ESSENTIAL READING !!!\nDoug Riley is family, a lifelong friend...\"Doc\" is a national treasure in his home country of Canada, he is the rockin\' barrelhouse piano player on Bob Segers \"Old Time Rock \'n Roll\". He is a brilliant jazz pianist in the tradition of Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, and is a serious classical composer, conducting the London Symphony for Placido Domingo and performing his own works with national orchestras. He is also \"the baddest B-3 player on the planet\". Doug Riley is the complete musician.\n- David Clayton Thomas\nhttp://www.davidclaytonthomas.com/news.asp\n******************************\nI owe a great deal to Doug Riley. \nHe chose me to be one of the vocalists in the dynamic group, Dr. Music. \nDoug believed in my talent enough to choose one of my songs, Gospel Rock, \nas the first single release for Dr. Music on which I sang the lead vocal. \nI loved the man, his music, and his kindness.\nI will always be grateful for his faith in me. \n - Brenda Russell\nhttp://www.brendarussell.com/default.html\n*************************\nDoug \"Doc\" Riley \nApril 12, 1945 - August 27, 2007\nwas a renaissance man\nin the truest sense.\nHe was a great composer, arranger,\npianist, organist, bon vivant, \nmentor and close friend\nwhom I greatly admired \nand respected \nfor more than 30 years. \nI was shocked \nand greatly saddened \nto learn of his passing. \nI miss him more \nwith each passing day.\n- Brian Murphy\nhttp://info.brianmurphymusic.com\nhttp://brianmurphymusic.com/main.html\n**************************\nThoughts and memories \non the passing of Doug Riley\n\nI have never heard anyone as versatile and well versed and immersed in so\nmany styles as Doug Riley. He just didn\'t play a style. He owned it. \nYou believed when he was playing \'bop\' for instance that it was all he ever played. Yet when you heard him wail on RB and Blues, you never\nheard a tinge of Bop. He could play stride piano with a lope, that only comes from playing it your whole life, \nyet turn around and play organ like he was raised in a southern baptist choir. \nAll styles covered. Whether show piano with Michael Burgess or Rock keys with Bob\nSeger .... always just right and always so musical.\nAnd THAT is the point. Piano and organ!! \nTell me anyone else who is as fluid and versatile on both, to the point that you could never tell whether he was a pianist who played organ or an\norganist playing piano. He had mastered both. This is what made Doug so very special and unique. Doug was a master of his craft and all us\nmusicians (especially the brotherhood of keyboard players) knew it.\n\nWhat you may not know about Doug Riley, if you had not had the pleasure of meeting him, was his warmth, honesty and gentle nature. \nHe was a true gentleman. With his quiet calm he was a rock, and he anchored every session and performance he was on. \nWhen Doug kicked off a tune, it already had a heavy groove before it got to you. \nAll you had to do was get on board for the ride.\n\nThe memory of Doug that I will hold in my heart is the last time Dominic Troiano played at the Orbit Room in T.O. Dominic was in a lot of pain and would die within months. He was weak\nbut determined to play. Doug gave Dominic the performance of his life that\nnight and you could see how Dominic\'s spirits were lifted. Doug was on FIRE! All the keyboard players in the audience (and\nI could count ten from where I stood), could only look at each other and shake their heads in disbelief. It was that good. That\nunbelievably, freaking good. The master was on that night and we all could just go hang up our organ shoes. Every breathtaking organ solo energized Dominic and he began\nto stand taller and soon adopted the famous Troiano stance and attitude. By the end of the first set Donnie was answering in kind. It was a remarkable example of the power of music. and a\nbeautiful gift that Doug gave his old friend and us all, that night. \nI will never forget it.\n\nDoug Riley is a national institution, a national\ntreasure. His loss is devastating to the Toronto and Canadian music scene. He has single-handedly produced, arranged, recorded and\nwritten on more LP\'s, CD\'s, TV and radio shows, jingles and concerts than anybody in Canada, ever. His output was astounding, and his\nenergy was unsurpassed. Ask the thousands who have benefited from his wonderful musicianship and his gentle nature. \n\nThe bar has been set. I can\'t imagine anyone raising it. Certainly no one with your gentle style, grace, integrity and soul. You used your gifts well, Doug. Thank You.\n\nLance Anderson\nhttp://www.makeitrealrecords.com/Pages/Shorthanded.htm\nhttp://www.makeitrealrecords.com/Pages/Make%20It%20Real%20page%201.htm\n\nVideo created by\nhttp://brianmurphymusic.com/about.html\nfor Great Eastern Music Productions Inc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n______________
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