Darrell Lavigne is originally from New Orleans and now lives in Houston. In his spare time, Lavigne leads both a jazz trio and quartette that perform regularly in Houston and does a Summer program located in New Orleans called “The Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp,” where Lavigne teaches music theory to children from age 10 all the way up to adults aged 20 – a program he has been involved with for 18 years.
“As someone who travels a great deal, Casio’s Privia PX-5S is the perfect keyboard for me because it offers the versatility and portability I need in order to compose and perform on the road.
” – Darrell Lavigne.
Most recently, Lavigne joined the world famous B.B. King Blues Band, featuring Tito Jackson – a band which has been performing for over half a century. They are currently recorded a blues album. I had the opportunity to meet Darrell Lavigne in the summer last year (2018), when he was performing with the B.B. King Blues band. I caught up with him again at the Casio Booth at NAMM 2019 for an interview.
Interview Questions by Sheryl Aronson
Responses by Darrell Lavigne
Sheryl Aronson: Darrell, please talk about playing with the B.B. King Band and where have you been since I’ve last seen you back in the summer.
Darrell Lavigne: We’ve been on a lot of different gigs all over the country. After NAMM the band is traveling to Japan and will be playing there for a week.
SA: You’re from New Orleans so I know you have blues in your background. Tell me a little bit about your background as a musician.
DL: I come from a jazz background. I trained as a jazz musician, but being from New Orleans I was exposed to many genres of music. That helped me morph into the musician I am today where I have played many different types of music.
SA: How did you get into the B.B. King Band?
DL: In Houston, Texas, I ran into B.B. King’s trumpet player James Boogaloo Boden at a club. I ended up playing on a record with him. Shortly after that B.B King died, but the band decided they wanted to put the band back together. It was composed of some of the original members. Let me say that B.B. King wanted this. He was never a selfish person. Boogaloo actually called me and offered me the gig as the keyboardist. It’s been a blast playing with Tito Jackson as the lead guitarist. And after Tito we will be having some other featured artists heading the band as a guitarist. It will mainly be Michael Lee from The Voice.
SA: How long have you’ve been with CASIO Instruments?
DL: I’ve been with CASIO for about a year and a half now. I love the way the instruments feel. The sound to touch ratio is excellent. It feels very smooth. For anyone who likes playing piano, I recommend CASIO.
SA: I heard that the CASIO keyboard is very light and easily transportable.
DL: The Casio PX-5S is 25 pounds. CASIO has also been generous enough to extend an endorsement to the school I teach a summer program in New Orleans.
SA: Please tell me about that program.
DL: For three weeks in the summer I teach a music program for kids who are starting out wanting to play jazz. Last year they gave us an endorsement of 10 keyboards. I would like to give a big thank you to CASIO for their generous contribution.
