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"Our" Jimi Hendrix?


DafDuc

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Last months mag suggested Jordan Rudess.

 

I'm thinking he's more like our Steve Vai.

 

Grounbreaking redefinition of an instrument on the scale of Hendrix?

 

I'm not sure we have one. Zawinul? But he never shreds (though I've heard he CAN). Emerson? Hammer? Jimmy? Ray? Tyner? Herbie?

 

Bach? LOL...

 

Maybe the reason teenage boys aren't buying keyboards in droves (the way they do guitars) is cos we've never had a Hendrix. Just a thought...

 

Daf

I played in an 8 piece horn band. We would often get bored. So...three words:

"Tower of Polka." - Calumet

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Keyboards, eh? Hmm.

 

1) Bill Evans

2) Erroll Garner

3) Phineas Newborn Jr.

 

We haven't seen their like since, and the way things are going, won't. Never say never, though.

"To Do Is To Be." --Socrates

"To Be Is To Do." --Sartre

"Do Be Do Be Do." --Sinatra

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This isn't really a comparison to Hedrix on the scale of skill or inovation. However, when I first heard Ben Folds five I was blown away. Hard (ish) hitting rock without a guitar player. I thought it was brilliant.
I'm just saying', everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead.
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I still remember the first time I heard Hendrix - junior high school, fall of 1967, buddy's house, good stereo (for the times) and he put on Are You Experienced?

 

We listened with our jaws on the floor - the sounds just seemed like they flew in from some totally unknown other universe that this Hendrix guy seemed to have access to...it was so mind-blowing that after a couple of tunes we just started laughing - and we weren't (artificially) high, either.

 

Then just 3 years later he's gone. Poof.

 

So I agree no one compares with Hendrix in the sheer quantity of explosive change and innovation in a short period of time. But if you look at some other bands/performers innovations over their career, you have some pretty impressive folks like the Tangerine Dream personnel, Jan Hammer, Rudess, The Orb, Tomita, Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, etc.

 

But no single person that played like fire, created new sounds, sang, wrote songs, and an incredible showman all in one.

 

M Peasley

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Originally posted by kevank:

Well, in a rock sense, I'd vote for Garth Hudson.

Interesting. A true original, and one of my heroes, but he doesn't seem to have had a lot of influence on other players.

 

I mean, how many guys out there are gigging with a Lowrey Festival right now?

 

And how many of THEM are happy about it? :D

I played in an 8 piece horn band. We would often get bored. So...three words:

"Tower of Polka." - Calumet

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Originally posted by DafDuc:

Interesting. A true original, and one of my heroes, but he doesn't seem to have had a lot of influence on other players.

 

I mean, how many guys out there are gigging with a Lowrey Festival right now?

 

And how many of THEM are happy about it? :D

Yeah, but how many folks could actually hang with Garth either - one almost needs to wear headphones to really reveal the depth of some of his playing. Did he have the influence of Hendix? I suppose that depends on how you look at it. Let's face it, the keys just aren't as 'exciting' to the general populace as guitars are (and what an indictment of the general populace that is), but just as Jimi was rock's first 'virtuoso', there is no question that as far as rock keyboards go, there was Garth and everybody else for quite a while. His mastery was so complete that in many ways, I don't know that anyone has truly caught up to him.
A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable.
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Originally posted by DafDuc:

Maybe the reason teenage boys aren't buying keyboards in droves (the way they do guitars) is cos we've never had a Hendrix. Just a thought...

 

Daf

Nah - that's because chicks dig guitar players. There doesn't need to be any other reason. ;)

 

Hmmm, I really can't think of anyone other than Emerson who fits this description. As Mark said, you can certainly make a case for Art Tatum, although Jazz in general has had a tendency to evolve in gradual increments through the confluence of many, many artists. This is in contrast to someone like Hendrix who radically changed the course of a musical genre practically overnight.

 

This happened a second time in 1978 when Eddie Van Halen burst onto the scene. No one had ever played in a style even remotely like his before, and afterwards EVERYONE tried to imitate him...

 

Kirk

Reality is like the sun - you can block it out for a time but it ain't goin' away...
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Tyner's influence might not be as wide as Tatum's, but he (and Cecil Taylor) was every bit as jaw-dropping as Jimi.

 

Good call on EVH too.

 

The only keyboardist who made me go "Holy S%^&!" when I first heard him was Keith, back when he was doing stuff like She Belongs to Me. Absolutely not Garth - he was too subtle.

 

Jimi's early death thing probably has something to do with his legend - nobody was wowed by Dolly Dagger the way they were by his earlier stuff. Maybe if he were still with us, he'd just be another Clapton-esque figure.

 

Hmm, just had a thought - Worrell? and I keep gravitating to Dr. John too - but I think maybe he's our Duane Allman, LOL...

I played in an 8 piece horn band. We would often get bored. So...three words:

"Tower of Polka." - Calumet

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Actually, check out Children of Bodom, there's a keyboard player called Jeanne Warman that is blowing minds right now. At Bodom shows, instead of all the metal kids screaming along with the singer, they're affixed to the keyboardist. Seriously amazing. In my opinion, metal is the future of keyboards, and keyboards are the future of metal. May not be as good as the jazz musicians and classical musicians, I don't know, but he's generating keyboard interest in cool young people, which is good enough for me!

 

www.childrenofbodom.com

"...Keytar in a heavy metal band is nothing more than window dressing" - Sven Golly

 

Cursed Eternity - My Band

Dick Ward - My Me

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Actually, for me, the Hendrix of the B3 is John Medeski. To me, De Francesco (whom I totally admire) seems more like the Oscar Peterson of the B3.

 

Besides, Joey would never pour lighter fluid on his B-3 and light it up! :D

 

M Peasley

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Well, the thing about Hendrix is that he didn't *just* completely change his genre overnight -- he also became wildly popular doing it. Most of the keyboard players named in this thread are pretty much unknown to the general public.

 

I don't think keyboards really have a Hendrix. But if you held a gun to my head and said I had to pick one, I'd probably say Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder. They've definitely influenced most of today's players, at least somewhat. And, like Jimi, they had extensive commercial success as well.

 

--Dave

Make my funk the P-funk.

I wants to get funked up.

 

My Funk/Jam originals project: http://www.thefunkery.com/

 

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...and Keith Emerson is the electronic descendant of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and was somewhat of a contemporary of Hendrix.

Emerson is the closest comparison I would make; bandleader, great player, and a one-of-a-kind showman...

We will not waiver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail!

George W. Bush

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Too bad we didn't have this conversation a month ago, it might've made the mag. I guess the Rudess article's a little cold, now.

I played in an 8 piece horn band. We would often get bored. So...three words:

"Tower of Polka." - Calumet

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One of the notatable things about Hendrix (besides his brilliant playing) is the unique ways he manipulated the electronics; nobody did that before him. Even now, his stuff sounds fresh. Emerson is very comparable: virtuoso playing, outrageous electronic stuff, both synth and Hammond. Jan Hammer is another innovator: again, a virtuoso that manipulates the electronics to create a signature sound. Both guys have had a huge influenced in the keyboard world. Both are noted for their Moog sound, and for using Korgs...a coincidence, perhaps? :D

Composer/Performer at Roger Hooper Music

Product Trainer at CASIO

www.rogerhooper.com

 

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