greatest prog keyboard player

Tony Banks

Tecnically Vittorio Nocenzi and Patrick Moraz are way ahead all the mentioned, not to forget Flavio Premoli neither Jurgen Fritz.

b_olariu wrote: Tony Banks is one of my favorites musicians ever. I think his skills and way of playing at keys are unique in every way. But i also like Emerson and Wakeman but there is many more great key players that you forget to list here. Where is Kerry Minnear from Gentle Giant, one of the most inteligent and skillfull musician ever where is Ken Hensley from Uriah Heep, very important key player in prog music in my opinion  where is John Lord from Deep Purple  where is John Tout from Renaissance, one of the most inventive key player from his decade  where is Peter Bardens from Camel  where is Hugh Banton from Van der Graaf Generator, and many many stunning musicians that you forget to mention here. They are among my favourites key players from entire prog music, and they are from old school, not to mention others from '80 and '90 and from today. This poll in my opinion is so so, not good not better then others, anyway is forgetable, sorry to be so rude.

I was waiting to see someone say the great John Tout, the most communicative, emotive and least self indulgent (which prog needs more of) of them all. truly brilliant!

By the way if we are including jazz musicians (from jazz rock/fusion) to the list Emerson is no longer the most technical on the list. Although many here will argue (and I feel for you) he is not in the same league as Chick Corea and the like. Great player though.

And by the way, "Piano concerto #1" just proves Emerson did not know how to write a good piano concerto and is a detractor and not a triumph. Not to pick on him, as he is a good player but with virtues and limitations of a rock star.

Gonna have to go with Keith Emerson on this one, although my man is usually Tony Banks. Picking up "Brain Salad Surgery" from my library today, I was blown away by Emer's keys on "Toccata" and "Karn Evil 9".

Kerry Minnear

Creating sounds in hardware, either using basic electronics to build sound generators and modifiers or by building modules (http://www.synthtech.com/), is enormous fun but costly. From a technical point of view there is nothing difficult in doing this - the principles are easy enough to grasp even with a rudimentary understanding of electronics - even if you forsake the Analogue world (::shudder::) and go Digital, small PIC processors are ideal for sound synthesis.  Sadly, many of my home-based projects stalled from lack of funds rather than lack of knowledge.

agProgger wrote: ^ Are you talking about getting the sound samples, looping them, adding decay times, etc., or are you talking about physically building a synthesizer?  If it's the latter, I wouldn't include that in my calculations, unless it was for who was a better electrical/sound engineer.

Well, you're talking about sampling, which is also an art form in itself. I'm referring to the process of designing a sound from the ground up using the existing architecture of a given synthesizer, vs. simply using the "presets".

Actually designing and building a synthesizer would be an entirely different category, I agree... which is why I'm in awe of people like the late Bob Moog.


Edited by Empathy - December 09 2007 at 00:57

12 votes for Banks... damn...some of you need a Genesis enima..

another vote for Emo... and his work...and his legacy speaks volumes as for why...

or this shall suffice...

Could there be such a thing as a keyboardist not familiar with the works of Keith Emerson? Not in awe of his historic place in the annals of electronic musical evolution? As the first musician ever to use a modular Moog synthesizer on stage, Emerson accomplished the Herculean task of pulling the spotlight over to the keyboard section, incorporating outrageous theatrics and amazing chops to create an unmistakable presence.

From their inception in 1970, Emerson, Lake and Palmer achieved instant fame with their unique blend of modern technology and classical orchestration. Their first single, entitled "Lucky Man," ended with a startling new sound, the first featured lead synthesizer solo. This sound took the music world by storm, and their first five albums went platinum.

Keith Emerson himself has consistently won the Overall Best Keyboardist award in the annual Keyboard Magazine readers’ poll since the magazine debuted in 1975.

b_olariu wrote: Tony Banks is one of my favorites musicians ever. I think his skills and way of playing at keys are unique in every way. But i also like Emerson and Wakeman but there is many more great key players that you forget to list here. Where is Kerry Minnear from Gentle Giant, one of the most inteligent and skillfull musician ever where is Ken Hensley from Uriah Heep, very important key player in prog music in my opinion  where is John Lord from Deep Purple  where is John Tout from Renaissance, one of the most inventive key player from his decade  where is Peter Bardens from Camel  where is Hugh Banton from Van der Graaf Generator, and many many stunning musicians that you forget to mention here. They are among my favourites key players from entire prog music, and they are from old school, not to mention others from '80 and '90 and from today. This poll in my opinion is so so, not good not better then others, anyway is forgetable, sorry to be so rude.

Well said, Lord and Bardens beat all (other than Banks) on this list.