The Early Years

I was born in Key West, Florida on April 5, 1950. My childhood started our like any ordinary kid's except for a couple of things. First of all, this was Key West. Need I say anything more? Now, granted, the Key West of those days was nothing like the Key West of today, but it was still very different from most US cities and towns. For one thing, we were an island. An island originally populated with Bahamian Conchs and later Cuban cigar makers. My ancestry is from the latter. My grandfather, Perfecto G. Ayala was a cigar maker, and later a cigar picker. He also played trombone and baritone horn. In the 1890's he played in the band "La Libertad." This was the band that played for all of the Cuban political functions of which there many at this time. He played for the first arrival of Jose Marti to Key West on December 25, 1892. Marti was greeted on the dock by my great great grandfather, Jose Francisco Lamadriz. There was a famous quote made here. Upon seeing Marti, Lamadriz said: "I embrace the new revolution" to which Marti replied, "And I embrace the old revolution." Hence, the torch was passed. Lamadriz the the great patriot of the earlier revolution. And, Perfecto Ayala was playing in the band. My roll was cast three generations ago.

Let's fast forward to my dad, Gus J. Ayala. He grew up in a musical household. His dad taught him trumpet and piano. When my dad reached a certain point in his piano studies, he was sent to the convent to concentrate on piano technique. And my dad had a great technique. It took me many years to get to the point where he was. He matured into a wonderful musician and person.

To be continued

View From Behind the Keyboard

Several years ago I began this blog with the title, "View From Behind the Keyboard." I put it up on my websit and used it primarily as a way to note day to day happenings. There wasn't much interest in it so I stopped posting. It occured to me the other day that most of my life has been lived behind a keyboard somewhere. This has given me a very unique vantage point from which to observe life. And, believe me, lots of life has unfolded in front of me in the past forty five or so years. I thought it would be a good idea to document some of this while I can still remember it. Some of the best times of my life have been spent behind that keyboard.

It's interesting, I don't usually feel comfortable sitting at a table at banquet functions. I feel out of place. My place has always been behind the keyboard. Oh, I've socialized a lot, but I was always in control of when and where that happened. I could always go back to play. I didn't have to hang around people I didn't like. I was always more comfortable providing the atmosphere for a great evening than I was being in the crowd. I guess many entertainers feel that way. Our job is to get it going, to make sure everyone has a great time and a memorable evening. All in all this has been a lot of fun and a great way to go through life.

I will try to keep these posts in some kind of logical order, but I'm sure I'll skip around a lot as I remember things. Even if no one but me reads this, I feel it is still a noble endeavor.

Hello Technology!

I guess I've been avoiding the obvious for years now. For many years, I have been using music technology strictly on a need to know basis. Whenever I purchased a new piece of gear, I learned what I needed to learn to do the basic job I had to do and that was that. This approach has always served me well. I have a lot of work and my sound is excellent.

In the last couple of years, as newer models of keyboards and sound systems have come out, I have started to take a serious interest in them. The first big leap forward for me was when I switched from Roland to Yamaha as my primary keyboard. I had been a lover of Roland for many years and Roland had always served me well. I was playing the Roland G-1000 keyboard which was their flagship arranger board at the time. I absolutely loved it. The sounds were great, the styles superb, the board was extremely attractive, and we could have stayed together for many years. Then two things happened. I joined Synthzone forums and I started getting a little older. Most of the guys on SZ were playing Yamaha boards and they were a lot lighter that the Roland. The damn Roland weighed in just under fifty pounds. That plus the case was getting to be a lot for this old man to haul around. And, to add insult to injury, the Yamaha Tyros series sounded fantastic! And if that wasn't enough, their operating system was a snap. I caught on without ever looking at the manuel. Even better, the Yamahas are compatible with everything, so there are around 60,000 additional styles that will upload. I was convinced. As the song says, I'm a believer. More to follow. I'm getting tired.