jerrythek

Damn, he's great. Clean articulation in both hands. Never heard of him before - thanks for this!

You mean M1. He wore out that Overture sound as a pad. But I think he still uses a Moog PianoBar (actually designed by Don Buchla), so perhaps he runs the Korg M1 plug-in at times. I'd have to research that.

This is becoming a great thread about great rock keyboardists. I love every one mentioned. But it is NOT a reasonable discussion of THE greatest. That’s a discussion of a singular candidate. Not a case where we all try to point out if a great player wasn’t mentioned. Or to try to fit all genres of music under the single banner of rock. Now that said, I’d much prefer to talk about and celebrate all the greats. It shouldn’t be a contest for the BEST. Thanks for hearing me out - I just needed to say that. Carry on.

Saw this the other day - so beautiful/masterful/add your favorite adjective. I think Bruce was talented from his first release, but over the years has grown into such a deep artist, not afraid to take chances, change things up and keep his music fresh and spontaneous. I only recently saw him live for the first time last year at Town Hall in NYC, and he had John Schofield, Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride as special guests. So they jammed a bit more, and it was wonderful seeing Bruce calling audibles and following the flow/guiding the proceedings along. A great artist who is at the peak of his powers nowadays. Thanks for the reminder.

But he makes the point that he does it (play gigs, gets up at 6 to take care of his kids and makes it to class to teach). It is an interesting point: should jazz curriculum/classes start later? But we digress.

Just one example - Russ Ferrante. Really? I love them all, but don’t think some fit the proposed topic. Obviously YMVaries. 😎

I think you're veering out of rock as your list progresses. All great players, but rock?

Got to add Bill Payne to that list.

I'm not sure I should be taking us down this rabbit hole, but... my view is by the time you get to Julliard you shouldn't need to be taught to come to classes on time. Or to practice... but I agree that he cast his net pretty wide. For context, here's his post: I teach at one of the preeminent, hardest-to-get-into music schools in the world, with supposedly the cream of the crop of music students intent on having a career in music when they graduate. Yet they can't be bothered to show up on time for a 9:30AM class. Nothing but lame excuses. The trains were messed up. Was up hanging at Small's till 3AM. My heater is broken. Ad nauseum. And when they do show up a half hour late (if at all), they haven't practiced and are unprepared. So I ask you students, how do you expect to have a career when you graduate if you can't get up in the morning? How are you going to make a 6AM lobby call on tour to get to the airport for an 8AM flight? The staying-up-all-night and sleeping on the plane thing gets old fast (and so does your body). How are you going to make a 10AM recording session that STARTS AT 10AM? I'm telling you, nobody cares that you live in Jersey or upstate or Queens or wherever people commute from (I commute and my ass was up at 6AM to be at work on time). This culture of "everybody gets an A", "everybody gets a medal" regardless of student's blatant disrespect for their lesson plans and their teachers (we have lives too, AND we play gigs late at night and still somehow manage to get up in the morning to take our kids to school and get to work on time) is not sustainable. Back to tough love, because it was still love. My mentors and bosses gave it to me straight, if I was out of line. It might have hurt my feelings for a day or two, but then I got my shit together. Students - if you're serious about wanting a career in music when you graduate, then GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER. Practice your assignments, do the work, and SHOW UP. Thanks.

Yeah, I saw that... interesting that it would be happening there.

OK,I finally got time to watch to whole thing. I can see some of the points people here are making. I hadn't thought about it, but yes, Rick B. is certainly marketing himself in every moment of his interviews by being on camera the whole time, by sometimes over-reacting to points - he laughs a lot harder at things here than Brad does. So now that I am thinking that, it is going to be just a little harder to watch future videos without that coming front of mind for me. But he does a great job of creating opportunities for dialog, and I always appreciate an interviewer who is really listening and follows up to go deeper into a subject. And Rick has gotten better at that over the years. My biggest wish is that Brad would have played more. He showed the beginning of some concepts, but then always pulled back. What really caught my eye is how he always prepared his hands to touch the keyboard with precision/dynamic/etc. His touch is just wonderful, and of course, his left hand is way more proficient than most of our right hands are! While he's not one of my top influences, this interview has spurred me on to re-visit his works that I have heard and to explore him more. He is a commited player who gives a lot of thought to what he does. I respect that.

It could be using this new technology shown at NAMM: One of the technologies that impressed me the most was in the "small but mighty" fold. Mike Kent showed a keyboard action that basically makes all other velocity-sensing options look soooo 20th century. Instead of just two or three places that measure velocity and the time it takes to go between them, this keyboard action responds to the full range of key travel and velocity. For example, you can hit a key really hard to trigger an initial transient without having to slam it from full on to full off. A really good example is Hammond organs. You don't have to hit them hard to get full volume, so you can slide your hand across the keyboard easily. Conventional velocity sensing can't do that. Of course, the expressive possibilities are way beyond what we've had so far.

Are there any tunes/band’s music that you like but have never learned to play? Pick some of those and learn them just because…

It was Jacob Collier.

The Arturia is also modeled, not sampled.

Thanks for this. So very interesting - it's not really Billy's tune. That changes a lot of perceptions, I would think.

Not to my ears... it's more of a Dyno Rhodes sound, but seems obviously PCM-based to me. YMMV

Unfortunately it's behind a paywall.

Yes, this is for their video service. $2.99 a month for no commercials. Netflix started doing this as well - their lowest level of service includes "limited" ads. No doubt other services will follow.

I was torn... it was great to see that her recovery continues, and she was making cool choices in phrasing and interpretation, showing her still active musical mind. On the other hand, it sounds as though she was singing down an octave! I enjoyed the treatment; surely Jacob chose his piano part as a bit of a tribute to Bill Evans Peace Piece. But... he showed little care for touch and dynamics in the intro etc. It could have been way more subtle. Yes, I know, he's not known for that characteristic, right? Reezekeys reminded me of a perfect performance of hers that spoke to the advance of years and her changed voice/vocal range, that I prefer: The Grammys (and Oscars etc.) often do this, paying tribute to iconic artists that are past their prime. At least she's still here to appreciate her much-deserved accolades.

Now with the Grammy video intro and these other interviews it is clear that a lot of the decisions about the recording/mixing/production were the work of Freddy Wexler. He was calling the shots...

So many people listed in the credits… seems less likely that this was Billy choosing to go in and record a tune of his own volition. Hell, there’s someone else credited for piano (Marco Parisi). Still, it’s good to hear him doing some new music. I’ll live with it more before forming my opinion.

I agree. And the aftertouch was so responsive/easy to control. But I'm too long gone from there to know anything about the newer stuff.

Yes, it was a significantly reworked version of the technology KORG acquired from Technics. Jerry

Well… it’s no Harmonius Mustard… 😜