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who's your favorite keyboardist?


mbengs1

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Greg Mathieson comes to mind mostly because I've been practicing over his stuff with Larry Carlton but he is truly a harmonic whiz. (I don't practice with Larry Carlton.)

 

Kenny Baron, Alan Pascua and dozens more for New Old Jazz through fusion.

 

Any of the Gospel Chops hotties. Halfuhdem cain't spell out the chords they play but they sure know how to use 'em.

 

 

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Nashville studio great Matt Rollings. He's a chameleon. Can play very elegantly or viciously funky. Raucous barrelhouse like nobody's business (Steve Earl's "Snake Oil") and awesome 2-handed interplay on New Orleansy gospel piano ((Lyle Lovett's "Memphis").

 

For B3 I'm a huge fan of Jon Medeski and really liking Corey Henry too. Piano jazz it's Chick Corea.

 

(added) but 2 players I have tried to emulate the most are Chuck Leavell and Lucky Peterson.

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Richard Tee is one of my favourites.

 

I saw him and several other members of Stuff play behind Joe Cocker in the early '70s - Joe wasn't in very good shape but the band, including Cornell Dupree, was amazing.

 

You can hear Richard's Rhodes on a lot of Paul Simon records and George Harrison's album 33 1/3.

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I went to a "Two Generations of Brubeck" concert back in the late '70s. He was an amazing piano player and his son's are very good musicians as well.

 

He looked like a freak from a Dickens novel...

 

pictured-jazz-musician-dave-brubeck-and-two-generations-of-brubeck-picture-id140757308

 

 

...and he was beaming for the entire show.

 

pictured-jazz-musician-dave-brubeck-and-two-generations-of-brubeck-picture-id140757302

 

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Depends on style and genre for sure.

 

For big ol' classic rock/prog players: Tony Banks. And especially for the way he was able to transition his styles into the 80s. "Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea" says it all.

 

For Jazz: Oscar Peterson for traditional stuff. Lyle Mays for modern fusion type stuff. Oh, and Joe Zawinul. And a dozen others.

 

For pop/new wave type stuff: Rupert Greenall of The Fixx.

 

For R&B: Larry Dunn with Earth, Wind & Fire. Stevie Wonder.

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A kid at school showed me a blues scale on the piano. When I got home from school that day I sat down at the piano and, for the first time, was able to create a groove. It felt like the music was coming from inside and I didn't have to play something the 'right' way.

 

I got so excited about it that I thought this must be what it is like to be Ray Charles.

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That's a tough one to answer because you can ask Who is the best at doing what.

 

I admire great players who have high skill levels but for some reason, the craftiness of how a keyboard is fit into the music is what catches my ears. I suppose its because keyboard is a secondary instrument for me and I relate to parts I'm actually able to play. Its a matter of good musical composition vs manual dexterity. I can hear a rag time player do things I could never dream of playing but I'd be board silly listening to those simple melodies. Take a few good notes and chords woven within a great piece of music and it sounds fantastic to me.

 

Players like Billy Joel and Elton John had some wonderful pop hits. They both were responsible for putting the grand piano back on the map. Elton playing and singing Have Mercy on the Criminal or Don't lest the sun go down, have some tremendous dynamics happening.

 

Creative wise, Both Roger Powell and Todd Rundgren inspired me a great deal. I saw them play in the band Utopia at least a half dozen times and they blew my doors off every time. The fact that they are multi talented and can switch playing instruments and all sing great was inspiring too.

 

There are many multitalented keyboardists I admire like Daryl Hall to Joe Walsh just because they can move from one instrument and another and sound great on both.

 

Ray Manzarek of the doors is another I have to rate very high, especially because he not only played the hell out of the instrument and came up with unforgettable riffs, but he also played the bass parts at the same time. Pretty amazing stuff for a three piece band with a lead singer.

 

Stevie Wonder and Billy Preston did some amazing work on the keys.

 

There are several who had those great eat sounding Hammond organs too. There were a bunch of rock bands that used them when I was growing up.

 

Greg Allman was a favorite of mine. I've played many of their tunes in bands and no matter what, they just don't sound the same without those keyboard parts.

 

Steve Hill of Bloodrock and Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly really put the squeeze on those recordings using Hammonds.

 

I can dig up a tone of classical players too. Gershwin is one of my favorites in that league as are may of the other great masters like Mozart Bach and Beethoven. Unfortunately we can only admire the works the older masters left behind because they predate the ability to record them so we have to judge their ability to play based on what they wrote. .

 

 

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