lowdown

Not one particular musician, many! Ranging from Ralph Vaughan Williams, Aaron Copland through to Dave Grusin & Richard Bona. They all have the melodic, emotional, composing styles that really appeal to my ears.

A few days after the first Gulf War ended, I was doing CSE forces shows in Kuwait & Saudi Arabia. While having pre gig refreshments about a 1/2 mile from the gig (Kuwait), we heard a rather loud explosion. A sergeant marched into the mess, then informed us that the show wouldn't go on. He shouted out at the top of his military voice, with a sh*t eating grin, that the Stage and all the hired equipment had gone up in smoke. Amazingly & stupidly, the Stage had been erected near an ammunition dump, which indeed, had gone up in smoke....You could tell by the look on the face of the Sergeant, that us wimpy musicians, should have gone up with the stage as well. The turn was an Impressionist called Bobby Davro, who minus the band, then offered to tell gags to the troops for some kind of entertainment (no mic - shouting at the top of his voice). He went down a (Desert) storm for making the effort, while we got smashed on some home made wine some French SF's troops had given us. (So, not a complete disaster)

Of course, there is 'Finale' as well. The crossgrade price is $149. Also there is a fully functional, 30 day demo available on the website. I suppose, try out all the demos and see what fits best.

I stopped using Sibelius after the subscription model business. I started using Notion 6 on PC and Notion on the iPad. Great for swapping files between the two. Notion is very easy to get to grips with and does most of the Sibelius commands. It comes with it's own sample library and the articulations respond well with the articulation markings. So for playback you get a great idea of how things are going to sound. There are TAB options, Drum & Percussion notation, just about anything to be honest. You can write your own custom rules and macros etc. There are a decent amount of score templates provided as well. It also has a sequencer overlay, so in a way because of VST integration, it can work similar to a DAW as well (adjusting velocities & cc#'s to work with articulation and dynamic markings). Another new kid on the block which is gaining in popularity is 'Overture by Sonic Scores'. It has a good crossgrade price and you can demo it as well. My son has just started using this, and I must say, it is pretty impressive with the things you can do with it. https://sonicscores.com/overture/ https://sonicscores.com/ Dorico is great, but it is still lacking in some essentials. Each update is addressing this though.

Although Lee Sklar was on the album as well, I think 'Scott Edwards' might have played Bass on 'Sara Smile'. Edit: It seems that it is him - 'Sara Smile' credited in the article below. Scott Edwards was a very busy studio player back then. The full interview here (including some interesting stuff that he played on). http://www.songfacts.com/blog/writing/bass_player_scott_edwards/

How do these transmit/work ? Is it some kind of base unit/transmitter? Edit: Ah, ok. https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/wireless-headphones-digital-stereo-rs-160

Possibly on the way? http://majorhifi.com/how-do-wifi-headphones-work/ http://www.streamzmedia.com/ http://www.streamzmedia.com/home/product

I have just been looking at what you get in GarageBand - It's far more than a basic DAW these days. Plenty to compose/write with. It even has a score editor. 'What Is GarageBand'.... https://help.apple.com/garageband/mac/10.2/#/gbndff5345d9

Before you splash out on a midi controller, maybe consider this. It seems to come with plenty of decent sounds.

Here are the OHMSS Orchestrations with the (Propellerheads )Techno tracks stripped out. David Arnold arranged & augmented the John Barry themes in a tasteful way. Mind you, David Arnold studied with Barry, so that figures.....

Robert Culbertson is a lovely ‘Stick’ player. I have not heard many original compositions from him, but his cover work is terrific. He has the melody side nailed, where quite a few are just banging out rhythms and are light on melodic/harmonic content. Nice phrasing too.

Yes, he is. Mad ideas.... 'Biscuit Bass'.

Yeah, I think so as well. Every time I watch/listen to it, there is something else that grabs my attention.

I have tried a search for this, but I don't think it has been posted before (worth another watch if it has).

Do you remember their track 'Walking Into Sunshine'?. I thought it sounded like it was heavily influenced by Gene Chandler and his track 'Get Down'.... Central Line - Walking Into Sunshine.

I saw Jeff Lorber a couple of times back then. I really liked all the syncopation in his tunes. When this album came out (Wizard Island), he had a Bassist called Danny Wilson playing with him (who was rather a cool, funky, groovy player).

Maybe, but as far as I know, Fish Slapping started in London.

Glad you mentioned this lot. When they released 'Garden Party', I found it more melodic compared to most of the UK 'Brit Funk' offerings at that time. Maybe a bit 'smooth' for some, but terrific musicians with a great feel. My opinion of course. This concert was just over ten years ago, but still a good listen.

My first club experiences were all about 'The Sound Of Philly'. Just loved that period (still my guilty pleasure).

Seems like we all arrived at the same place from different experiences. This thread has been a good read for all this stuff.

Made me realize that I wasn't as good a player as I thought I was and needed to put in a lot more practise to get that stuff under my belt.