have three backup singers you won’t need that.  This one is primarily for single performers, so get your best “Betty Boop” in gear.  Great song…

  Right-Click to Save    I put a jazz Christmas CD together about two years ago, and shared it with a few people (and one dog) last year with folks  I thought would get a kick out of it.  However, I’ve since discovered that my sequences are now all over the internet – with no credit to me.  Can you say “copyright”?  Apparently, I can’t.

No matter.  This season I’ll share my jazzy Christmas tracks with everybody and anybody.  Singers can use these arrangements in their own holiday sets and I’ll be honored if they do.  “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” (The Christmas Song) has become a classic – written by Mel Torme and recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio in 1946.  This arrangement is nothing like the original (I heard it by someone several years ago), but works as a nice jazz piece around the holidays.   My piano lead gets a little carried away, but when the beat is there ya gotta go with it.  Backup midi tracks are on the Christmas list.