What keyboard music influenced you?

[Doerfler]

Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull

[Mills Dude]

After hearing a recording of Chopin's Polonaise Militiaire in 8th grade music appreciation in the late 70s, I wanted to be able to do that. Asked my mom for piano lessons and she sent me for weekly lessons, $7 per half hour at the local music store. In those early days, I wore out an LP of Earl Wild performing "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Boston Pops and a cassette of Beethoven piano sonatas. My older sister was a Billy Joel fan, so I started borrowing her records and listened to the Stranger, Turnstiles, 52nd Street incessantly.

 

After a few years of taking lessons got turned on to ELP, Yes, Kansas & Genesis, listening and trying to learn those parts incessantly. Then in college fell in with some fusion, Return to Forever, Weather Report, Dixie Dregs, Mahavishnu, Bruford, Holdsworth, Herbie Hancock with some Frank Zappa mixed into that. That morphed into discovering Miles, Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, etc., the late '50s and '60s post-bop period.

 

Biggest Keyboard Influences for me

 

Earl Wild - Rhapsody in Blue

BJ - Turnstiles

Livgren & Walsh - Left Overture, Song for America (Kerry Livgren plays a lot of great piano and keys on all Kansas)

Keith Emerson - Trilogy (maybe odd pick for ELP but it was the first ELP I was exposed to and it changed me significantly)

McCoy Tyner - My Favorite Things

Bill Evans - Kind of Blue

Dave Stewart - One of a Kind

T Lavitz - Unsung Heros

Tony Banks - Trick of the Tail

Chick Corea - Romantic Warrior

Eddie Jobson - UK

Patrick Moraz - Relayer (Sure Wakeman's a legend, but I love what Moraz did here)

Bruce Hornsby - Harbor Lights

Frank Zappa - Mothers of Prevention (Half Synclavier release from the mid 80's)

Herbie Hancock - Thrust, Mr. Hands.

[agitato]

Booker T and the MGs, Ray Charles, Jimmy Smith, Fats Domino, Stevie Wonder's keyboard playing (and singing).

[TommyRude]

Got to include Frankenstein. Keyboard dominated rock instrumental that blows up to #1 of the Hot 100? OH HELL YES! Incendiary and iconic synth solos, one after another after another? INDEED! Includes infectious jazzy interludes? YUP. Fronted by the legendary and incredible swamp monster Edgar Winter, who I believe was THE FIRST KEYTARIST? Sidenote - band includes one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Ronnie Montrose.

 

Not only did this influence me, but I've got to think millions of keyboardists all over the planet. Moreover, I think this influenced and inspired and delighted millions and millions of people from all walks of life, backgrounds, ethnic groups, ages and genders - everyone loved this.

 

[video:youtube]

[Synthaholic]

Lenny Dee and Earl Grant organ music when I was a little boy. I listened to that a lot.

 

Then Elton"s "Honky Chateau". My father"s father was a professional pianist and played just like Elton on 'I Think I"m Gonna Kill Myself", my dad used to tell me.

 

Then Billy Preston. Especially the 'Everybody Likes Some Kind Of Music" album. Wore that out.

 

Then Rick Wakeman"s 'Journey to the Centre Of the Earth". That got me interested in synths instead of just organ.

 

Then Kansas, big time.

 

Then Gino Vannelli, with 'Brother to Brother", which started me getting his earlier, all-synth albums. I was blown away. Still am!

 

Then I discovered Larry Carlton"s debut album. Even though a guitarist, I learned every lick to every song except the impossible 'Point it Up". All the Greg Mathieson Rhodes parts, too. I generally played along with it on my Wurlitzer 3 manual home organ with the built-in cassette player in the living room. I must have driven my mother mad. I listened to a lot of that kind of jazz fusion from 1978-1982. Steve Kahn, Jeff Lorber, Grover Washington, Ramsey Lewis, etc. A lot of tasty keyboard work.

 

Then Human League, and especially The Thompson Twins. Tom Bailey doesn"t get nearly the credit he deserves. Great parts, great sounds and textures.

 

Then Kate Bush. 'Hounds of Love". Although going backwards into her catalog was not as satisfying. A lot of it was just too weird for me. But you would find stunning songs like 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes" and 'Breathing".

 

Then Level 42, Go West, Thomas Dolby, Cock Robin, The Producers, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, and all those great 80"s synth bands. Some Prince. No Michael Jackson. Never liked his stuff after 'Off The Wall". I was more drawn to things like 'Sexomatic" by the Bar-Kays and 'Nail It To The Wall" by Stacy Lattisaw and 'The Men All Pause" by Klymaxx and 'Candy" from my old acquaintances in Cameo. More urban synth-based stuff.

 

Then I skipped the 1990s. Lol! I started discovering Walter Wanderley and Bossa Nova and really getting into Sinatra, leaving current pop music behind. I discovered that George Jones and a lot of that old country music had a lot to offer. Maybe not technically appealing, but in other ways. I rarely listen to the radio. I don"t like any of it.

[credwi88]

Debussy at age 5. Johnny Costa age 5-6. Stevie Wonder age 6. Around age 10 thru 12, these 2 guys taught me how to play pop piano: Billy Joel, & Elton John. As a pre-teen, my Classical piano concerts were my main focus and my favorites were Ravel and Stravinsky; on the 'pop music' side i became obsessed with Funk & R&B..faves were Earth Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, Donny Hathaway. High school: i got introduced for the first time to Steely Dan who then became my #2 fave of ever, Stevie is always #1., also in highschool i got exposed to Zappa & Chick Corea. Nowadays my faves are Patrice Rushen, D'Angelo, & Joni Mitchell.

 

[Ivan May]

Over the past few years I have become obsessed with Emerson Lake and Palmer. Keith Emerson was one of the greatest keyboard players who ever lived. How he was able to play all those overdriven dirty Moogs and Hammond organs without breaking his arms is beyond me.

[Iconoclast]

Initially, Dennis DeYoung of Styx. Then Kansas melted my brain. From there it just grew to all the early 70s prog stuff. Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Pink Floyd. The usual suspects. I was really into Return to Forever and The Elektrik band stuff.

Then I quit music for 15 years.

I came back as a guitar player but have migrated back to being a keyboard player.

[Sundown]

If it weren’t for The Cars, I don’t think I would have ever been drawn to keyboards … Greg Hawkes work in the late 70’s and early 80’s certainly ignited a spark.

 

Rick Wakeman was a huge influence in terms of keyboard as a lead instrument, and to this day every time I walk up to a Moog instrument, an imaginary cape appears behind me and I grab the portamento knob and go to work. Given my age, his work on Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe was impactful to me.

 

Geoff Downes gets ragged on occasionally, but his chord progressions and sound choices certainly shaped my upbringing. I think he’s a great player and I avoid comparisons to anyone he might be replacing with his current gig.

 

Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me. His work on 1984 and 5150 was pivotal.

 

Last but not least, Patrick Leonard was (and is) a huge influence on how I play today. I wish he would release more material as his instrumental work is top-flight.

 

Todd

[KuruPrionz]

Mom took us to see Artur Rubenstein, solo on a Steinway grand. I was 8 and thought it was amazing. I wanted to play the piano. 

A couple months later she took us to see Carlos Montoya, the famous flamenco guitarist. His first piece was blazing and amazing and he got a standing ovation.

He stood up too, a fairly short man and with a high, squeaky voice he cried out "Thank you very much!!!"

At that moment, I realized that the guitar could make you a giant and that's what I wanted to play. I play guitar. 

[CyberGene]

Bach - hearing my mom play Bach on the piano just smashed my head instantly one day when I was a kid. I was immediately determined to become a pianist and to start learning the piano and play only Bach forever and ever 😀

Chick Corea - “Expressions”, that’s what hooked me into jazz a few years later and influenced a lot of my further (poor) improvisational approaches.

 

Dave Grusin - anything. But initially it was “The Firm”, I just went mad about it! And I almost completely borrowed his harmonic language and voicings.

 

———

 

When I abandoned jazz and went back to classical music it was Evgeni Bozhanov who convinced me classical music interpretation can be very individual and creative by applying spontaneous decisions (different interpretation every time) with utmost lyricism, hand independence, inner voice accentuation, rhythmic fluidity. That’s similar to how Horowitz plays. 

[Stokely]

I'd also say Dennis D from Styx.  I remember hearing Grand Illusion at a picnic and just wondering what the hell was that...the synth in Light Up really caught my ear first time I heard it.  

[HammondDave]

Off the top of my head I would have to say: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Rick Wakeman, Steve Winwood, Peter Robinson (Quartermass) and Greg Rollie.  

[stoken6]

Three main influences: Elton John, Elton John and Elton John.

 

Other musicians have of course inspired me and shaped the way I play, but my basic "pop comping" is 100% Elton.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Ed A.]

Although I could never hope to play like him, it was Keith Emerson first for me, then Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Brian Eno later.

[kpl1228]

Being of a certain age, the usual AOR 70s guys: Hawkes, Walsh/Livgren, Greenwood, DeYoung, Rolie/Cain. And I always liked the quirky-but-awesome way The Tubes utilized synths.

Then the 80s: always respected the Brit synthpop stuff, but except for a few (Fixx, Duran, Trevor Horn ZTT, etc,) never jumped on it much, though i love it now.

I just like guitar rock way too much to love synth-driven stuff. Always went toward guitar-based bands that added keyboards for color (VH, Wright with Floyd, Jon Lord, Don Airey, Justman w/ J Geils (sooo underrated and underappreciated), Greg Giuffria, everyone from Loverboy to Saga to Queen to Rush to Dream Theatre. Anything with a two-VCO analog polysynth backing a guitar riff and I'm smiling.

Nowadays it's everything from Ellis Marsalis (Wynton's stuff pulled me in, I'm an old trumpet guy) to Rhianna, even Harry Styles. Love the newer production. I tend to love lush and full instead of sparce. That has never changed over the decades.

 

[Theo Verelst]

Some names were teenage influences of mine which weren't mentioned yet: Commodores, Supertramp, ELO, JM Jarre, various funky/Disco groups (including Chic, Sister Sledge, Crusaders, Gloria Gaynor , Sade), R Tee in concert in Centrsl Park, some well known classical composers. The Abba sound motivated me, all kinds of hits I could play, from the time (late 70s) or from 50s or 60s.

 

Then, I among others went into Blues  Funk and Fusion, like Duke, Scofield bands, and Jazz.

 

T

[jazzpiano88]

It seems like I came up at a perfect time when piano/keyboard artists were doing exactly what my ears were hungry for. These albums (or songs) are my basis of early influence

 

Joe Cocker - You are so beautiful

Elton John - GBYBR, Caribou

Billy Joel - The Stranger

Steely Dan - Can't buy a Thrill

Weather Report - Heavy Weather, Night Passage

Chick Corea - Romantic Warrior

Jeff Beck - Wired

Carpenters - Superstar

Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays -  The White Album, AFWSFWF, Offramp

Dixie Dreggs -  What If

Yes - Drama

Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

Doobie Brothers - Takin it to the Streets, Minute by Minute

Joe Walsh - But Seriously Folks

 

It was  good time for music.   Consumers listening and focused with no distractions.

 

[Brad Kaenel]

Interesting to think about this question.  I believe I can honestly say the only person I ever intentionally *tried* to play like was Count Basie -- i.e. "what would Basie play (or, perhaps more importantly, not play) in this phrase?".  This happened, of course, as is likely typical of many pianists learning to play jazz for the first time in high school "jazz ensemble":  your band director tells you to "listen, and play like *this*", handing you a recording and a rhythm chart for "Basie Straight Ahead".  (Is there a high school big band student who *didn't* begin their jazz education with that chart?)

 

A few years later I became interested in musical theater, and spent 20 years of "summer stock" rehearsals sitting next to a senior gentlemen who had cut his teeth as a big band arranger in the 40's and 50's, and was now writing Broadway-style shows for teenagers.  When he passed, I stepped into his very-large shoes, and the transition for the company proved to be nearly seamless -- I guess you just can't help playing like someone you've watched and listened to closely for a couple of decades.  It wasn't intentional; it was just -- natural.

[HammondDave]

Another great influence was Ian MacDonald’s Mellotron performances for King Crimson. That got me hooked on that crazy, tempermental instrument. 

[Tusker]

I was just your mildly classical oriented pianist organist type. Listening to pop music on the radio one day when this song came on. Those Minimoogs were like nothing I had heard before ...

 

 

 

I called the radio station and obtained the name of the song, hunted down the album. Then I made the huge mistake (according to my songwriting friend Kevin who went on to release a number of albums) of getting a hold of Tales of Topographic Oceans and actually liking it.

 

"But it's their worst album," he protested. "Here, try this."

 

And he offered me a copy of Genesis Live (1973). From then I devoured the Genesis, ELP and Yes catalogs. Then I was playing prog and jazz fusion, and jazz and musicals and now ... it's all kinds of music. Thanks to Rick and Kevin. And a nameless disc jockey at a radio station.

[D. Gauss]

johnnie johnson.  no johnnie. no rock and roll as we've come to know it.  

[RABid]

Monk - Memorial Album

Three Dog Night - Live at the Forum (Taught me how to play rhythm organ.)

 

[David R]

Billy Joel - 52nd Street (that album is the reason I’m a musician at all)

Dave Brubeck - Time Out (the intro to “Strange Meadowlark” is what made me want to play jazz)

Herbie Hancock - Thrust

Weather Report - 8:30 (my conception of synth orchestration still goes back to Zawinul & Herbie, as well as how to comp in electric groove settings)

Chick Corea - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (I worked hard to get some of those lines from “Matrix” & “Steps” under my fingers, and they took a long time to leave)

Medeski Martin & Wood – Uninvisible, It’s A Jungle In Here, A Go Go (with John Scofield)

Bruce Hornsby - Spirit Trail, Here Come The Noisemakers

Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior (first-generation dubstep warped my brain, I had never heard sounds like that before)

Mark de Clive-Lowe - not a specific record but watching his live stuff on YouTube, how at ease he is with an MPC3000 (now Maschine & Ableton) and straightahead piano & Rhodes playing is a constant inspiration for me. 

[pinkfloydcramer]

Chuck Leavell- l've tried to cop  everything he did, almost, with ABB and Greg solo. And with Clapton for MTV unplugged. 

 

Lucky Peterson: getting in to the Jackson MS blues scene, I discovered him via a Keyboard mag review. Still my favorite blues organ player and my primary influence for blues. Maybe wasn't the best choice for a 1st role model, however, as his playing can be somewhat "note-y". Takes fleet fingers to execute, for sure.

 

John Medeski: Time listening and playing along with Shackman and the MMW with Scofield albums was my template for groove/funk (clusterfunK, my own term and not because of chord clusters, ha).

 

Dr. John- I bought the Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack tape and wore it out. I invested a lot of time trying to cop his feel, until I almost burned out on it. After that I discovered James Booker which put some wind in my sails.

 

Bill Evans, esp. his voicings. 

 

So many greats mentioned here, including some that aren't as widely known. Seth Justman = good call. They very well could have named J' Geils' "Blow Your Face Out" live record after his organ playing on "Chimes".

[scoopicman]

I can't begin to tell you how much of an influence John Carpenter was on me.  I bought my synths because of him and his seemingly simplistic, but flavorful style.  My other big keyboard influences were Tangerine Dream and Giorgio Moroder.  A few years later, it would be Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode.  Not just his playing, but his engineering and sonic manipulation were out of this world.  I have quite a bit more than what's in these old pics. 

 

[El Lobo]

The Kingsmen - "Louie Louie" and "Money" 🤣

[Synthaholic]

On 5/7/2023 at 11:52 PM, Sundown said:

Last but not least, Patrick Leonard was (and is) a huge influence on how I play today.

Madonna would not be Madonna without Patrick Leonard. He should have been inducted alongside her in the Rock Hall.

[Synthaholic]

On 7/29/2019 at 12:17 PM, Synthaholic said:

Lenny Dee and Earl Grant organ music when I was a little boy. I listened to that a lot.

 

Then Elton"s "Honky Chateau". My father"s father was a professional pianist and played just like Elton on 'I Think I"m Gonna Kill Myself", my dad used to tell me.

 

Then Billy Preston. Especially the 'Everybody Likes Some Kind Of Music" album. Wore that out.

 

Then Rick Wakeman"s 'Journey to the Centre Of the Earth". That got me interested in synths instead of just organ.

 

Then Kansas, big time.

 

Then Gino Vannelli, with 'Brother to Brother", which started me getting his earlier, all-synth albums. I was blown away. Still am!

 

Then I discovered Larry Carlton"s debut album. Even though a guitarist, I learned every lick to every song except the impossible 'Point it Up". All the Greg Mathieson Rhodes parts, too. I generally played along with it on my Wurlitzer 3 manual home organ with the built-in cassette player in the living room. I must have driven my mother mad. I listened to a lot of that kind of jazz fusion from 1978-1982. Steve Kahn, Jeff Lorber, Grover Washington, Ramsey Lewis, etc. A lot of tasty keyboard work.

 

Then Human League, and especially The Thompson Twins. Tom Bailey doesn"t get nearly the credit he deserves. Great parts, great sounds and textures.

 

Then Kate Bush. 'Hounds of Love". Although going backwards into her catalog was not as satisfying. A lot of it was just too weird for me. But you would find stunning songs like 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes" and 'Breathing".

 

Then Level 42, Go West, Thomas Dolby, Cock Robin, The Producers, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, and all those great 80"s synth bands. Some Prince. No Michael Jackson. Never liked his stuff after 'Off The Wall". I was more drawn to things like 'Sexomatic" by the Bar-Kays and 'Nail It To The Wall" by Stacy Lattisaw and 'The Men All Pause" by Klymaxx and 'Candy" from my old acquaintances in Cameo. More urban synth-based stuff.

 

Then I skipped the 1990s. Lol! I started discovering Walter Wanderley and Bossa Nova and really getting into Sinatra, leaving current pop music behind. I discovered that George Jones and a lot of that old country music had a lot to offer. Maybe not technically appealing, but in other ways. I rarely listen to the radio. I don"t like any of it.

I left someone out of this list who I was really into for a couple of years in the late 1970s: Gary Wright. Along with 'The Dream Weaver', his album 'The Light of Smiles' was a big influence on me, synth-wise. He got some great sounds and played super-melodic, thematic solos. Especially on the tracks like 'Water Sign' and 'Phantom Writer'. I absolutely wore that album out.

[analogika]

Santana. Tom Coster and Chester Thompson. 
“Zulu” off the Moonflower album is one reason I own a CP70. 
 

Also, Jean Michel Jarre. In a big way.