Rising keyboard virtuosos in prog

Hey guys,

I was musing about the other day and it occurred to me that I am very lacking in great virtuoso keyboardists. When I think of any examples, I can only conjure up some of the older/legendary musicians, be it Patrick Moraz, Keith Emerson, Chick Corea or Jon Lord, all the way up to Jordan Rudess, Matt Guillory, Ryo Okumoto or Joost van den Broek. But these are all obvious names hailing from well established acts paramount to prog-rock/prog-metal history, coming from the early 00's all the way back to the late 60's or so.

Hence, I was wondering which great and artful keyboardists do you see rising up on the current scene (let's say about 2004 onwards) that have the potential to make a name for themselves, very much like the ones mentioned earlier?

Who are the emerging masters of the keyboard (underrated/underknown or not) that are capturing your ear and attention, in your opinion, and why?

(if you have links to specific bouts of flair, all the better to post)

Andy Winters

Horizons wrote: Andy Tillison His work with The Tangent is quite remarkable. This came to mind right away, and isn't too long. Hope you enjoy.

Tillison's been running around with Manning since the 90's, so I wouldn't go so far as to call him a rising player, but more of a hidden gem. Still, I first heard about him in The Tangent too and he's an exceptional and tasteful keyboardist, imo.

Thanks for the fantastic piece of music, got me wondering why I haven't bought A Place In The Queue yet 

Lalle Larrson.  Because he's amazing.  Listen to Agents of Mercy, Karmakanic and his solo Weaveworld albums, and even Electrocution 250 and you'll know why.  

Andy Tillison is superb! He is incredible on the recent Tangent DVD 'Going Off On Two', well worth checking out!

Neal Morse is always totally effortless, how does he make it look so easy?! Always looks like he's having a great time too, especially on the first Whirld Wind Tour Transatlantic DVD.

Tomas Bodin from The Flower Kings is always impressive, I especially love his keyboard solo at about the 25 minute mark on 'The Truth Will Set You Free' from the `Unfold The Future' album! But he's very impressive on all their albums, equally great in the subtle and bombastic sections, and especially good on any of the improv moments on their live albums/DVD's. I really missed him while the FK band was away!

Good call, Karissss, with Lalle Larsson! A very distintive keyboard sound, and I truly loved his solo albums `Weaveworld' and `Infinity Of Worlds', I give both those albums quite a workout at work!

The Japanese woman from Ars Nova, Keiko Kumagai, is a definite virtuoso player! They haven't really put out a lot of albums, and often their music is quite cold, but she's got a very grand playing style in the tradition of Wakeman and Emerson. I really enjoy the band's album `The Book Of The Dead'. Wish we'd get another album from then soon, and preferably an instrumental one too.

My friend Mychael Pollard is a rising force!  Young man, he was working on a project with John Goodsall but Goods got pulled off towards Brand X and.....well....silence from him since.

Lalo Huber. This guy plays the keyboards in Nexus, is also the main composer and sings in their last album:

I think Kjartan Sveinsson of Sigur Ros is a modern keyboard virtuoso. Of course not through a technical context, though Sigur Ros's music doesn't really require or showcase technical prowess, so maybe Kjartan may have the ability, he just doesn't show it through Sigur Ros music. He along with Jonsi, are the two main songwriters and composers in the group. I just think he's a really unique player in terms of the chord progressions and themes he's created. Sigur Ros's music tends focus on atmosphere and minimalism - Kjartan is a perfect fit and adapts to the music quite well.


Simply beautiful.

I'm sure very few heard of him, his name is Gil Stein from his band Trespass and he is really amazing, very reminiscent of Emerson, the funny thing is that he said he never heard of him before, he is really good. Worth checking out.

The quality is not so good on utube, the song's name is In Haze Of Time.

Edited by SouthSideoftheSky - June 27 2012 at 03:36