Peter Dasent, Pianist / Play School / The Umbrellas

Peter Dasent is an incredibly versatile pianist, composer, and musical director best known for his long tenure as the resident keyboardist on ABC’s Play School, a role he has held for over two decades. While he is well known for his daily on-set improvisations for children, his impressive resume also includes leading his chamber-jazz ensemble The Umbrellas for over 30 years, as well as composing soundtracks for early Peter Jackson films like Meet The Feebles and Heavenly Creatures. We chat with Peter about that amazing history, his approach to playing and composing across so many different genres, and lots more. To listen / watch: Audio-only: click on the play button in the audio player above, or: Video: watch the embedded video below or check it and previous episodes out on our YouTube Channel Discussion topics covered during the show (links will open in new tab):   The iconic, and Cookie Monster endorsed, Play School, turns 60 Peter’s musical upbringing Forming SPATS alongside Fane Flaws SPATS – New Wave Goodbye Joining The Crocodiles alongside the brilliant Jenny Morris The Crocodiles – Telephone Lover The very interesting Kim Fowley Peter’s admiration of Steve Nieve’s work The Crocodiles – Tears The underadmired (and according to Peter, Mushroom Records’ worst selling album ever): I Am Joe’s Music (Self-Titled) The inimitable Lobby Loyde Formation of The Umbrellas The Umbrellas live Some timely advice from Don Burrows Moving into film composition Peter’s work on Peter Jackson’s Meet The Feebles The composition and recording process for Meet The Feebles Working on Peter Jackson’s  Braindead / Dead Alive The legendary E-mu Proteus 2 Working on Peter Jackon’s Heavenly Creatures Working as the Pianist on Play School Discussion on the level of improvisation required on set of Play School Pivoting on the fly between musical genres on Play School Working with Justine Clarke Peter in action live with Justine Clarke Peter’s solo work including Songs for Solo Piano Peter in action in Studio 3 at Abbey Road Sterling Sound in New York Desert Island Discs: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles, Satie: Works for Piano – Aldo Ciccolini, Plays Duke Ellington – Thelonius Monk, The Fellini Album: The Film Music of Nino Rota: Nino Rota, Hot Rats – Frank Zappa. Key links: Become a member of our YouTube channel and receive extra content Buy some keyboard related merchandise Drop us a line via the website, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok or LinkedIn Complete our audience survey to help us improve! Check out our podcast guest playlist on Spotify to get a taste of each guest’s creations.The post Peter Dasent, Pianist / Play School / The Umbrellas appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.