Can you remember a moment that your keyboard musical tastes took a left turn?

[16251]

The jazz chops thread had me thinking when I jumped from rock keyboard styles like ELP, Yes, Chicago, BS&, etc. to jazz piano.

 

I can know sort of pinpoint a moment. I wore out BS&T's second album and since my formative years were on organ (never owned B3 but always wanted.) I was really into Blues Pt.2. As I shifted my tastes I now found the Fred Lipsius piano solo on Smiling Phases. During that early time, I wasn't paying attention to jazz piano. This all took place between 10 grade to first year of music college.

[KuruPrionz]

2 minutes ago, 16251 said:

The jazz chops thread had me thinking when I jumped from rock keyboard styles like ELP, Yes, Chicago, BS&, etc. to jazz piano.

 

I can know sort of pinpoint a moment. I wore out BS&T's second album and since my formative years were on organ (never owned B3 but always wanted.) I was really into Blues Pt.2. As I shifted my tastes I now found the Fred Lipsius piano solo on Smiling Phases. During that early time, I wasn't paying attention to jazz piano. This all took place between 10 grade to first year of music college.

Not a keyboard player but I remember a couple of big shifts in my guitar playing. 

I saw Yes in concert twice in their early middle stages and while I had no desire to play exactly like Steve Howe, I was inspired by his versatility to move in different directions.

I still consider him to be a huge influence although you'd never think that to hear me play. 

 

At a certain point, doing the bar band thing in Fresno - I realized that not many players were proficient at Country music and I started emulating (I'm just not a copier) good country guitarists. I got some solid Country chops of my own and at a certain point while playing in a Motown Band on the NW coast of Washington, I realized that How Sweet It Is could use a few country licks in the solos. 😇

[jazzpiano88]

In 1981 I was all Billy Joel and Elton John until my Aunt sent me:

 

[JamPro]

I started out wanting to play the kind of keyboards I was hearing on Allman Bros recordings.  And then I heard my sister play a Scott Joplin rag.  We had a book full of Scott Joplin, and I remember thinking if I learned how to play ragtime, I would be a much better blues player.  It didn't exactly work out that way - tho' i spent a few years learning and playing ragtime and today I am a much better blues player - because I then heard Fats Waller and spent a few years learning and playing Fats Waller tunes.  My interest in Fats Waller then led me to explore what we call jazz.

[rockinredeye]

Taking classical piano lessons from age 7 helped make me a rock snob. 1-4-5? Really? Two recordings changed my mind. First was Paperback Writer in 1966. The opening and recurring vocals are so dense and it's a 1-4 song! Soon after came Light My Fire in 1967. When some friends learned I could play the opening theme and the long solo, I was in the band. About 25 years ago I had to drop my country snobbery, too. My next song choice for the band may be Last Date by Floyd Cramer. Making that sound like an afternoon stroll in the park will take some concentration. Not giving up my Bebop snobbery, though. Just kidding. Never could play it anyway. 

[nadroj]

That time I created a poorly titled thread about jazz that sparked a discussion way out of my depth. 

[Docbop]

For me  and my friends we were Rock but as bands like Led Zeppelin and the was was called then Heavy Rock got big we changed and got to more in Soul and the Funky Jazz like Herbie.   To keep it short the point of change for me was first the Jazz guy from high school take some of us into going to see Jimmy Smith at the Lighthouse.   Then hanging with my recording engineer friends working on a Wayne Shorter album and Wayne gave all of us tickets to see his band the next night.  Wayne band turned out to be Weather Report, hearing live was one of the most amazing experiences.   Then working at a Jazz oriented music school and so many great musicians and arrangers coming in to do clinic that was really changed my direction in music.    Even late in life I went to work for a Black church that the choir director and band were all pro sidemen and MD's in R&B and Jazz.  A lot of big name artists from HipHop, R&B, Jazz were regulars at our services and I learn about music from their POV and how music Biz worked in the 2000's.     A lot of thing over the decades that opened my ears up and changed my musical self.  I've been very lucky to be involved or around a lot of great music and musicians all my life. 

[David R]

I've talked a lot about this in the past, but there are moments and records that decidedly shifted my musical life.

 

• Billy Joel 52nd Street is my first musical memory when I was three years old. I became obsessed with that album. I didn't know that the trumpet solo on "Zanzibar" was Freddie Hubbard, but I'm pretty sure that it rewired my DNA that laid the groundwork for what was to come.
• I bought Dave Brubeck's Time Out with my 9th or 10th birthday money. I remember having a visceral, physical reaction to the intro of "Strange Meadowlark." I felt like my speakers blew me across my living room, and instantly I thought "I don't know what this is, but this is what I want to do."
• Hearing A Love Supreme for the first time at 15 years old, at my first jazz camp experience. My first night in the cottage with older, more seasoned teenage musicians, someone put it on and the opening duo of Trane and Elvin on "Acknowledgement" showed me the deepest power of music.
• I loved Medeski, Martin & Wood as a teenager, but their freer acoustic work eluded me for a long time. In my second year of university, I listened to their version of Lee Morgan's "Afrique" again, and all of a sudden it all made sense to me. That lightbulb moment led me to checking out more "contemporary"/"improv"/"free" music.
• Hearing Djavan's "Tem boi na linha" for the first time was the same feeling I had when I heard Brubeck. I felt like Djavan reached through my headphones, grabbed me by the neck, and said to me, "This music is the rest of your life."

[Ed A.]

When I went from listening to prog and metal in the mid seventies, to Berlin School, ambient, experimental, minimalism, free jazz.

[Tusker]

3 hours ago, JazzPiano88 said:

In 1981 I was all Billy Joel and Elton John until my Aunt sent me:

 

 

That is one cool Aunt ... 👍

[ksoper]

Sophomore in college.  My roommate put this on the turntable.  

[wd8dky]

When Korn released "The Path of Totality", I have to admit I really liked the Dub Step/Metal mashup and started exploring Dub Step musically. While fun to learn something completely different from a lot of perspectives, it didn't stick with me. 

[Lindaru]

I think I said on here before that I would sit at the church organ in the 1970's and play "Inagaddadavida" to the bewilderment of the reverend teaching me classes to be a youth minister.

In the eighties, I jumped on the new wave train with Gary Numan being my biggest influence.

In the nineties I branched out and played a variety of genres which included reggae, house, techno and even some sixties rock.

Early 2000's came along and I was into the alternative rock sounds.  I still find myself there but these days, I will hear a song that will reach out and grab me by the soul, wanting me to not only fill myself with it but to join in that fulfillment.  More recent grabbers the last couple of years have been Nine Inch Nails, Bush, Whitesnake, Marilyn Manson, and my most recent needing to play a harmonizing string sound to "She's So High" by Tal Bachman.

I guess for me it is less about left turns and more about an interesting and fascinating maze.
 

[KuruPrionz]

3 hours ago, David R said:

I've talked a lot about this in the past, but there are moments and records that decidedly shifted my musical life.

 

• I loved Medeski, Martin & Wood as a teenager, but their freer acoustic work eluded me for a long time. In my second year of university, I listened to their version of Lee Morgan's "Afrique" again, and all of a sudden it all made sense to me. That lightbulb moment led me to checking out more "contemporary"/"improv"/"free" music.

It's been some years but one New Years Day I walked down to my favorite club in Fresno for some hair of the dog. 

The place was just about empty and Moedeski, Martin & Wood were setting up to play a "pickup" gig. They'd played NYE in San Francisco and had a gig on Jan 2nd in LA so they figured they might as well play in Fresno on their way. 

 

M,M&W told the doorman I could just come in for free since nobody was there. I think there were less than 10 people there at the second set.

They played their asses off, great show and great musicians. Sometimes you just get lucky!

[CEB]

Tastes by in large are driven by what the gig pays.  

[CyberGene]

I've always listened to everything. There's basically no genre of music I don't like besides a pretty silly local pop-folk thing that is very annoying. So, no sharp turns at all for me. But if we speak about what I like most, I turned from classical music to jazz and then back to classical music after 20 years. But I can still listen to anything you throw at me and appreciate it. That doesn't mean I don't consider classical music as the best music in the world, and by a large margin at that 😀

[mate stubb]

The first time I heard Bach on organ as opposed to piano.

[timwat]

Seven I remember:

 

Listening to "Majors for Minors" by Whittemore & Lowe.

Hearing Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters. 

Seeing Keith Emerson on TV (Cal Jam).

The first time I heard Art Tatum on record.

RTF's Where Have I Known You Before

Keith Jarrett's Staircase.

A Benny Green masterclass.

[GovernorSilver]

The first time I watched Chick and Scott Henderson in this keytar vs. guitar duel on VH1.  Before that I had no interest in jazz fusion, let alone jazz.  After, I was more easily turned on to Steely Dan and Pat Metheny by my aunt.

 

I somehow overlooked Scott's resemblance to Screech of Saved By The Bell.  I'm sure Scott shrugged when first informed he'd be air-guitaring Carlos Rio's recorded solos.  "Boss is paying me, so gotta do what the boss wants".  

 

I like how Chick show off his Mac, to add to the 80s vibe

 

 

 

 

 

[Melving]

I grew up as a pretty strict classical violinist.  Not necessarily a great one, but in that camp.  One day I went to a fair and heard a jazz flute player, and something inside said "This!"  Life has never been the same...

[David Emm]

*Seeing Ferrante & Teicher live, in particular their dual prepared piano piece, which sounded like mad African percussion.

 

*Seeing Gerson Kingsley's First Moog Quartet live, with yep, four entire modulars.

 

*Keith Emerson playing "Piano Improvisations" live.

 

*Herbie Hancock in concert, while "Headhunters" was still fresh.

 

*Hearing E. Power Biggs wring out the pipe organ, through superior headphones.

[Brad Kaenel]

Age 15, my first Broadway musical — “1776”.  Sparked a 45-year love affair with theater music.  Up to then, all I had was Top 40 pop, and Christmas carols. Put my “career” on a whole new trajectory.

[Bill H.]

As a kid I'd scrounge the 45 cutout bins - always looking for cool stuff and they were only like 10 cents each. Anyway during one of those sessions I came upon this:

 

 

I was just a kid and had never heard anything like it in my life! I started practicing Jimmy Smith riffs on the family piano with mixed results. Later I'd take the bus to downtown Seattle, sneak past the salesmen on the street floor of Sherman & Clay, and then head to one of the upper floors where they had some used M3s and there was usually no one around. Then I'd practice up there as long as they'd let me.

[Franz Schiller]

I got heavily into bebop jazz and 60's jazz for a long while; I also was in a weirdo jazz inspired band. Simultaneously, I was in a crummy, long term relationship. When I finally broke up with that woman, I found that I suddenly couldn't stand jazz anymore. I just didn't feel anything when i listened to it. I also ended that band, and haven't really ever liked jazz since. Yes, I know it's not jazz's fault and is more about my association with a dark patch in my life.

[HammondDave]

It all began with The Beatles, The Doors, and Brubeck in elementary school. My first turn happened to me in 1968 when I first heard “Hush” on the radio. Then one Sunday night, my family was watching Ed Sullivan and I saw these guys…. 

Not long after this, I saw the original King Crimson live in Palm Beach, which added prog to my musical influences (had to buy a Mellotron!). The end of 1969 was Emerson leaving The Nice for ELP.  Then Deep Purple MKII happened and Jon Lord was my new hero. A few years later I saw Weather Report and Return to Forever…. (I also realized that the kid playing bass for Weather Report was the same Jaco who once auditioned for my second band!!!… No he didn’t pass the audition… because he was too freakin’ good!) Also as mentioned in this thread by others, Billy Joel in the late 70’s, then Kate Bush, Steely Dan, Dire Straights…. Then Chester, Joey,…  Damn, I have turned so much.. I am spinning!

[cedar]

A few turning points stand out.

 

When I was 10-11, I was listening to Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP, and Steely Dan.

Somehow, I got turned on to Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior.

I decided to get other Return to Forever albums, so was led to the radically-different Light as a Feather.

The next seminal album - not sure how I made this transition - was Milestones, by Miles Davis.  I was 13 at the time, and straight-ahead jazz has remained my favorite music to listen to since then. 

 

Incidentally, I remember reading once that our musical tastes - meaning our favorite music - tends to be kind of settled by the time we turn 14 years old.  Not to say that we don't expand our horizons, but that our genuinely favorite is often picked by that age.  In my case, this is pretty accurate/

[HammondDave]

6 minutes ago, cedar said:

 

 

Incidentally, I remember reading once that our musical tastes - meaning our favorite music - tends to be kind of settled by the time we turn 14 years old.  Not to say that we don't expand our horizons, but that our genuinely favorite is often picked by that age.  In my case, this is pretty accurate/

i agree!  At 14 it was Beatles, Doors, King Crimson, Brubeck, Deep Purple and Vanilla Fudge. That has never left me, or my playing style. 

[ProfD]

I'm also in the Weather Report camp.  Discovering their music definitely shaped my view of the best use of KBs and synths. 😎

[16251]

30 minutes ago, cedar said:

A few turning points stand out.

 

When I was 10-11, I was listening to Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP, and Steely Dan.

Somehow, I got turned on to Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior.

I decided to get other Return to Forever albums, so was led to the radically-different Light as a Feather.

The next seminal album - not sure how I made this transition - was Milestones, by Miles Davis.  I was 13 at the time, and straight-ahead jazz has remained my favorite music to listen to since then. 

 

Incidentally, I remember reading once that our musical tastes - meaning our favorite music - tends to be kind of settled by the time we turn 14 years old.  Not to say that we don't expand our horizons, but that our genuinely favorite is often picked by that age.  In my case, this is pretty accurate/

I wish my love for jazz was there at 14. Hey, Cedar Walton is now one of my most listened, examined. I always liked him, but he wasn't on my radar and now has dethroned many of my previous staple players. No need to hijack my own thread but I know you dig him also.

[Adan]

I was exposed to rock (mostly from my older sister) and jazz (from my parents) from an early age.  When I was 15 I randomly found and brought home a Brian Auger record.  Can't remember what caused me to buy that album, but it blew my mind because I'd never heard the genres blended with such effect.  Not so much a left turn as a slam on the gas pedal.