Rock and Roll Keyboard Players

[Astronuc]

I stumbled across a video on Youtube about five influential keyboard players. I think there there were more. From the text accompanying the video, "A deep dive into the unsung keyboard players who shaped the sound of classic rock. From Nicky Hopkins transforming Sympathy for the Devil, to Ian Stewart keeping the Rolling Stones rooted in the blues, Billy Preston saving the Beatles, Al Kooper bluffing his way onto Like a Rolling Stone, and Richard Wright providing the atmosphere behind Pink Floyd’s greatest work"





The video has some interesting back stories. I didn't recall the influence of Nicky Hopkins or Ian Stewart with the Rolling Stones. I believe Andrew Oldham made a mistake with Ian Stewart, but that was then and it's me looking back. I don't agree with Steward regarding minor chords.

My first experience discovering rock and roll keyboard players was listening to Doug Ingle, keyboardist with Iron Butterfly and the main song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Then I discovered the Moody Blues and keyboardist Mike Pinder who played the unique sounding Mellotron.

I took piano lessons (my mom's idea), but I lacked the patience to stick with it. I wanted to be running around outside playing sports, e.g., football (American version, or real football), or riding my bicycle. I also had a passion for bass guitar and eventually bought a used bass (Fender copy) while at university. I never played in a band, but sometimes played along with tunes.

I had to find the list of rock and roll keyboard players, and I found the following:
https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_keyboard.html

1. Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Nice)
2. Rick Wakeman (Yes)
3. Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
4. Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
5. Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
6. Tony Banks (Genesis)
7. Billy Preston (Solo)
8. Rod Argent (Zombies, Argent)
9. Steve Winwood (Traffic)
10. Al Kooper (Blood Sweat & Tears)
11. Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum, Solo)
12. Booker T. Jones (Solo)
13. Ian Underwood (The Mothers Of Invention)
14. Gregg Allman (Allman Brothers Band)
15. Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck)
16. Jan Hammer (Solo)
17. Nicky Hopkins (Rolling Stones, The Jeff Beck Group)
18. Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey)

The ranking is, of course, subjective. However, folks like Keith Emerson are in a class of their own.

I would put John Tout, keyboardist (electric organ and piano) for the progressive rock band, Renaissance, from 1970 to 1980. I would consider him toward the top of the list; he was great, but I don't know how influential. He apparently played the piano on two tracks of John Lennon's Imagine album in 1971.

Other notables:
24. Kerry Livgren (Kansas)
44. Jonathan Cain (Journey, Solo)
50. Mike Pinder (Moody Blues)
Honorable mentions
Doug Ingle (Iron Butterfly), I would have ranked Doug Engle in the top of the 100, but perhaps after 1970, he wasn't that influential.

There are plenty of other lists.

 

[pinball1970]

Thijs Van Leer should be on the list, from Focus.

 

[PeroK]

The ranking is, of course, subjective. However, folks like Keith Emerson are in a class of their own.

Emerson's keyboards were the main instrument for ELP. The opening track of their first album was The Barbarian, a version of Bella Bartok's Allegro Barbaro. That was unique amongst rock bands, apart from the electronic bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk.

The one missing from that list, that really stands out, is Brian Eno.

 

[Hornbein]

Those of less than my 70 years may not appreciate how influential was Iron Butterfly. Where I lived A Gadda Da Vida was the most popular thing for some years. Quite something for a one-hit wonder. I too wonder whether Doug Ingle has ancestors who had something to do with the nearby town of Inglewood.

Younger people also don't know that the electric organ was the original heavy rock instrument. If you wanted that thick distorted sound you got a Hammond organ with a Leslie cabinet. Only once in my life have I experienced one in close quarters and it was very impressive, unforgettable. It's something you can feel that recordings just don't get. Even sending it through a PA loses a lot.

The exponents of rock Hammond were Jon Lord, Booker T. Jones, and Procol Harum. That's a Hammond with a Leslie on Born To Be Wild (I'm almost sure that session men are playing that. I've heard live recordings of Steppenwolf and they aren't anywhere near that good.) The Hammond was there at the birth of rock. The expense, fragility, and great weight of the Hammond were major disadvantages so once Peter Townsend came up with the power chord the Hammond faded away fast. I believe that Jon Lord, Booker T. Jones, and Procol Harum eventually replaced their mechanical Hammonds -- such even has a drive shaft -- with an electronic copy. Today the last man standing is the great Lachey Doley. He not only plays a mean Hammond he also is a master of the whammy bar Clavinet and a gutbucket power singer. If he were able to board a time warp back to the rock era he would become a big star.

Most rock keyboardists didn't want to deal with a Hammond so resorted to electronic organs : Vox, Farfisa, Lowry. The were cheaper and lighter and sounded like it. Sam The Sham, ? and the Mysterians, The Blues Magoos. They could have a fun so-bad-its-good sound, like the mega-cheesy homemade instruments used on Telstar and Runaway, but these were instruments you couldn't take seriously. They faded away too.

Rock keyboard players had a very different character than electric guitarists. The keyboard guys often started out taking European classical piano lessons when they were little kids while the guitarists were undisciplined rebels. Keyboard player tend to be neat and clean -- I have even seen it suggested that such wash their hands before touching a keyboard -- while guitarists are messy. Many guitarists prefer a guitar that looks beaten up and old, maybe even covered with that spoogy combination of body oil and skin. Keyboardists with a big classical influence include Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, and Rick Wakeman. I like to credit Jon Lord with moving rock guitarists away from the blues and toward a more European classical style indirectly through his influence on bandmate Richie Blackmore and Highway Star. Highway Star is to this day such a big deal in Japan they named a popular model of automobile after it. More of a groovin' rock stylist is Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Wasn't she the first female to make it big as a rock instrumentalist?

New keyboards were invented. There was the primitive Mellotron, the pretty Fender-Rhodes "piano" got occasional use, synthesizers and so forth. The era of a man surrounded by eight keyboards had arrived. I once read of guy who toured with 36 keyboards. They became key with 80's British pop music. I never much cared for this trend with a few exceptions. Richard Wright used them to create that oceanic stadium sound. Good for him. Maybe it isn't rock and roll, but who cares about that? Stevie Wonder and Bernie Worrell and the guy in Toto made very good use of synthesizers, especially for bass lines. (I thought they might replace the bass guitar but then slap came in and saved that instrument.) Stevie Wonder with Ray Kurzweil produced a synthesizer that could credibly replace a string section. While the keyboards improved their popularity declined. Guitars ruled. Keyboard prices plunged dramatically but their popularity continued to drop nevertheless. They just aren't cool. Go to a store for electric instruments and guitars outnumber them a hundred to one.

Why is that? You can get a lot more expression out of an electric guitar than an organ. Perhaps the main reason is that keyboards are much harder to learn to play than a guitar. The tradition of starting out young on a keyboard is dead in the USA outside of Mormon regions so there are very few new keyboard players.

So what rock keyboard do I like? Here's a girl on a Yamaha Stagea playing Carry On Wayward Son. (Yamaha got its start as an electronic organ company. That's why its logo is three tuning forks.) My does that rock. Yamaha has built an international culture around the Stagea that bears a strong resemblance to that of figure skating, with contests and costumes. I've attended those contests, the audience full of parents of the performers, and it can be quite impressive.

My disdain for the Keytar has an exception.

Rock guitarist Eddie van Halen started out young on piano in eastern Asia. He won competitions. His ear was so good it was years before his teacher found out that he couldn't read music! I love his keyboard playing.

And to wrap it all up is Lachey Doley daring to play Voodoo Child (Slight Return) on a Castlebar Clavinet. By the way, jimi hendrix said the record company tried to get him to include a Hammond in his band. "I don't have any feel for an organ" said he. He did however relent briefly for Voodoo Chile. He was right : it doesn't work. Instead everybody goes for organ-free Voodoo Child(Slight Return).

 

[pinball1970]

There were a lot of good players around in the late 60s, this is from 1969. Deep Purple were still searching for an identity here, probably because they were not happy with the singing.

The Organ kicks in at 3.33 (you avoid the singing that way) you can hear Bach, blues and that John Lord stuff that glued it together.

 

[pinball1970]

Perhaps give this guy a mention, Elvis' pianist.

Floyd Cramer 1961

 

[pinball1970]

Should come with warning that one, put my head phones to check it was the right track and then had to listen all the way through.
In my office, Air pianoing, a bit of head banging and chair wobbling.

 

[pinball1970]

Thijs Van Leer from Focus, everyone knows this intro. The chords are beautiful on their own. Van Leer wrote this one.

 

[symbolipoint]

Just a small little note: Floyd Cramer was self-taught (Piano).

 

[Hornbein]

100% keyboard courtesy the late Frank Zappa.

 

[Hornbein]

How could I forget Bill Payne?

 

[difalcojr]

Yes' Rick Wakeman's arrangement of "extracts from Brahms, 4th Symphony in E Minor, Third Movement" from Yes' 4th album, in "which he plays electric piano taking the part of the strings, grand piano taking the part of the woodwind, organ taking the brass, electric harpsichord taking reeds, and synthesizer taking contra bassoon."

 

[Astronuc]

The one missing from that list, that really stands out, is Brian Eno.

19. Brian Eno (Roxy Music, Solo)

The keyboardists for Boston are not on the list. Tom Scholz played organ on the first album (Foreplay/Long Time), but keyboardist Beth Cohen has contributed.

electronic bands like Tangerine Dream

. One of my room mates in university introduced me to Tangerine Dream and Renaissance. I don't remember hearing Brian Eno, although his name was mentioned.

 

[BWV]

Jan Hammer was a fusion guy, if you include him why not Herbie Hancock and Joe Zawinul?

Stevie Wonder and Bernie Worrell (if you don't include funk, he played with the Talking Heads on their big albums)?

 

[BWV]

Also Claudio Simonetti (Goblin), Italian prog band did a slew of horror movie soundtracks including Dawn of the Dead

 

[pinball1970]

Rick Wakeman (2 on the OP list) said that the solo from this by Rod Argent (8) is his favourite organ solo.

 

[Hornbein]

This thread inspired me to revisit In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, which I have always felt was the ultimate rock riff. Fifty years on it impresses me even more than it did at the time. Doug Ingle on the organ solos with both hands independently, a very rare thing that I hope will someday catch on. I say the famed drum solo is well composed, compelling, using the power of simplicity. It's memorable. I wish more drummers would do something like that instead of solos resorting to loud flashy drum exercises at maximum speed.

While the recording was quite popular back then many musicians looked down on it. Maybe it was too melodramatic. Maybe the lyrics were too down to earth and simple when Bob Dylan surrealism was all the rage. (Back then they also looked down on Led Zeppelin for the same reasons. My has that changed.) Maybe the simplicity bothered them. Who knows for sure. It didn't help that In-A-Gadda was the only song they did that was any good. (This weird phenomenon is not uncommon.) The upshot is that Iron Butterfly has been forgotten.

Nowadays many bands will play along with recordings of keyboards in order to fill out the sound, avoiding having one more mouth to feed. I don't know how that technology works.

 

[pinball1970]

I say the famed drum solo is well composed, compelling, using the power of simplicity. It's memorable. I wish more drummers would do something like that instead of solos resorting to loud flashy drum exercises at maximum speed.

Not my thing. Ginger Baker did a couple like that. Buddy Rich for me had the perfect combination of creativity, technique and groove.
Some of his solos had a tapdance feel to them.

 

[difalcojr]

Rod Argent (9)

Always liked this song, especially at the start of a new year, so positive. Rod Argent (8) :-)

 

[Hornbein]

Always liked this song, especially at the start of a new year, so positive. Rod Argent (8) :-)

A nice tune that I missed. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Possibly The Beatles inspired. I miss that bygone era when you could do anything and call it "rock." Is that Odysseus on the cover?

 

[difalcojr]

Not sure if that's Odysseus. I'll check the back of the album cover and let you know if I find anything. Wiki online doesn't say.

That whole Zombies album is good, good voices, nice piano, instrument mix, rock/pop band. Trumpets remind me of Beatles too. "Time of the Season" is also on that album.

Listened to "In A Gadda Da Vida" since decades ago. Long jams were the "in" thing at that time. Sounds too long now, the drum solo. Not sure why they didn't continue success with other songs/hits after that, but not all good bands stay together, and it must be difficult for it all to work well together. Ingle was very talented.