By Dan Deming
Who would have thought that a tribute to piano master Floyd Cramer would turn out to be one of Hutchinsons’ best Community Concerts of all time? Cramers’ grandson, Jason Coleman, brought a near-perfect two hours of entertainment To Memorial Hall Sunday afternoon with impressive insight into his granddad’s life and unique talent, an amazing blend of recorded music to accompany Colemans’ musical artistry, pictorial on-screen graphics that complemented both the music and life story all coupled with Colemans’ down-to-earth narrative that his audience quickly embraced.
That’s a lot for a solo artist to accomplish, but it was precisely what Coleman did: something you would expect with the quality normally found only at the Fox Theater, Wichitas’ Orpheum or other far more expensive venues. This was Coleman’s only Kansas appearance and the 18th of more than two dozen city tours out of his home in Nashville.
Competing against the Kansas City Chiefs/Buffalo game that started at nearly the same time, those who came were thoroughly entertained when Coleman introduced himself as “Patrick Mc Homes.” The audience soon forgot about football as they recalled and strongly applauded nearly every memorable song Coleman offered.
Cramers’ style, which started as a backup to numerous traditional country singers, advanced into an accompaniment for many rock favorites, and as his grandson noted, Cramer was among the first to take the twang out of country music. He would later develop and perfect on numerous hit songs a style called “slip noteing”, in which the wrong key was intentionally hit followed immediately by blending the correct note.
Coleman clearly knows how to open, close and enhance his time on stage with full orchestra recordings and visual graphics. The sound was spectacular, whether on the main floor or balcony, and anyone who left early missed a touching video showing Cramer playing piano with his 9-year-old grandson and Colemans’ young son playing with his dad.
Floyd Cramer died in 1997 at an early age, but his music and life story are being well preserved and presented in a most entertaining style by Jason Coleman, whose mother and father accompanied him on the tour and were on hand to sell CDs and other musical memories of a most delightful Hutchinson Community Concerts offering.
