"Think piano music is boring? Then you haven't heard Larry McDonough's rendition of Layla,' or Linus and Lucy' from the Charlie Brown Christmas special.
Basically, I take tunes other people know and recognize, change the rhythms and harmony, but the melody stays the same, as if it had been written that way' McDonough said. For example, I take 'Layla' by Eric Clapton and play it the way Herbie Hancock would play it.'
Another thing McDonough does is play bass solos with his left hand as well as his right hand in each piece. Within the same song, he can play solos in sequence, or trade back and forth, a skill not widely demonstrated by most jazz pianists. McDonough also plays snippets of well-known songs he calls quotes' mixed in with other songs and asks his audience to guess as many melodies as they can. It is not uncommon for him to throw in such television theme songs as The Simpsons,' The Flintstones,' and The Dick Van Dyke Show.'"
