Jazz and Blues

Tracks featuring Stylophone instruments

Destination: Galactic Lounge

Tracks using Behringer synths

Drums and synth-bass: Stylophone Beat groovebox
Bass guitar: Squier P-Bass Special
Lead synth: Behringer JT-4000 played from Artinoise re.corder
Strings: Behringer Solina
Sax: Gear4Music alto.

Sunrunner

A bouncy ska track, driven by Stylophone Beat drums, a Höfner bass, organ and melodica. Simple, but it'll get your feet tapping,

Drums: Stylophone Beat
Bass: Höfner Ignition violin bass
Organ: Yamaha Reface CS
Melodica: Gear4Music 37 through Behringer pitch-shifter.

BeatBounce

Stylophone. electric piano, synth strings and bass, over a classic Latin beat.

All noises by Simon Beck:
Stylophone analogue Pink Edition
Valente electric piano
Solina strings
Höfner violin bass
percussion: Behringer RD-6 and Crave

Con Queso

Twangy bass guitar, Stylophone S2 and a flutey synth over a bass-and-drums groovebox, punctuated by a synth gong. Definitely some international intrigue going on here...

Drums and synth bass: Stylophone Beat
Bass: Höfner Ignition Violin Bass
Lead synth: Stylophone S2
Flutey lead synth: Yamaha Reface CS
Synth gong: Stylophone S2

Double Bluff

A New Orleans-inspired instrumental with wind-synth, polysynth, drum machine and fretless bass.

Wind-synth: Yamaha Reface CS controlled from Artinoise re.corder
Polysynth: Yamaha Reface CS
Drums: Dübreq Stylophone Beat
Bass: Squier P-Bass Special with Bass Flatter fretless board

Rubber Gumbo

Recorded with a reduced selection of gear while on holiday. Thunderstorm effect was pre-recorded; bass added when I returned.

"Thunderstorm" effect: Stylophone CPM DS-2 and Behringer Crave 
Drums: Behringer RD-78
Synth pad: Yamaha Reface CS
Synth chimes: Yamaha Reface CS
Lead synth: Yamaha Reface CS
Bass: Höfner Ignition Series violin bass

Heat Haze

Generative alien big band, backed by analogue drum machine and bass guitar. The aliens played whatever notes they wanted, but I conducted, using a home-made joystick controller.

Synth: Dübreq Stylophone CPM DS-2 Drone synth, controlled by Behringer Crave and homemade passive joystick controller
Drums: Behringer RD-78
Bass: Höfner Ignition Series 500/1 violin bass

Jammin' on Jupiter (Free Jazz)

Big-band jump blues... played on analogue synths and bass guitar! Kick and snare drums are Korg Volca Keys, hi-hat, brass and woodwind are Yamaha Reface CS. Backing is a mixture of a sequenced riff and real-time improvisation. Notice the "Doppler shift" at the beginning and end!

The ADSR Express

Hoagy Carmichael's famous standard, played on Wurlitzer piano, saxophone, double bass and programmed drums.

Georgia On My Mind

The 1923 jazz standard, using the Behringer Neutron analogue synth for the two solo parts, backed by acoustic archtop guitar and double bass.

Tin Roof Blues

Abbreviated version of George Frederick Handel's Hornpipe from his "Water Music", played in real time on synthesisers.
Synthesisers are:
Yamaha Reface CS
Behringer Neutron in Poly mode

Handel

Another Baroque-style improvisation, this time using two Behringer semi-modular synths, a Neutron and a Crave, patched together to create a 3-oscillator, two-filter monophonic system, with the resulting sound fed into the Neutron's analogue delay to provide incidental harmonies.

Gavotte

An instrumental version of the murder ballad "Frankie and Johnny", one of the earliest examples of the 12-bar Blues.

I'm playing 6-string banjo, piano (Nord Electro) and electric upright bass. Drums are from a Korg KR Mini drum machine.

Frankie and Johnny

"Jingle Bells", played using nothing but a Behringer Crave analogue synthesiser and an electric upright bass.

Jingle Bells

An up-tempo 12-bar blues, using the Wurlitzer electric piano sound from my Nord Electro 3 73, with drums from a Casio WK-3000 home keyboard and electric double bass played by myself.

Wurly Boogie

A collaboration between myself (Behringer Neutron without external controller) and my elder son Thomas (electric guitar, fretless bass, drum programming). The synth and guitar were recorded in a single take, with the Neutron's LFO synced to the drums within the DAW, and then the bass was overdubbed and the drums edited.

Exploring The Abyss

Just an instrumental version of Gershwin's standard "Summertime", featuring alto sax, organ and double bass.

Summertime 2020

I'm a self-taught multi-instrumentalist living in London, England. My main instruments are keyboards, bass guitar and double bass, but I also play electric and acoustic guitars, ukulele, 6-string banjo and chromatic harmonica, and I will have a go at anything else that makes a noise.

My musical roots are in the Blues, but my recordings range in style from country to punk to experimental, with bits of funk, jazz and retro movie soundtrack thrown in. And hopefully a bit of humour...

Jammin' on Jupiter (Free Jazz)

Simon Beck 3