Russ Conway's hit tune Roulette

This is an old video of me playing Russ Conway's hit composition 'Roulette' on my old honky-tonk piano. I think this was rather easier to play 15 years ago than it is now!

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Fantastic! I remember this as a kid.

[@monicamorilla2851]

I've just found this again..Great...

[@Dimdom1996]

And still watching in 2019! Damn i was only 10 months old when this was originally recorded. Hope your still playing today Mike, great track!

[@MarcusTomatos]

Sadly Mike passed away 2 years ago.

[@firmadmbpiratenhits4847]

@@MarcusTomatos ahww no his playing was ridicules good. Im sad he passed away

[@brendamackenzie7719]

Absolutely wonderful ☹️👏👏

[@Blackfive1945]

Top playing Mike .You are very talented . Roger

[@GarrardAT6]

Absolutely Beautiful Mike! You must have been listening to records back then...This is just like the original release! I hope you do have 'Side Saddle' from this era...I can't wait to hear it! Mark is right...You can never have enough..haha!!! :)

[@oilburner75]

Stunning!, it's amazing how you are able to look up to the camera at around 1min like Russ used to do and still manage to hit all the left hand notes!. Russ Conway is one of my heroes who inspired me to take up the piano a few years ago . I'm trying to 'play' a version of this from the published sheet music but finding the intro very tricky indeed as it sounds all wrong at the speed I play...any tips would be much appreciated!, Cheers Steve

[@passtheparcel2007]

Wow, what a testimony to the man himself, that it inspired others to emulate him. Excellent cover as well. Any recent stuff..

[@realkoko-loco]

That is fantastic-trying so hard to play this by ear; Not gonna lie-it’s challenging !

[@gaiuscoleman8815]

The very one I was looking for! Brilliant! I heard this on a record years ago and wondered if the sheet music is out there somewhere. I'm going to make another effort to find out if it is. You've played it just as Russ did and thank you for doing so. Very good playing. Thanks. Gaius

[@sandravanopbergen]

wowwwww...this is great Mike ....

[@AvoidingTheRuby]

That's amazing! You must get all the chicks.

[@honkytonkpiano]

Not at my age!

[@dancincrow]

Awesome!!!

[@scotz74]

Great playing Mike. Brilliant timing and the descending chords in the left hand are very difficult to master. Did you ever try Conway's version of Forgotten Dreams which is my third favourite after Sidesaddle and Roulette. I wonder if the sheet music of his version was ever published?

[@MarcusTomatos]

Great stuff Mike, that's two down and two to go! Don't forget you can never have enough 'Side Saddle'...unless of course your name is Lynne. Cheers Mark

[@mariakisneszollosy6055]

💓💓💓💓💓

[@honkytonkpiano]

@MarcusTomatos Fair point, Mark!

[@honkytonkpiano]

@oilburner75 Slow practice is the best and typically the only way to tackle technical problems. memorise sufficiently to be able to watch the keyboard rather than the music. You do need the upper and lower D, but you can relinquish the lower one when the chromatic scale reaches F or F sharp (depending on shape and size of your hand). I'll try to write out some of the G major chorus for you, if you wish? The version I play on KZbin uses the keys A, B flat and G (sheet music starts in G).

[@jonathansmith8672]

0:25 - 0:48 Best part of the whole song!!!!!!

[@honkytonkpiano]

@oilburner75 I was a bit surprised myself when I dug out this old video! When you refer to the intro, do you mean the descending chromatic scale with repeated D notes at the top and bottom? You need to miss out the lower D before you get to a point in the chromatic scale where you can't comfortably play all the notes. Does that help? Sometimes the trick is to know which notes you can missout without it being obvious!

[@oilburner75]

@honkytonkpiano Thanks that's helpful!, I can almost 'play' the descending chromatic bit on each hand individually...but getting them synchonised at the right speed seems nearly impossible!.Can I miss out the upper and lower D ? and play D,C#,C,B..........C I noticed you just 'tinkle' the high notes after the first bars of melody notes B,D,E,D ..B,D,E,D,E,G I'd love to know how to attempt this as sadly it doesn't seem to be included on the published Mills music!. Regards Steve

[@mathieuclement8011]

Just curious, how did you learn to play this? It's very close to the record. I'm guessing you tried to emulate what you heard on the original record, which you did brilliantly. So far the closest version to the original that I've found of KZbin. The piano sound helps... a bit, but mostly it's from the way you play it, the accents, the swing, ... Thanks for sharing!

[@honkytonkpiano]

You're quite right. There were some helpful clues in the published sheet music to get me started off regarding the left hand, but otherwise I just had to rely on listening and copying as best I could from Russ's recording. I'm glad you think the result is close to the original, and thank you for your comments. Regards, Mike

[@oilburner75]

@honkytonkpiano Thanks that would be very kind of you if you could write down the G major chorus. Dropping the D seems to help with speed and accuracy. I don't expect to ever be anything like as good as yourself, but if I could just capture some of the essence of the piece I would be happy. Hopefully with much slow practice I will get there - I just have to keep watching your videos and Russ's performances for inspiration and keep on practicing i guess ! , Cheers Steve

[@TheGoodlooker70]

Does this man still play? Extreme talent. 1996 for this. Has he done anything since?

[@honkytonkpiano]

Thank you, Ross! I do indeed still play, and have appeared in a very few shows. However, there seems to be little demand for this type of music nowadays. I was born too late!

[@realkoko-loco]

Mike Thomson Ragtime is quite alive and well in many parts !

[@impossibleusername1]

Postman Pat, Postman Pat......

[@honkytonkpiano]

It does sound a bit like that! I wonder whether there's a case for breach of copyright?