BAND LINE-UP
My default 6-piece band line-up was:
Charlie Griffin (MOI!)
Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, banjolele, bandleader, manager, MD
Keyboard player
He used two linked keyboards, i.e. Roland U20 and D50. Both have been surpassed by new technology, but they did a very good job. Newer keyboards will have compatible sound patches
[NOTE: using only one keyboard and splitting it, is very limiting and logistically disruptive on live gigs]
Drummer
On standard kit. We never used written drum parts. It inhibits the drummer into being a session musician and not an entertainer. He always worked from the keyboard/lead sheet, listened to the recording, usually memorising the geography, or writing some minor directions into the lead sheet in some more complex songs.
Lead guitarist
Worked largely from the keyboard/lead sheet, but a few of the songs have notated guitar parts, especially where the guitar riffs or solos are intrinsic to the song and need to be covered. I was blessed with a player who is not only a great rock ‘n roll vocalist, but played mean country licks, trad rock ‘n roll riffs, jazz, is a world-class pedal steel player, and even treated us to a few Spanish classical pieces on his Ramirez.
Bass guitarist
Worked largely from the keyboard/”lead sheet”, but a few of the songs have notated bass parts, where the bass part has to be covered precisely (e.g. In The Mood, by Glenn Miller)
Winds
I was very lucky to have a guy who played tenor (Bb), alto (Eb), soprano sax (Bb), clarinet (Bb) and flute/piccolo (concert). His parts had to be transposed, of course.
REQUESTS
The Charlie Griffin Band disbanded when I immigrated, so there are currently no charts for songs beyond 2001, but I can write them up (for a price!):
- I can transcribe songs your band wants to include in their repertoire
- many songs, since even the 1940’s, remain popular for parties to this day
- medium-term: I will be writing up and adding transcriptions of songs that have become popular since 2001, or even older songs that we never got to, once all the existing charts are uploaded to the library