Jordan Rudess is Not Interesting

I have been listening to Dream Theater for quite a while. I was initially excited for Jordan to take the torch after Keith died. As time went on, however, I began to realize as a composer/arranger I stopped being able to relate to his playing. I watched as he attempted the simplest beautiful Christmas song or a Beatles song and was UNABLE to play the song through without a flurry of arpeggios spoiling the flow or intention of the song.

His playing has become scripted, predictable, and uninteresting. I ask you all to think about Take a Pebble, Tarkus, Trilogy, The Endless Enigma, and Karn Evil 9. Each one of those compositions is a triumph, whether in originality, arrangement, or brilliant complexity but with listening accessibility.

I can sit here and without any lyrics hum notable parts from each of those compositions. Can any of you say the same for Rudess compositions? How many of them will stand tall against time?

I will probably never play to Jordan’s level, and he is to be admired for his physical prowess and dexterity as a player. But as a composer, I’m afraid he does not hold a match to the great one, Mr. Emerson. If he cannot hold a match, I cannot mentally or personally hand him the torch. 

I look forward to your thoughts. Joe

I prefer Chick Corea, Kerry Minnear, Tony Banks, etc. to Keith Emerson. Your point is?

There is no need in comperasing between those two, but I agree with you. He can't play one song without shreding NONSTOP, and its start getting annoying.

Edited by yogev - January 02 2022 at 10:06

Cristi wrote: yogev wrote: There is no need in comperasing between those two, but I agree with you. He can't play one song without shreding NONSTOP, and its start getting annoying. Jordan has often said Keith was his idol.

Such statements don't affect me even in the slightest. I don't care about the idols of my idols. Beethoven's idol is Handel. But my favourite classical composer is still Beethoven. Handel is my second. He could have been "worthless" for me too, if I didn't like his music.

I'm explaining my stance here, as I got quite sick of the fallacy of many people in this regard. For instance, someone says that an X band is the best. Another boldly asserts that the idols of that X band's members are Pink Floyd, and therefore Pink Floyd is better than that band. This is totally laughable.

Jordan Rudess was great in his first album with Dream Theater. Thereafter, the band is wholly uninteresting for me.

^ Hmm. It sounded like you meant Emerson is superior for that reason and they can be comparable by this logic. Anyway, your statement is not related to what you quote, then. 

I think I get your point about what "passing the torch" is.

Anyway, without the need of making any comparisons, I held JR in a very high esteem when he played on Liquid Tension Experiment and was thrilled when he joined DT shortly afterwards. His work on SFAM and the subsequent tour was excellent, and 6DOIT and its tour continued that tendency.

But after TOT came out, when the band starting to put more emphasis on the metal rather than the progressive part, JR was relegated to a secondary role, in which keyboards had to perform the role of a rhythm guitar rather than melodies and textures. So the only moments in which he would be given the chance to come forth was on keyboard solos, and even there he had to duel against Petrucci the Shredder.

Since DT got stuck in the metal phase until this day, it seems that JR got used to only shredding and an occasionally required atmospheric intro, outro, or bridge.

I honestly haven't heard much of his solo work, and of the few of his solo albums that I've heard, they date of his time with DT. Two of them are tributes (one of old Prog classics and the other one piano arrangements of DT songs). So I can't really say much about his compositional skills.

But performance-wise, even if, as you state it, I'll never have his proficiency level, I cannot assure anyone that he will be remembered as a great keyboardist as the late Keith Emerson or as the other players that have been mentioned in this thread.

"Jordan Rudess was great in his first album with Dream Theater. Thereafter, the band is wholly uninteresting for me."

Undoubtedly a great talent, but yeah every Jordan Rudess solo sounds like a motorcycle passing by while a CASIO ambulance chases closely behind it. His solos have become very indistinguishable in recent years, but he has his moments still. 

JD wrote: As for the 'Idol' comments. Having an idol doesn't mean trying to sound like them. It just means admiring them or being inspired by them.

Thank you Captain Obvious!

or

Well said!

Pick one, according to what you think about me! 

Joke aside,

I agree 100%. Real artists never try to mimic their idols.