Download    Your dance floor is packed and the final chord of “Old Time Rock’n’Roll” still hangs in the air. The crowd is cheering and clapping – wanting more. It’s that pivotal moment in the third set that every band waits for – when you’ve got the crowd in the palm of your hand. It’s time for…. the Conga line!

“Conga” is the signature song of The Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan taking the lead.  It’s a great combination of fast, clever lyrics and a very busy Latin rhythm section – lots of congas, of course.  Our arrangement gives you plenty of time to talk to the crowd (“Everybody join the conga line!”) with elongated drum solos at the beginning.  You’ll get the first three brass section chords to establish the key, the singer does one chorus line to introduce the song (I’m using flute as the lead vocal), a piano interlude, then use the eight-bar drum solo to get the crowd up and forming a line.  From there, your singer can easily follow the movement of the song and come in at the right time with verses and chorus.  Easy arrangement and guaranteed to create beautiful chaos on the dance floor.

Nobody can resist a conga line as it wildly slides by your table – you just have to jump in.  This song is happy and fun and the beat is infectious.  If you’re new to the business and haven’t tried a conga in your lineup, this one’s for you.  I always want to join in myself, but that’s kinda tricky from behind the piano.

  Download    At the tender age of 19, I played an 8-month stint at a lounge in downtown Mobile called “Admiral’s Corner”. I know, I was too young…  but those were different times.  I left there to do an elongated gig with the Air Force, spending a great deal of time at the piano providing dinner music in the Officer’s Club.  It wasn’t until years later that I found out that the long-haired dude who replaced me at that Mobile club was none other than Jimmy Buffett.  Jimmy hadn’t even written “Margaritaville” yet – that’s how long ago it was.

Van Morrison originally recorded “Brown-Eyed Girl” in 1967 (I can’t believe it’s that old).  He’s never received a dime of royalties for this tune (no lawyer when he signed the contract), and he intended the song to be titled “Brown-Skinned Girl” (something about a Jamaican girlfriend).  His original is a combination of jazz and soul and a bit harsh for my taste.  Whenever I performed it, I tried to smooth it out a little bit.  But then the master of “smooth”  (Jimmy)  covered the song on his album Boats, Beaches, Bars, and Ballads (now there’s a combination of beautiful things) and the song changed forever.

Jimmy’s take on “Brown-Eyed Girl” is how we do it today.  Every now and then we’ll trot out the Van Morrison style, but rarely.  We took a three year job at a local beach bar with an audience full of “parrot heads”, so nearly everything had to be done “Jimmy’s way”.  We just got used to it.  Down here, the man is king… as well he should be.

If you’re performing this classic (as I’m sure you are), download this sequence off the Pop/Rock list and try it Jimmy’s way… he won’t mind.

      Carole King – it just doesn’t get any better than this.  Songwriter, performer, arranger, Grammy winner – what more could you want?  “It’s Too Late” is a song from her 1971 album Tapestry.  The lyrics describe a love relationship ending without assigning blame.  That, in itself, is quite remarkable.  We’ve all had affairs that ended without any reason – just didn’t work out.  But not many songs are written with that idea in mind.  Ya gotta blame somebody for the breakup – even if it’s yourself (the ol’ “it’s not you, it’s me” syndrome).

Now I’m gonna bring in a name you probably don’t know – Ms. Toni Stern.  Today she’s a successful poet and writer, but back in the 70’s, she wrote the lyrics to many of Carole King’s songs.  “It’s Too Late” was written about the breakup between Toni and James Taylor.  Carole King was playing piano in Taylor’s band at the time, but they weren’t an item… yet.  Toni wrote the lyrics in a single day and Carole put them to music.  That’s Carole on the left and Toni on the right in the above photos.  They look remarkably alike, don’t you think?

The song was written in the key of D minor.  The sadness of the song is emphasized by the minor key, according to Wikipedia.  Personally, I always enjoy playing in minors – brings drama to the music – and we all need a little drama in our lives (some more than others).  But the lyrics are eternally sad and bittersweet:  “Now you look so unhappy and I feel like a fool”.  Powerful stuff, there.

I was talking to a young singer the other day who had never heard of Carole King,  let alone this song.  Even though the song is from 1971, when she heard it, she loved it!  This backup sequence will help her reintroduce this song to the “millennials”.  I’ll guarantee ya, nobody will be singing “Nuthin but a ‘G’ Thang” 45 years from now.  Sickening.

  Download Instrumental    I was in a music store in Ft. Lauderdale in 1992 trying out different keyboards, when an older gent came up to me and asked if I’d come play for his group. But to get the job, I’d have to play his favorite song “Unforgettable”. His “group” turned out to be 10,000 people living in a place called Century Village – my first introduction to the crazy “retired people” communities of South Florida.

I quickly learned the song and it became a permanent resident in my repertoire.  It was written by one Irving Golden and first recorded by Nat King Cole in 1951.  Golden’s original title for the song was Uncomparable, but the music publishing company decided it should be Unforgettable – works either way.  In 1991, Elvis Presley’s music director, Joe Guercio, came up with the idea to edit and remix  Cole’s original version to create a duet with his daughter, Natalie.  It won three Grammys in 1992.

Natalie was mildly successful in the mid-1970’s with such hits as “This Will Be” and “Our Love”.  Her career faltered through years of drug abuse, but she re-emerged in ’87 with a cover of Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac”.  Through the 90’s she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success – “Unforgettable, with Love”.  You can download our backing tracks for this great Nat King Cole/Natalie Cole tune off the Pop/Rock list.

Natalie Cole died this past December 31st of congestive heart failure, brought on by her years of drug addiction.  Why, oh why, must they always go down that road?

  Right-Click to Save    Well, it’s Monday… and its raining… hence, this song.  This 1971 tune by the Carpenters was the fourth #1 hit for the duo.  I was never a big fan of theirs, but if I had to pick a favorite Carpenters song , this would be it.

But this isn’t about Karen and Richard… it’s about their backup band. Studio (or session) musicians are never given their dues, unless they strike out on their own.  Producers would often use these anonymous musicians if they felt the competency of the real band was not up to par.  One group of session players became known as “The Wrecking Crew”.  They recorded behind nearly every artist that came out of California in the 60’s.  They got their nickname from the fact that older studio players from the 50’s thought this new generation was going to “wreck” the industry.  Several members of “The Wrecking Crew” went on to make a name for themselves, such as Dr. John (piano) and their upright bass player, Glen Campbell – yes, Mr. Rhinestone Cowboy himself.

I’ve known several studio players in my time and they’ve all been less than pleasant individuals – right up there with stand-up comedians.  They tend to look down on us here in the trenches trying to make a living.  But who can blame them?  We’re all out here trying to imitate what they did in the studio.  They especially don’t like people like me with arranger workstations who can mimic any instrument – one track at a time.  Doncha’ just love technology?