Dorothy Motto's 1920's Piano Styles via 15 minute MP3 = 26MB or MPEG4 = 51MB

Piano Roll Blues
Put another Nickel in the Nickelodian
Five Foot Two
12th Street Rag
[MP3][MPEG4][Other formats][Youtube soon... I cannot currently upload but soon]

Piano Stylings by Dorothy Motto for 7:30 p.m. Jan 2013

PIANO STYLINGS by Dorothy Motto
...from her home studio on the infamous Technics digital piano model PR903 (Panasonic)

Embraceable You.
Our Love is Here to Stay
Familiar but unnamed tune for now.
Love Story Theme
Moon River
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
When You Meet a Boy.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.
Chopin Nocturne in Eb (Tonight We Love)
Chopin Polonaise in Ab
Unknown title but could be another Chopin
Liebenstraum

[MP3 audio hotlink] [MPEG4 video download] [Other formats at archive.org]

Rick's comment
Dorothy admired Liberace, Carmen Cavallaro and Eddie Duchin among others so I asked ChatGPT to compare Cavallaro and Duchin. It turns out Dorothy's playing is sort of halfway between them. Liberace was more toward the Cavallero side but Dorothy Motto's "piano stylings" which I NOW understand as "interpretations" fall in the intersection of all of those. I'm nowhere near any of them, including Dorothy and that's why we worked for the audience when we took turns. I'm more like Roger Williams I think with a great deal more simplicity and precision with less flair. Here's ChatGPT's understanding of Cavallar and Duchin, very interesting. ...

My prompt:

What would say the playing style of eddie duchin was like compared to carmen cavallaro?

Answer:

Eddie Duchin and Carmen Cavallaro were both highly popular and successful pianists and bandleaders in the mid-20th century, known for their elegant and romantic styles. However, there were key differences that defined their playing:



**Eddie Duchin:**

*

**Showmanship and Charisma:** Duchin was a master showman. His performance was as much about the visual spectacle as it was about the music. He was known for his dramatic flair, tossing his head, and playing with a flourish.
*

**Simplified Melodies and Rhythmic Emphasis:** Duchin focused on relatively simple, memorable melodies played with a strong, rhythmic emphasis. He often used a repetitive, almost hypnotic, rhythm that was very danceable.
*

**"Duchin Touch":** His signature sound was a bright, clear, and somewhat percussive touch. He emphasized clarity over complex ornamentation.
*

**Less Improvisational:** While he could improvise, his arrangements were generally more structured and less improvisational than Cavallaro's.
*

**Vocal Emphasis:** Often featured vocalists prominently in his band, using them to carry the melodies and enhance the romantic atmosphere.
*

**Popular Appeal:** Duchin's style was geared towards a wider, more popular audience. His music was easily accessible and had a "feel-good" quality.



**Carmen Cavallaro:**

*

**Technical Virtuosity:** Cavallaro was a far more technically gifted pianist than Duchin. He possessed exceptional finger dexterity and a wider range of harmonic and melodic vocabulary.
*

**Elaborate Ornamentation:** He was known for his intricate embellishments, trills, and runs. He could take a simple melody and transform it into a dazzling display of pianistic skill.
*

**Fluid and Lyrical:** Cavallaro's playing was characterized by a smooth, flowing, and lyrical quality. His tone was rich and expressive.
*

**More Improvisational:** He was more inclined to improvise and vary his arrangements, showcasing his improvisational prowess.
*

**Sophisticated Harmonies:** Used more complex and sophisticated harmonic structures, giving his music a more refined and sophisticated sound.
*

**Pianistic Focus:** Cavallaro's bands centered more on his piano playing. Vocals and other instrumental elements were often used to complement his piano work, not to dominate it.
*

**Sophisticated Audience:** Appealed to a more discerning audience who appreciated musical sophistication.



**In Summary:**

* **Duchin:** More about showmanship, clear melodies, strong rhythms, and popular appeal. Think of a romantic crooner playing piano.
* **Cavallaro:** More about technical virtuosity, elaborate ornamentation, improvisational skill, and sophisticated harmonies. Think of a concert pianist who also plays popular tunes.

You could say Duchin was more of an entertainer with a piano, while Cavallaro was a pianist who entertained.

**Rick's Comment on Dorothy Motto's Stylings**

Dorothy loved being an entertainer and wore the flashy vests and jackets on stage. She fudged a lot of things leaving accuracy behind in favor of flashy runs, so in this way, she was a Liberace or Duchin. Her memory of pop tunes and entire sets of songs without having to refer to notes or music, however, makes her more like a Cavallaro because she was indeed accurate to an astonishing degree. Even after listening to her in public for many years, she would suddenly erupt with a famous tune I had never heard her play before. I'd have to look it up as if she were some sort of early form of AI in human form or a human juke box. She used all 88 keys where I was more toward 77 or 61. I learned a lot by watching her. This review doesn't even touch her familiarity and confidence with audiences but that's for another post.

***

Dorothy Motto Classical Styling from a Sam Ash stage in 2014

[MP3 audio only hotlink instant play, 20 minutes, 36MB]

[MPEG4 video download, 20 minutes, about 85 MB]
(I'm currently unable to upload to Youtube due to an outdated browser so I have Archive.org host my videos at this time]

[Other formats on Archive.org]

Dorothy Motto, Classical Styling 2014 @79 on straight digital piano at Sam Ash stage on our student recital nights
Tonight We Love (Westside Story) based on Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 in Bb
Ebb Tide
Yesterday (Beatles medley), Hey Jude
Phantom of the Opera medley
Tonight We Love from West Side Story
Phantom of the Opera medley (Think of Me, Music of the Night, All I Ask of You)
The Impossible Dream
Tonight We Love
Tonight We Love again on a different night.
ENCORE: Warsaw Concerto

Rick says: These clips were edited from various videos to create a solid 20 minute stream of Dorothy's Classical stylings from 2014. The first test for listenability is done by me several times through before posting. When we played out, these were "her" songs and we didn't play each others' songs. For the first time today, I'm channelling her however and playing Warsaw Concerto for the first time. I sound like her playing and had to stop because it kind of freaked me out a bit. I'll continue to work on it and the other songs as I get a grip on myself however.

Dorothy Motto in-studio rehearsal for a wedding pre-reception set for Gig-Salad 2014

[MP3 Audio Hotlink] [MPEG4 Video Download from Archive.org]
[Other formats at Archive.org]

TUNES COVERED EITHER IN MEDLEY OR STANDALONE
(part II later post)
Memory from Cats
Phantom of the Opera Medley
Think of Me
Something of the Night
One Enchanted Evening.
Embraceable You
Leibestraum
Canon in D
Medehlsohn’s Wedding March
The other wedding song by Wagner, Here Comes the Bride. (Bridal Chorus)
Besame Mucho
Love me with all your heart
COLE PORTER MEDLEY
S’wonderful.
I’ll Take Manhatten
Let’s Fall in Love
Takin a Chance on Love.
I’ll Take Manhatten again.

Dorothy Motto on stage at Sam Ash in January 2014

[MP3 Hotlink on Archive.org] [MP4 Download from Archive.org-safe]
[Other formats]

SONGS 20 min - 45 MB MP3audio, 150MB MP4 - safe download from Archive.org
Cumana (Samba Time)
[and 2 other tunes I don’t know the names of!]
Tico Tico
Everything’s Coming Up Roses
If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof
Bumble Boogie (Not Hello Dolly because I’ve edited)
Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, Fascinating Rhythm, Embraceable You, Someone to Watch Over Me, I Got Rhythm...
Switched on Classics (Classical Rock using classical themes with the Keyboard Orchestra): (played by Dorothy, not Rick, due to splice)
Fur Elise
Hungarian Rhapsody #2, Lizst

Dorothy Motto Piano-Vocal 15 minute Audition in 2014 at age 79

[AUDIO MP3--> 13MB instant-play hotlink]

[VIDEO  MP4 -->200MB download]

SONGS COVERED (All 20th Century standards)

All of Me
You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
Blue Skies
Till There Was You
What a Wonderful World
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
It Had to be You
Besame Mucho
Malaguana

A Dorothy Motto Piano * Organ EXTRAVAGANZA from 2013 for 2025

[MP3 HOTLINK  instant play no download] [MP4 video download <100MB][Other formats]
NOTE: The bigger the sound system you play these back on, the better because part of the fun is the low end which is impossible to hear on cheap smartphone speakers. I don't use bluetooth earpods so I have no idea what these will sound like on those but generally, a better sound system is always better... including adjustable low and high end frequencies... to enjoy these recordings will the intended playback effect. Total play time is about 30 minute, nice for happy hour before dinner.

The Original Studio Production of the Rick & Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Hour Oct. 2013

[MP3 Instant-play audio only 30 min]
[MP4 videoArchive.org safe download]
[Other formats at Archive.org]

Canadian Sunset
Love You with all my heart
Alley Cat
It Don’t Mean a Thing if it ain’t Got That Swing - vocal
What Now My Love?
Paris in the Spring
They Can’t That Away from Me
Somewhere There’s Music
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
All Of Me, vocal.

DISCUSSION by Rick 3/14/25

This is one of the FIRST TIMES we put the KEYBOARD and PIANO together with Dorothy on 88 keys and me operating ONLY an easily portable keyboard with specific intent of configuration this way for one-hour shows. The amp was not so easy to move but still transportable. I felt I had to get her away from the Technics piano she loved which was simply impossible to move and therefore gig with. Here she’s on the very light transportable KORG we bought in September at Guitar Center from Raul, along with the PITCH CORRECTOR  for vocals and 400 watt ALTO brand amp. This is the same basic set-up that we used through to 2019 after several false starts from 2012 to 2014 involving two-pianos, organ-piano, taking-turns-on-one-piano, one-piano-with-ensemble-rhythm&bass, and acoustic-piano, although we continued to use those extra-configurations here-and-there up to 2019 depending on circumstances. The piano-keyboard-duo-with-2-mics-and-two-books was my targeted configuration if at all possible.

Rick & Dorothy Organ Singalong 2019 Dorothy @84

This final set in our 30 year partnership ends appropriately with “Hello Dolly”, Dorothy’s favorite signature tune because it resonated as “Hello Dorothy”, with the line “Dolly will never go away again” another reminder that we would be back to do another concert after all the apparent show-stopping challenges we faced over the years. I’m sure she was thinking that too but we never overtly said it out loud so as not to jinx it. Now, Dolly/Dorothy HAS gone away... but has she really? She’s back electronically here and furthermore, I believe that there is an “instant afterlife” going on in this universe. And I believe she’s met up with her favorite artists like Liberace and Louis Armstrong. In fact, the New Orleans style in Louis Armstrong’s version here, was a favorite style of Dorothy’s developed long before her gig in New Orleans at Pat O’Briens as a duelling piano player in the early 1980’s.

Here is a selection of songs we did...

Hungarian Rhapsody
It Had to Be You
You Made Me Love You
Side by Side
Sentimental Journey
Oh Suzanna
By The Light of the Silvery Moon
There is a Tavern in the Town
Hello Dolly

[MP3 hotlink] [MP4 download] [Other formats]

Rick and Dorothy THEATRE ORGAN Singalong!!!

What a fantastic theatre organ Dorothy got set up on the registration of this big old Thomas organ at a retirement residence we performed at in November 2018! She's in her prime for 83 too doing shout outs and using me to lead her sing alongs since at the point she was losing her wind power to carry all vocals. Three months after this show, I was actually afraid to take her out on tour anymore due to her increasing inability to walk and breathe. Looking back now, however, I think it's pretty incredible that I got her 'out there' at this point doing what she did at this show and that she pulled herself together enough to do this. Her organ-keyboard maneuvres were great and the audience love it. Her organ-concert hero was Ethel Smith, big time pop organist in the mid 20th century. This is a small sample of the several hundred times we went out to play in front of retirement crowds either for Fletcher Music Center, Schroeders Organ & Piano or on our own.

[MP3 Hotlink Instant Play] [MP4 Download from Archive.org] [ Other formats]

DOROTHY MOTTO played organ at MACAYO'S in Phoenix

in early 1980's, after which she played at Pat O'Brien's in New Orleans for a few years where the concept of "duelling piano" originated, taking the live-piano world by storm from there through the 1990's and 2000's including all the cruise ships piano bars.  She moved back to Phoenix in the mid-1980's to play and sell for Schroeders which is where I met her in 1995.

Rick & Dorothy Organ Sing-Along Hour Sample

[ MP3 Audio Hotlink] [MP4 Video/audio download] [Other formats]

Dorothy playing the organ featured on the Lawrence Welk show donated by a resident at this retirement residence, with Rick leading the singing in October 2018.  Songs...

SHOWTUNE INSTRUMENTALS
That’s Entertainment
There’s No Business Like Show Business
Everything’s Coming Up Roses (Dorothy's favorite opening for organ-store concerts)
Bubbles in the Wine (Lawrence Welk Show opening we often watched together)

SINGALONGS
Take me out to the ballgame.
Sidewalks of New York
The Band Played On
Five Foot Two
Ain’t She Sweet
Shine On Harvest Moon

Rick writes: The "She's Gone" song occurred to me as I finished editing. I wondered what ChatGPT thought about my using it for the ending of this video today, see below.

She’s Gone, Hall and Oates

ChatGPT prompt-

Hall and Oates composed a song title "she's gone" that deals with a lover leaving another but in my case my wife died yet it still applies mostly. Can you comment on that?     3:37 PM

ChatGPT
I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your wife. It's completely understandable that you'd find resonance in a song like "She's Gone," even though it's ostensibly about a romantic breakup. Grief is a complex and deeply personal experience, and it often transcends the specific circumstances of a loss.

Here's why I think "She's Gone" might resonate with you in the context of your wife's passing:

*

**The Central Theme of Loss:** At its core, the song deals with the pain and emptiness that comes from the absence of someone you deeply loved. While the circumstances of a romantic breakup and the death of a spouse are different, the profound feeling of loss is a shared experience. That feeling of emptiness, the void left behind, can be remarkably similar.

*

**The Feeling of Helplessness:** The lyrics often convey a sense of helplessness and powerlessness. The singer recognizes that the other person is gone and there's nothing they can do to change it. This mirrors the feeling of powerlessness many people experience in the face of death. You couldn't prevent your wife's passing, and that can leave you feeling helpless and heartbroken.

*

**The Search for Meaning:** When someone leaves our lives, whether through a breakup or death, we often search for meaning and understanding. We ask ourselves "Why?" and try to make sense of the situation. The song's mournful tone and the singer's introspection might reflect your own search for meaning in the face of your loss.

*

**The Universal Nature of Grief:** Grief is a universal human experience. While the details of each loss are unique, the underlying emotions – sadness, anger, confusion, longing – are common. This universality is what allows a song about a romantic breakup to resonate with someone grieving the death of a loved one.

*

**The Ambiguity of "Gone":** The word "gone" is intentionally vague. It doesn't specify the reason for the departure. This ambiguity allows the listener to project their own experiences and emotions onto the song. In your case, you're projecting the specific grief of losing your wife onto the broader theme of absence and loss.



**Important Considerations:**

*

**Grief is unique:** Everyone grieves differently. There's no right or wrong way to feel. If you find solace in a song like "She's Gone," that's perfectly valid.
*

**Don't invalidate your feelings:** You don't need to apologize for finding comfort in a song about a breakup when you're grieving the death of your wife. Your feelings are valid, and the song is simply a vehicle for expressing those feelings.
*

**Seek Support:** While music can be therapeutic, it's important to seek support from friends, family, or a grief counselor. Talking about your feelings can be incredibly helpful.
*

**Remember the Good Times:** While the song focuses on the loss, remember the joy and love that you shared with your wife. Cherishing those memories can be a source of comfort and strength.



In conclusion, it is perfectly normal and understandable to find relevance in a song like "She's Gone" after the death of your wife. The song taps into the universal emotions of loss, helplessness, and longing, which are all central to the grieving process. Let the song be a source of comfort and expression, but also remember to seek support and cherish the memories of your wife. My deepest condolences to you during this difficult time. 

Sing Along With Dorothy

This 20 minute selection of sing-along songs Dorothy played are mid-20th century, but they were well known by our audiences from 1995 through 2019 in Phoenix as we used them to entertain Fletcher Music Center concert crowds, Schroeders's audiences as well as or own audiences for retirement residences. This particular sing-along is in September 2019, at her age 84 with only six months more of being out there in live performances. She was able to teach and play at home until 2020 at 85 then she took time off and watched a lot of musicals and westerns on TV that I often watched with her. TCM was especially good, delivered like a college course in movie history. Between shows, she enjoyed coloring hundreds of pictures of cats, flowers, scenery, stained glass windows, dogs and horses. She transitioned to the next realm of existence on Jan. 16, 2025, as she approached 90 years of musical and artistic life as performer, expert salesperson, and instructor-- as well as my best buddy, pal, business-associate and wife. When I miss her, I pick one of hundreds of videos or audio files of her or our performances and bring her back to life, sort of, a little bit, and that really helps a lot.

[MP3 hotlink audio] [MP4 download] [Other formats]

Rick & Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Show the LUNCHTIME SERIES

by Rick March 6, 2025

Everyone has heard of the "Tunnel of Love" at the midway fairgrounds with all the rides but I'm currently in a "Tunnel of Grief" with the loss of Dorothy's Life-Field, a devastating phenomenon I've never had the experience of before in my entire life. The only thing that keeps me energized right now is my review of our work in these audio-videos that "bring her back to life", electronically. Her awards, piano books & photo bookcase is to my left as I work online doing this and big photos of us and her surround me so there is a definite pictoral and electronic presence that I personally believe has a real spooky quantum-reality to it. Let me share with you, whoever visits here, one of the last "Rick and Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Show"'s that we did that I "invented" for us... the invention being the use of "keyboard ensemble" and "88 key piano" as a complete "band". I'm using stereo recording here with a 400 watt amp so the closer you can get to that, the better the recreation.

[MP3 AUDIO hotlink 20 minutes 19 MB] [MP4 VIDEO 75 MB] [Other formats]

Rick and Dorothy’s Piano-Keyboard Show for St. Patrick’s Day 2015

                                                  Dorothy Motto 1935 - 2025

by Rick on March 5, 2025, a Wednesday
I took the idea of doing concerts using our Piano-Keyboard Hour format on SPECIAL EVENT DAYS from the Fletcher Music company that Dorothy and I worked from 1996 onward. Fletcher sold Lowrey and Technics organs among less known brands but they catered to retired seniors and did “outreach” concerts to the retirement communities where Dorothy and me got started playing in front of retired groups with great success. We would encourage people to sign up for a drawing for free lessons and get them into the store where after awhile they’d buy an organ! Bingo. Dorothy called it “wine, dine and sign”. She was great at it. I’ve edited our hour down to 10 minutes here.

[MP3 HOTLINK Audio only] [MP4 video] [Other formats]

Galway Piper - Dorothy starts with a flute on the keyboard along with her bass/percussion background programmed into the Yamaha E433 then turns the solo over to Rick on the digital 88 key Casio Privia PR555X piano.

Same Old Shilala - Dorothy starts out with a new background rhythm with the 6/8 lilt needed here and leads with the accordian. Rick takes it with an 88 key piano then it goes back to Dorothy. We decided to not sing these since we had enough work just prepping the instrumentals, but they would work fine as sing alongs.

Sweet Rosie O’Gradie - Dorothy’s flute playing on the keyboard is expert here played just like a flautist would play it! No percussion here but a nice string background.

H.A.R.R.I.G.A.N.  - Dorothy’s on the house-piano now, a little out of tune but good enough. Both of us play pianos here with no other accompaniment and now I think I should have included mics but it’s a whole other set up for those. Dorothy’s voice was loud enough to carry this anyway.

It’s a Great Day for the Irish - Dorothy gets lyrics in her over the loud pianos and we take turns doing the lead with her on “strings” as if in an orchestra and Rick on the digital Casio piano. It’s great fun throwing the lead back and forth.

RETROSPECTIVE

I'm doing my 30 year memoires with Dorothy including audio/video. It really helps me deal with the loss. I think we must have done over 100 shows together and worked about a half dozen different piano stores here in Arizona, and taught hundreds of students together in-store and privately for fees. I must posted about 300 videos our concerts and another 300 of each of us individually to Youtube. I created a 20-book teaching system based on her methods for her and 20 book-system based on my methods for my years at Guitar Center... each a bit different but same basic ideas. I also invented the Rick & Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Hour for retirement residences that we ran for six years here, based on my vision of having her on 88-key piano and me on keyboard ensemble with bass and percussion and a lead instrument, or vice versa. I learned a lot. Now here I am. Everything ground to a halt in March 2020 with the COVID shutdowns and Dorothy's leg-down on health problems in the same month.

Dorothy Motto's Christmas Party Piano-Background for Retirmement Residence

3/4/25 by Rick
Dorothy's well on her way into the Afterworld but she's still leaving me with upbeat messages for example, leading me to process this concert we did ten years ago. As I was working on it, it dawned on me that we didn't have a normal Christmas in 2024 due to her illness so after getting through the tribulations of her post mortem process and finally getting some stability again at this time, I think I was "led" to witness this video series in finer detail to compensate for our Lost Christmas 2024. This is all "interpretation" of course, which is what synchronicity depends upon but I "feel" she's wishing me a Merry Christmas today for 2025 and that she's doing great in Quantum Heaven. Here is a 20 minute sample of her work that I of course facilitated as driver, stage crew, and overall manager and the "wind beneath her wings" for 30 years since 1995 and she mine. Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad!

[MP3 audio hotlink] [MP4 download] [Other formats]

Rick & Dorothy's "MOVING TO MUSIC FOR SENIORS" program trial in 2015

As part of our "show routine" centered around the Rick and Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Hour that I envisioned and invented in 2014 which ran for five years to 2019, Dorothy insisted we try an extra show she invented called "Moving to Music" based on what she had seen done by others in the monthly calendars for the retirement residences here in the Pheonix area. I had misgivings but thought we could at least give it a try and so we experimented with a Richard Simmons "one hour showtime" approach along with a Jack LaLanne chair-exercise routine using various inspirational and stimulating tools like batons, razzle dazzle party-streamer-wands, and inexpensive noise makers like dollar-store tamborines. It all worked, to an extent,  backed up with my 400 watt Alto amp and Yamaha E433 keyboard with built in party-loops. It was unique among the exercise-routine experts here in the area but I think it was risky too because we were not qualified exercise and movement professionals like other fitness activity leaders. I don't think we would be able to do, today, what we managed to sell 10 years ago. Today, vendors have to be triple qualified, insured, bonded and even finger printed! Still, it was interesting for the 2015 timeframe for us. Here are links to a five minute sample.

Dorothy is 80 here. I helped keep her performing in public to 2019 but by 2020 at 85 she couldn't go out anymore and finally transitioned to her next realm in 2025 at 90. She frequently contacts me through the aether via synchronicities at least once a day.

[MP3 audio hotlink] [MP4 video download] [Other formats]

A 2014, age 79, piano demo-reel from Dorothy Motto

[MP3 Hotlink @ Archive.org][MP4 download][Other formats]

Dorothy's Christmas Piano at Banner Hospital Lobby 2014 via Rick's Gig Salad Response

I always preferred repeating gigs for our work rather than one time gigs such as this Gig Salad obtained gig was in 2014 at age 79 for Dorothy, looking fab here in snow-ball shawl and pearl necklace. The gig ran a few hours but I edited that down to 5 minutes for this report. There's a cute singing group of youngsters in the second half where Dorothy pretty much improvises the situation expertly. Santa is there too, for sure. [MP3 audio hotlink on Archive.org][MP4  video download] [Other formats]

Green Screen Studio Rehearsal of the Piano-Keyboard Hour Concept in Dec. 2014 served us to 2019

Songs: I Could Have Danced All Night, All of Me, Baby Face, Johnny B. Good, New York New York, Birthday Song, Beatles Birthday, Tequila.

[Instant play MP3 hotlink][MP3 download][MP4 download][Other formats page]

With the end of Schroeder’s in 2002 and an effective end to Fletcher Music since the store nearest to us at Metro Center shut down, and with the end of our seven year run at Shangri-La and Golden Buddha in 2012, we kept looking for gigs in 2013 and 2014 via restaurants, Gig Salad and other online services, arriving at this following concept by the end of 2014: A piano-keyboard duet that we could take to RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES where we knew all the tunes they knew and where we could play for an hour at a time before a birthday party.

I came up with the CONCEPT of the keyboard backing up Dorothy’s 88 key piano playing from my early years seeing piano and Hammond organ in jazz bands. My concept worked for the most part. People love watching & hearing the piano being played but adding a multiple instrument backup with the modern portable keyboard is a concept-breakthrough in my opinion. The piano-keyboard-back-to-back configuration you see here was one of several, the others being the required side-by-side and that right-angle-piano-inside-or-outside-keyboard configuration for two-person-playing or single-person-one-man-band operation if needed.

SONGS & COMMENTS

I Could Have Danced All Night
    Good example of keyboard background with bass and percussion as well as ORCHESTRAL STRINGS by Rick while Dorothy carries the 88 keys to open.

All of Me
    Bass boogie on the keyboard hides the expert left hand comping by Dorothy because its a bit louder than it should be but the camera angle here shows her left hand in action doing their chromatic half tone changes constantly while the right hand handles the bluesy slide notes on the melody while she sings at age 79 in 2014 just as as our Retirement Residence Tour with the Rick & Dorothy Piano-Keyboard Hour got started. Note how my keyboard trumpet takes turns with Dorothy’s vocal

Baby Face
    Dorothy’s left is moving so fast in this video due to her expertise and of course, the lower resolution of the video, but still! She keeps it going while singing. I’m on the keyboard but mostly handling the left hand on the lower part of the keyboard controlling the bass and orchestration. My right hand comes up only to handle the clarinet instrumental solo.

Johnny B. Good
    I used the electric guitar in the solo on this while Dorothy pounds out an early left hand rock boogie bass. We only sang the chorus for this as a sing-along-shout-out for the audience. You can sing along too now!

New York, New York
    Dorothy coached me on how to syncopate my vocals like Sinatra on this one. Pretty good I think.

Happy Birthday, Beatles Birthday & Tequila.
    We would bring the show to a climax for birthday parties with these tunes, appropriately danceable and shout-outable. All these tunes were well known on the ‘duelling piano circuit’ around the world in the 1990’s, 2000’s and 2010’s before that stupid Covid-World-War struck and blew out all our gigs, parties and moods. Dorothy couldn’t take it much further than 2020 anyways at 85. Still, we had a great 2014 to 2019, about 5 years and 100 concerts.I Could Have Danced All Night, All of Me, Baby Face, Johnny B. Good, New York New York, Birthday Song, Beatles Birthday, Tequila.

COORDINATION CONCERT BOOKS

    Note that we both have a spiral bound book on our music rack in front of us. Each one-hour concert demanded we have total coordination so there were no "requests" taken for these types of gigs. The set ups for the keyboard had to be planned in advance and programmed so that I could call it up instantly.

I tried to create different types of shows for various types of holidays through the year and for different cultural groups like Jews, for example, which we were able to learn (!?) and for Chinese, which we did too! (!!?)  The Italian show never got a gig because our Italian club doesn't really have Italians in it and their hiring practice seemed to be out of our orbit.  We DID go to see other bands there, however, and saw amazing keyboard + solo instrument acts and participated in Karaoke there.

I had Dorothy and me doing about a dozen different types of shows including Irish for St. Patrick's Day and Christmas for that famous day. I even produced a Halloween Show for us where Dorothy got to play her favorite tunes like Phantom of the Opera and I got her to back me up on Ghostbusters. What a hoot. We were a fantastic team with a phenomenal concept. The Yamaha E433 keyboard and Casio 88 key PX555 Privia piano served us well with true piano sound with weighted keys and true pipe organ sounds for Halloween. The ALTO 400 watt amp we bought from our new-friend-in-an-instant at Guitar Center, Juan, along with a "vocoder" or "pitch correction" unit from BOSS served us well.

Each type of show demanded its own songs, photocopied into a 3-ring binder and duplicated for each of us. We would load up my 1995 Ford Taurus station-wagon or, from 2016, my 1997 (newer!), Ford Escort mini-station-wagon, for each show and roll through the freeways in the Greater Phoenix Area to our location, unload, set up, do our thing, get paid, and tear down and load up and go home. The logistics alone were mind boggling and actually quite potentially hazardous but we made it anyway. It seems miraculous now looking back on it.

I'm quite thrilled that my concept worked, and that I helped to extend Dorothy's performance career to age 85. I once saw Eubie Blake play, live, in Buffalo, in 1975 at age 95, a famous jazz musician. Dorothy didn't make it that far, but she was close! I hvae doubt that she'll be extending her music career in the higher realms of the quantum mind dimension and that I'll meet up with her to set up our next gig! Dorothy developed her own "Play Like a Band" copyrighted program in Phoenix in the 1980's so our careers really dovetailed well since we truly "played like a band".

Dorothy Motto in her element doing "Hello Dolly" on an 88, an ensemble TRUMPET & vocal in front of an audience

As an agent, roadie, bookkeeper, driver and overall general organizer, as well as fellow musician, a big part of what I did was simply get Dorothy in front of a crowd with a piano, a keyboard on the side, enough amperage, a mic and a camera... then let her rip. Here she is doing "Hello Dolly", a signature tune of hers, using all the tools of her trade at age 81 in 2016. She does a shout out to Louis Armstrong, "Satchmo", as she does a trumpet inspired improv on the melody using the trumpet sound on the Yamaha keyboard. Both of us were enamoured, as piano players, originally, with the electronic reproductions of any instrument at all on the keyboard and incorporated that into our playing.

Instant MP3 audio-only file play hotlink from Archive.org

To watch Dorothy in action on this equipment, you'll have to download the MP4 from here.
Other video formats can be accessed from the general format Archive.org page here

A 25 minute example of Dorothy's Dining Ambience Piano Stylings

Dorothy’s Piano Stylings for Dining Ambiance

This piano style Dorothy used for all our gigs at restaurants, or in retirement residence dining rooms during meals, was, in my opinion, quite unique. I would never play the way she did with non-stop medleys for 30 minutes or more but she had decades of experience at it so who was I to argue, especially since she got applause after these extended medley sets?  She worked these more as musical stream-of-consciousness sessions because no two were exactly alike. She would make lists of songs only to jog her memory for songs but she had the songs themselves memorized. If she lost track, she’d jump to another song. It was quite amazing to witness.

Here’s an example, for 25 minutes. You can play this during your own happy hour or dinner time. The photo below is taken from the video but obviously the video pick up had stopped working by this point on my old Canon ZR40. Still, you can see Dorothy's gold jacket. She's doing her own percussion background on the Casio Privia PX555R with weighted keys and thus heavy enough for me to transport and set up but worth it. The Korg I bought in 2013 stopped working correctly, shocking me, since I thought Korg was the best but it turned out Casio was. Both that Casio and Dorothy were true "work horses".  All I had to do was set up the contact with the activity director, set up the piano and set up Dorothy and she could do her "magic"... truly a piano "magician" who could hypnotize a room with her musical work.

MP3 hotlink

Other audio files for download from this page, as well as the MP3

Background piano playing set for a crowd... that is not overwhelming... and lets people talk easily. Some percussion but not all. Continuous stream of familiar tunes from the mid 20th C.
plays as a continuous medley for 20 minutes with a non-stop percussion pattern in the background.

Memory (from Cats, the Broadway play)
Sound of Music, My Favorite Things,
Main theme, Sound of Music, the hills are alive
Embraceable you.
Gershwin songs...
I’ve Got Rhythm
Our Love is Here to Stay
...
I’ve Got Rhythm.
I could have danced all night.
On the street where you live
Besame Mucho
...
More
I've Got You Under my Skin (she's thinking Sinatra famous songs and shouts out Sinatra!)
Part of me... Night and Day
Strangers in the Night

Pop songs in 1850's Saloon Style for Scottsdale Audition by Dorothy Motto @79 in 2014

MP3 Instant Play of Dorothy Motto's Audition tape for a Honky Tonk gig in Scottsdale in 2014

Archive.org various video formats downoad page

MP4 video download

The Last "Rick & Dorothy Show" in Jan. 2019

MP4 video/audio download 130MB, 30 minutes

Other formats like N.264 and Quicktime

No MP3 file available this time.

SONGS
You Made Me Love You
Side by Side
Sentimental Journey
There is a Tavern in the Town
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Oh Suzanna
Ballin' the Jack (Railroad term for connecting the caboose)
She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
God Bless America

Rick & Dorothy's Old-Time Sing-Along Hour... a 10 min. sample. Lyrics included below, you can sing along too!

MP3 HOTLINK... audio only


MP4 VIDEO download



FIVE FOOT TWO

Five foot two, eyes of blue
But oh what those five foot could do
Has anybody seen my gal?
Turned up nose and turned down hose
Never had another beau
Has anybody seen my gal?

Now if you run into five foot two covered with fur
Diamond rings and all those things
Bet your life that it isn't hers
Could she love could she woo
Could she could she could she coo
Has anybody seen my gal?


SHINE ON HARVEST MOON

Chorus: Shine on, shine on harvest moon up in the sky.
I ain't had no lovin' since April, January, June or July.
Snowtime ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon.
So shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal.


HEART OF MY HEART

Heart of my heart, I love that melody
Heart of my heart, brings back a memory

When we were kids on the corner of the street
We were rough 'n ready guys
But oh, how we could harmonize

Heart of my heart, meant friends were dearer then
Too bad we had to part
I know a tear would glisten, if once more I could listen
To that gang that sang, "Heart of my heart"


GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY

Chorus: Give my regards to Broadway, remember me to Herald Square,
Tell all the gang at Forty-second street, that I will soon be there;
Whisper of how I'm yearning, to mingle with the old time throng;
Give my regards to old Broadway and say that I'll be there e'er long.

A Dorothy Motto Piano MP3&4 Jukebox Posthumous Variety Showwith Rick's Commentary

MP3 INSTANT PLAY Files are in color type at the top of each photo and the MP4 download is at the bottom of each photo, after the commentary. The MP4 video is interesting from a player's perspective to see Dorothy's hands in action.

INSTANT MP3 (Pop title- Tonight We Love)...Classical Title- Tchsaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 in Bb Minor

Dorothy's treatment of Classical music always had pop stylings and here she is in 2012 at Golden Buddha before the crowd gets there because that time slot was easiest to record. Dorothy's just warming up here for the evening and does excellent interpretation using the keyboard on the right side for ORCHESTRAL STRINGS ORCHESTRA combined with solo piano. In the 1980's she had entire set of books and copyrights to teach students how to set up their instruments for orchestral accuracy. Here she demonstrates that realism in a famous piano concerto. [MP4 video download]

INSTANT MP3-Stompin' at the Savoy

Set ups here were awkward due to the Grand Piano in the middle of the room that was always pretty much out of tune. I set up the keyboard and digital piano as bets I could. Dorothy enjoyed doing the PLAY LIKE A BAND section on the portable YAMAHA E433 keyboard doing background bass, accompaniment and drums... while I was on the piano here. Note her solo on the trumpet parts however, expertly played like real trumpets. She taught that in lesson a lot. [MP4 video download]

MP3 HOTLINKE-

 Someone To Watch Over Me

A way of playing songs becomes ubiquitous across the board for all songs and Dorothy had that Dorothy Motto style injected into everything, so here’s Someone To Watch Over Me on our portable CASIO PX555 that we took on the road many times. [MP4 video download]

MP3 Hotlink -September Stylings,
a Medley

September Stylings was my name for a group of songs I intended to make a CD from. I made several CD’s of Dorothy’s playing when CD’s were in vogue and they still are to an extent. Dorothy’s penchant for medleys drove me nuts at first because she would join tunes together seamlessly and go on and on for ten minutes but that didn’t jive with my penchant for slicing and dicing a particular song. I finally got used to her methods of piano madness and understood that she was basically hypnotizing herself into an alpha brainwave state that could go on and on sort of like New Age music but in her genre.  Here she performs on her Technics PR903 that she absolutely had to buy when a student had it for sale.  This was top of the line it its day retailling for $8,000. [Mp4 Video download]

Hotlink Mp3 On The Street Where You Live

A lot of the mid 20th Century tunes that Dorothy played expertly were vaguely familiar to me but I learned them a lot better once she played them and we played out. On the Street Where You Live is one of these tunes from an old movie, I can’t name it. Likely a musical. This particular version is another Errol Garner style perforance by Dorothy. Of course, by heart. What else? I made performance books for both of us but she never used hers, to my dismay. Oh well. She WOULD use lists, however, to jog her memory on what was IN her memory. [MP4 video download]

Hotlink Mp3 Memories

(from the Broadway Show "Cats")

Dorothy was a fan of all the Broadway Shows of the 20th century, including CATS. Here we see her play that tune with NO MUSIC on the rack, which astonished me on a continuing basis since I USE music all the time. The flourishes she enhanced her tunes with were way beyond what I, myself, use but then her flourishes including arpeggios, glissandos and shimmers were audience attention getters... and if there was anything she was aiming for, it was audience attention and applause. I was aware of Liberace, but Dorothy made me hyper aware of Liberace’s particular “styling techniques” that he used to gain attention and audience awe. Dorothy said Liberace’s her ‘hero’ several times. We have a multiple LP set of his that we’ve played through more than few times. [MP4 Video download]

Instant Mp3 play: The Lady is a Tramp

Dorothy is playing an Errol Garner style version of The Lady Is A Tramp, in 2012 here. Listen to her left hand “comp”. It’s a unique way of playing that involved moving down and up a half tone, creating a pitch bend kind of effect... in the LEFT HAND! She had a way of working every chord in this way. When I accompanied her on an automatic keyboard with the BASS, I was able to play the bottom root note of each of the chords she was comping but it wasn’t neccessary to get the effect SHE wanted which was a full left hand sound, like Errol Garner. He created a very full sound, almost like a small orchestra playing on the piano. Dorothy achieved the same thing, using her left hand as her NON STOP orchestration. [MP4 video download]

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

If you listen to this 2015 track carefully, you’ll hear Dorothy FOLLOW Lu, not the other way around. Lu was a famous singer in past years and was once invited to sing for President Nixon during a festivity one year, she told me as I recall. She was very proud of that moment. You can hear that her voice was professionally trained. Dorothy waits for her and anticipates her with a gospel style piano on the KORG piano I bought for our gigs in 2013 because it was LIGHTER than the Casio. I did all the setup and teardown, like roady so weight mattered. You can hear both ladies have impeccable sense of timing and know how to work with fellow musicians. The piano is set up opposite to my Yamaha E433 keyboard on the right but I sat this one out. [MP4 video download]

I'm Walkin

Casting about for new gigs took Dorothy and me far and wide in “the valley of the sun” as the Greater Phoenix area is called, including many other cities connected by huge expressways that we travelled in my 1996 Ford Taurus, my living-room-on-wheels that served us well until 2016. This particular stage you see here, however, was only 20 minutes away by surface street at a SAM ASH store that held nightly open mic and performance nights that we took advantage of to invite our students to play and watch us play. Here’s a session where I join Dorothy in her piano performance of I’m Walkin’, in 2014, on our Yamaha keyboard.  [MP4 video download]

Hound Dog

Some songs are so simple and easy to do that we used them as go-to songs for UNREHEARSED bits of performance that served as flashpoints for grand finales or other types of interludes. No music required because the format of the tune is well known 12 or 16 bar boogie or blues. That’s what happened here as we wound up a one hour concert. I really don’t like 4-hand piano for a lot of reasons but I figured I’d stay very high while Dorothy roused the audience for her finale here. What the heck. Once won't hurt. [MP4 Video download]

Fly Me to the Moon

Most of the work we did went unrecorded of course and the volumes I DO have recorded represent a small sample of them over 30 years. I’m not a professional in terms of recording and never aspired to be but I DID try, as an amateur, to capture, edit and post what I could.  In this clip of Dorothy doing “Fly Me to the Moon” in a retail store, I was surprised at how well her VOCALS came out on the double-mic on the front of my old Canon ZR40 camera. As they kept breaking down on me, I’d order another one because it was compatible with my old MacG4 on Firefox & iMovie. Dorothy’s voice was strong here and she knew how to breathe & time her emphasis on certain syllables. She would lecture ME on how to sing like Sinatra, using the delays and syncopation with voice. Here we see her doing the left hand keyboard, the right hand on piano AND vocals. [MP4 video download]

MP3 Fly Me to the Moon

Certain standards, as they’re called in the industry, are a must-do for 20th century musicians like us. Of course, hundreds of artists have “covered” or performed their version of “Fly Me to the Moon”, including me! When Dorothy and me were casting about for a “next act” in late 2012, SHE though “two pianos” would be the thing but as you can see in the photo above, the piano on the LEFT is immovable. We toyed with KEYBOARD and piano at Golden Buddha in 2007 to 2012 but even the 1990 TECHNICS KN1000 Keyboard was too heavy to move around a lot as great as it was. It turned out that the CASIO PRIVIA PX555 she’s on here was the best “portable” compromise we used for many years. All piano players depend on good “weighted keys” and you can hear and see (on MP4 video) how Dorothy leans into this version of Fly Me to the Moon. [Download MP4 video]

Warsaw Concerto

Dorothy and I watched all the Lawrence Welk shows, the old ones and the new ones that features the old shows and later appearances of the all-grown-up youngsters that made their first appearance. We watched all the PBS specials we could, especially featuring the later performances of groups from the mid-20th century and one thing Dorothy always pointed out to me were the COSTUMES that the performers wore. Here she is her gold-sequin jacket and of course, I wore my gold shirt that night. She’s wrapping up our show with WARSAW CONCERTO, a memorized version she could play anywhere and anytime for any audience. It’s hard for me to recognize at this early stage that she has shifted dimensions but the effect she had on me remains and I’ll definitely use it and continue to expand on it. Good night, Dorothy! See you later, up there somewhere. [Mp4 video download]