Carl Doy

 

Carl Doy is surely one of the finest keyboardists alive today and, in my opinion, is probably one of the finest that has ever lived. You can read about him at his web site, http://www.carldoy.com/.

Carl was classically trained and now lives in New Zealand. He arranges, composes and produces. In addition to his 10-CD collections, he also arranged, produced and recorded Martin Winch's Espresso Guitar albums, and sat in with Martin, adding his own keyboard magic in the background.

Carl could re-arrange and perform Chopsticks and turn it into a classic. On Martin's Espresso Guitar 2 album, they perform From This Moment On, which I was surprised to learn was a country song performed by someone named Shania Twain. She also wrote the lyrics, which Carl and Martin didn't use, of course. It's my favorite track on E G 2, and for a long time I didn't realize just how marvelous a transformation it was. Then one day I was in my local plumbing supply store and their radio was tuned to a country station. I should point out here that I grew up in Texas and had my fill of country music by the time I was 5 years old. I've disliked country music for over 50 years. The song on the radio was Shania Twain's recording of From This Moment On, and I didn't recognize it at first. Then I realized that it was the same song I had listened to 100+ times from Espresso Guitar 2. What an amazing improvement!

Unchained Melody has been recorded at least 250 times by different artists. My favorite is Carl's version. I think that the next time we attach a CD to a space craft with recordings of sounds, images and music, it definitely needs to include Carl's recording of Unchained Melody. It should show any aliens who encounter the craft what beauty the human race is capable of producing - and enjoying.

Do yourself a favor and buy some of Carl Doy's CDs - and see what a master can do with a keyboard.

 

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