This is a DVD video production of a performance in downtown Phoenix’s lovely Orpheum on the luscious Wurlitzer pipe organ.
From a console-rising Everything’s Coming Up Roses to musical hits of the 60’s and 70’s, to closing with a dramatic rendering of Let There Be Peace on Earth, the Orpheum Wurlitzer sounds fantastic, and is certainly “ready for its close-up” on this DVD video presentation.
The Atlanta Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society is mighty proud of its Page pipe organ, and this recording makes it understandable why.
Ken Double shares some wonderful arrangements with his audience, and shares the stage with vocalist Daniel Mata, whose powerful tenor voice is equally at home with selections like Besame Mucho as it is with classics like O Sole Mio. If variety is indeed the spice of life, there is wonderful variety here.
The great Cubs’ star Ernie Banks was a childhood hero, and was famous for exclaiming “Let’s play two!” as he smiled and talked about what a great day it was to play baseball.
In this case, the title refers to two great pipe organs in different home settings.
The Crotty Residence Wurlitzer is over 40 ranks, and offers the intriguing sounds imitative of the great George Wright’s studio organ. Meanwhile, the Grundy Morton has a bigger feel to it, and these two instruments are shown off to their contrasting advantage, including two vocals by Ken on this recording.
The great 4/42 Möller pipe organ in the cavernous Fox Theatre has never sounded better, as recording technician Tim Stephens’ attention to mic placement and the balance of articulate voices in the expansive room is truly marvelous.
Enjoy magnificent renderings of ballads like Losing My Mind; Love Is A Many Splendored Thing; and the rhythmic Don’t Get Around Much Anymore; El Cumbanchero and Funiculi Funicula make for some great theatre organ listening.
The Hulko Residence Walker digital organ – it is hard to believe this sound comes from a home installation.
The Walker sounds rich and full in its setting in rural Pennsylvania, ably presenting both the quiet, pretty ballads such as A Portrait of My Love and Try A Little Tenderness as it is swinging through It All Depends on You or thundering through Granada. It ain’t pipes, but it’s hard to tell the difference!