A thread for keyboard players

Hey Alex, I've been playing keyboards for decades. I've played a lot of styles including reggae, progressive rock, Latin rock, acid jazz, funk, lounge exotica, experimental electronic and commercial stuff too.
Probably my usual style is a mix of RnB, jazz and some psychedelic influences. Some of the influences you might hear in my playing include keyboardists Jon Lord, Brian Auger, Larry Young, Herbie Hancock, Greg Rollie and Sun Ra, as well as guitarists McLaughlin, Hendrix and Pete Cosey, although I would not claim to play as well as any of those, especially Hancock.
You can check out my acid jazz band at myspacemusic.com/zazerac

Edited by Easy Money - March 28 2008 at 09:58

Kerry Minnear is absolutely fantastic. I love what he does in Gentle Giant's "Proclomation". Some really quite amazing stuff on there.

kineto_zetetics wrote: Two things Alex,   I notice that you don't mention Emerson except in passng. Do you rate Wakeman more highly and if so, why?   Secondly, in a previous posting you mentioned that your at Birmingham Conservertoire - are there any good vocal talents there who could sing prog (Tenor range)?

On the first point:

I rate King Rick higher than Keith for four reasons, 1. He went through a lot of pain to get to where he is now because of his wrist problem, and to go through that and be one of the most respectable names on a keyboard is very noble indeed IMO 2. I think his technique is a lot neater than Emerson's 3. Emerson has a lot of time issues; I've seen many a time when he goes out of rhythm, and it's not pretty 4. I find Wakeman's solos to be way more melodic than Emerson, and despite what Rick is capable of (and we all know that), he remains extremely disciplined with his playing. Keith's just ends up being one big mess with no real memorable moments at all.

On the second point:

Yes there are indeed plenty, however the best of what I know is a pianist/organist in my choir, my friend Jamie. He can sing a very large range and can convincingly get away with being a Tenor and a Bass. There are also numerous other talents in the building that I have heard, but not had the pleasure of meeting properly yet. Birmingham believe it or not is a torrent of raw and developed talent.

I've been playing for about  13 years - started playing classical, gave up and went to rock for a couple of years, then heard Keith Emerson play (specifically Hoedown and Creole Dance) and went back to classical like a shot. I now divide my time between full-on classical playing (Grieg, Rachmaninov, Khachaturian, Mussourgsky), playing keys in my new classic/prog rock band, fiddling with synths and working out Dave Brubeck and Keith Emerson pieces.

On the Emerson/Wakeman debate, I have to go with Emerson. Although I don't necessarily like all of his stuff with ELP, he more than makes up for it with pieces like his Piano Concerto, Hoedown and Creole Dance (the latter I have many blisters from playing) That is not say that he is without his faults, and I still love lots of Wakeman's work. Combine Rick's right hand with Keith's left, and then you have a keyboard playing force to be reckonned with!

Hi, I've been practicing the piano since age 9, and for the moment I'm participating in two different musical settings: a band which plays 'traditional' music like gospel, blues, rock, and a more progressive experimental collaboration: we're with two keyboard players and a drummer (style a bit like Michael Giles).

kibble_alex wrote: Oh boy, you assume that because I'm still at school that I still do homework As for the classic Wakeman vs Emerson debate (which has been going on for years no doubt), I still think that as a musician that tidiness and emotion are everything. Don't get me wrong, I love Keith's solos in Stones of Years and KE9, but i think Wakeman is slightly more inventive, even though his solos don't take as much from jazz as Emerson's. He has a unique finger position also that I find very interesting indeed, and it opens him up to more interesting stuff than Emerson's traditional style. I also saw a youtube video of Keith doing a similar thing to Oscar Peterson with a piano blues improvisation, and I was not impressed. It was a load of random notes strung together with the odd melodic bassline thrown in here and there, also musically quoting from Take A Pebble. There is not one thing Wakeman has done that hasn't impressed me.

kibble_alex wrote: Moogtron III wrote: Hi, I've been practicing the piano since age 9, and for the moment I'm participating in two different musical settings: a band which plays 'traditional' music like gospel, blues, rock, and a more progressive experimental collaboration: we're with two keyboard players and a drummer (style a bit like Michael Giles).   My keyboard heroes are Eddie Jobson, Tony Banks, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Dave Stewart and Ton Scherpenzeel. My style is a bit Banks-like (unusual chords, yet not a lot of real dissonants) and Wakeman-like (not the virtuosity, but something in the style, with a lot of arpeggio's, scales and using more sunny major keys than average).  I like it, just out of curiosity, what gear do you own?

okay, i've been playing for about four years now. I started out playing classical,  but got a bit bored by the rigid structure and the philosophy that I could only play other people's work. As much as I enjoy classical music I know I can't spend my life doing nothing but that.
Now, I'm at a point where stylistically I play a sort of fusion of classical, free jazz, experimental, and rock. For classical, I like mainly romantic and 20th century composers. I like the other eras but they just don't influence me too much as a whole. I like to take the deep pathos I get from classical and also it's technicality and use that in the context of unstructured improvised music where I can do whatever I want (this is when I play solo). For bands I've played metal, psychedelic, prog, and hard rock/classic rock. Currently I play in an experimental prog metal band and another one where I'm the only member and I play with whoever I feel like playing whatever we feel like at the moment, which tends to go towards the free improv prog/jazz/rock type stuff.
For equipment, I have a yamaha s08 synth, a hammond transistor organ, and a hohner melodica. I actually prefer to play acoustic pianos over anything else but i don't have the money or space for one at the time so I play them wherever I can. I also play a bit of accordion and keyboard percussion like marimba, xylophone, and vibraphone.

I agree with both of you on the point of acoustic pianos. Sadly no synthesiser manufacturer has been able to match the feel of the action and the sensitive and linear control of dynamics of a real piano. The nearest thing I have is a Yamaha S90 but this is still a far cry from my Welmar piano.  The worst keyboard I own in this respect is a PolyMoog whose keyboard is appauling. I tried tuned percussion for a while but couln't get on with it at all (great sounds though - saw Evelyn Glennie on Marimba several years back she was sensational).

Those are near enough my feelings towards the debate, sheeves. I've always found Keith to be a little too bombastic and technical for me, a bit like comparing Portnoy to Carey on drums. Rick leads you into his amazing skills little bits at a time.

As for the keyboard players you mentioned kineto_zetetics, I have only ever heard Ryo Okumoto (shook the guys hand at a Spock's Beard gig I went to ) and Andy Tillison. Both are superb. However, Thomas Bodin is a little deeper than that: he's quite laid back with TFK, try looking at his solo works. I was greatly impressed, he is also a very skilled songwriter.

I'm off to play some Brahms now