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Symphonicrockfran View Drop Down
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For me... (in no particular order...)

Vittori Nocenzi - BANCO
Keith Emerson, - ELP
Rick Wakeman, - YES
Patrick Moraz, - YES
Tony Banks, - GENESIS
Charly García - SUI GENERIS, LA MÁQUINA DE HACER PÁJAROS, SERÚ GIRÁN
Thijis Van Leer, - FOCUS
Rik Van Der Linden - EKSEPTION, TRACE
Gianni Nocenzi, - BANCO
Jon Lord, - DEEP PURPLE
Toni Pagliuca - LE ORME
Matt Bellamy - MUSE
Kerry Minear - GENTLE GIANT
Serge Locat - HARMONIUM
Lutz Rahn - NOVALIS
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Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

Originally posted by Neo-Romantic Neo-Romantic wrote:

So recently I saw a high-quality video of VDGG performing Childlike Faith in Childhood's End at a gig in 2010, and Hugh Banton is a freaking monster. I know I've made it no secret I'm a huge fan of the band, but gosh, it wasn't until I saw what he's been doing and STILL doing that it really put into context just how talented and accomplished a musician he really is. Emphasis on MUSICIAN.

Hugh is one of my favourite keyboardists and I rank his organ playing even above Emerson.  The organ tones he got on the VDGG albums were unbelievable.  What Emerson did for synth (exploring and creating new sounds) Hugh did for organ.  I think I read that he rebuilt his organs and effects processors himself.  Also, when not laying out the nightmare organ tones in VDGG, he worked restoring church/cathedral organs.  There's a great 1972 video from Belgian TV with the boys performing "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" that gives a pretty good look at Hugh's custom keyboards, sound and technique.

Enjoy Wink



Man I love that video. Thanks for posting it to remind me of all its magic and splendor. Smile He actually looks kind of like my younger brother.
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I'd say Froese too.
Also
Klaus Schulze
Dave Sinclair
Irmin Schmidt
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verslibre View Drop Down
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Originally posted by bloodnarfer bloodnarfer wrote:

Edgar Froese


On that note, how about Johannes Schmoelling? He's the guy responsible for those great Jupiter-8 synth leads on early 80s TD albums. His successor Paul Haslinger was also conservatory-trained, but he never came up with anything as cool as JS.
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Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

 I think I read that (Hugh Banton) rebuilt his organs and effects processors himself.  Also, when not laying out the nightmare organ tones in VDGG, he worked restoring church/cathedral organs.

Yes he worked many years as organ builder / mechanic and had his own organ building company.
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The.Crimson.King View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Neo-Romantic Neo-Romantic wrote:

So recently I saw a high-quality video of VDGG performing Childlike Faith in Childhood's End at a gig in 2010, and Hugh Banton is a freaking monster. I know I've made it no secret I'm a huge fan of the band, but gosh, it wasn't until I saw what he's been doing and STILL doing that it really put into context just how talented and accomplished a musician he really is. Emphasis on MUSICIAN.

Hugh is one of my favourite keyboardists and I rank his organ playing even above Emerson.  The organ tones he got on the VDGG albums were unbelievable.  What Emerson did for synth (exploring and creating new sounds) Hugh did for organ.  I think I read that he rebuilt his organs and effects processors himself.  Also, when not laying out the nightmare organ tones in VDGG, he worked restoring church/cathedral organs.  There's a great 1972 video from Belgian TV with the boys performing "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" that gives a pretty good look at Hugh's custom keyboards, sound and technique.

Enjoy Wink





Edited by The.Crimson.King - September 11 2013 at 13:03
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These have probably all been said, but:
Jon Lord
Hugh Banton
Tony Banks
Steve Walsh
Edgar Froese

And I'll throw in Kevin Moore because Wait for Sleep and Space Dye Vest are super fun to play



Edited by bloodnarfer - September 11 2013 at 14:11
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So recently I saw a high-quality video of VDGG performing Childlike Faith in Childhood's End at a gig in 2010, and Hugh Banton is a freaking monster. I know I've made it no secret I'm a huge fan of the band, but gosh, it wasn't until I saw what he's been doing and STILL doing that it really put into context just how talented and accomplished a musician he really is. Emphasis on MUSICIAN.
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Popularity is the measuring stick being used here, not quality.
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Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:


Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:


Originally posted by deafmoon deafmoon wrote:



Don Airey, - RAINBOW

great list especially as you include Don Airey who is often overlooked. Have you heard his work in Colosseum II? Well worth checking out. He gets a chance to show off a bit more. The Scorch is a high point and there are loads of tracks where he 'spars' with the late great Gary  Moore

An obscure prog fact about Don Airey, he was the keyboardist on Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave tour Wink


I saw the Rock Island tour and Martin Allcock handled all the keyboards (and played a bass solo in one spot). That would've been cool to see Don.

Don's recent solo recording A Light In The Sky is a killer rock album in the Deep Purple/Rainbow tradition!

I recall him doing a keyboard solo at that show.  It was mostly sequencers and MIDI triggered things...probably considered passe these days but it was cool in 1987 Wink
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Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:


Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:


Originally posted by deafmoon deafmoon wrote:



Don Airey, - RAINBOW

great list especially as you include Don Airey who is often overlooked. Have you heard his work in Colosseum II? Well worth checking out. He gets a chance to show off a bit more. The Scorch is a high point and there are loads of tracks where he 'spars' with the late great Gary  Moore

An obscure prog fact about Don Airey, he was the keyboardist on Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave tour Wink


I saw the Rock Island tour and Martin Allcock handled all the keyboards (and played a bass solo in one spot). That would've been cool to see Don.

Don's recent solo recording A Light In The Sky is a killer rock album in the Deep Purple/Rainbow tradition!
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The.Crimson.King View Drop Down
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by deafmoon deafmoon wrote:


Don Airey, - RAINBOW


great list especially as you include Don Airey who is often overlooked. Have you heard his work in Colosseum II? Well worth checking out. He gets a chance to show off a bit more. The Scorch is a high point and there are loads of tracks where he 'spars' with the late great Gary  Moore


An obscure prog fact about Don Airey, he was the keyboardist on Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave tour Wink
Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987
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Wakeman, Emerson, and Wright all the way baby
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Originally posted by resurrection resurrection wrote:

Originally posted by FunkyHomoSapien FunkyHomoSapien wrote:

Emerson and Wakeman automatic, but what about the guy who influenced them both? And many more besides, Rock's first lead keyboard player, Billy Ritchie.  

Yes I agree in terms of importance and quality - He had Emerson and Wakeman and many others in his wake - but strictly speaking, does Ritchie qualify as a pure Prog keyboardist? His real influence was pre-Prog.

Billy Ritchie practically invented Prog. But didn't hang around for the results.
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Originally posted by deafmoon deafmoon wrote:

Vittori Nocenzi - BANCO
Keith Emerson, - ELP
Rick Wakeman, - YES
Patrick Moraz, - YES
Tony Banks, - GENESIS
Don Airey, - RAINBOW
Thijis Van Leer, - FOCUS
John Evans, - TULL
Gianni Nocenzi, - BANCO
Jon Lord, - DEEP PURPLE
Tony Kaye, - YES, BADGER, DETECTIVE
Martin Orford,- IQ
 

great list especially as you include Don Airey who is often overlooked. Have you heard his work in Colosseum II? Well worth checking out. He gets a chance to show off a bit more. The Scorch is a high point and there are loads of tracks where he 'spars' with the late great Gary  Moore
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Originally posted by Dellinger Dellinger wrote:

Originally posted by The Pessimist The Pessimist wrote:

There are so many to chose from. Rick Wright grossly underrated in my opinion for starters. Technically, Jordan Rudess, Keith Emerson (scary left hand) and Rick Wakeman are awesome, however from what I've heard Rudess and Wakeman can't improvise for sh*t so they can't get my vote. Keith on the other hand... I thought he had jazz training he improvises so well. Jan Hammer is also a great improviser, but his technical facility lacks and he is a tad messy in places.Keith takes it for me.Honorary mention, Per Wiberg.



Not so sure about Rudess not being able to impovise. He began his connection with Dream Theater with the Liquid Tension Experiment albums, and those albums had a great ammound of improvisations, so...

And about Wakeman, well, perhaps you are right. But on the other hand, he is great at doing new arrangements for his older songs. Both solo or with yes, he has often improved his songs on later live versions... or yes's songs, wether he was part of the band when the song was originally recorded or not.


I was hyperbolising about Rudess... Every person in the world can improvise to some degree, it's just I don't think Rudess does it very well at all Same with Wakeman. He's a technique wizard, don't get me wrong, but that's not enough for me.
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Originally posted by The Pessimist The Pessimist wrote:

There are so many to chose from. Rick Wright grossly underrated in my opinion for starters. Technically, Jordan Rudess, Keith Emerson (scary left hand) and Rick Wakeman are awesome, however from what I've heard Rudess and Wakeman can't improvise for sh*t so they can't get my vote. Keith on the other hand... I thought he had jazz training he improvises so well. Jan Hammer is also a great improviser, but his technical facility lacks and he is a tad messy in places.Keith takes it for me.Honorary mention, Per Wiberg.



Not so sure about Rudess not being able to impovise. He began his connection with Dream Theater with the Liquid Tension Experiment albums, and those albums had a great ammound of improvisations, so...

And about Wakeman, well, perhaps you are right. But on the other hand, he is great at doing new arrangements for his older songs. Both solo or with yes, he has often improved his songs on later live versions... or yes's songs, wether he was part of the band when the song was originally recorded or not.
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There are so many to chose from. Rick Wright grossly underrated in my opinion for starters. Technically, Jordan Rudess, Keith Emerson (scary left hand) and Rick Wakeman are awesome, however from what I've heard Rudess and Wakeman can't improvise for sh*t so they can't get my vote. Keith on the other hand... I thought he had jazz training he improvises so well. Jan Hammer is also a great improviser, but his technical facility lacks and he is a tad messy in places.

Keith takes it for me.

Honorary mention, Per Wiberg.
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Vittori Nocenzi - BANCO
Keith Emerson, - ELP
Rick Wakeman, - YES
Patrick Moraz, - YES
Tony Banks, - GENESIS
Don Airey, - RAINBOW
Thijis Van Leer, - FOCUS
John Evans, - TULL
Gianni Nocenzi, - BANCO
Jon Lord, - DEEP PURPLE
Tony Kaye, - YES, BADGER, DETECTIVE
Martin Orford,- IQ
 
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