Keith Emerson:
I woke up one night in my college dorm room and heard something like nothing
I had ever heard before -- Emerson making amazing pipe organ sounds come out
of a Moog synthesizer (one of the first) on the first Emerson, Lake and
Palmer album. As the album played it kept getting more and more amazing, and
I was hooked forever on that sound. Some would say he was overly showy,
unnecessarily complex, but in spite of all that -- this guy could play like
nobody else! I saw him twice in concert and both were performances of a
lifetime.
Rick Wakeman: Of much
the same ilk as Emerson, but with more of his classical training showing
through, Wakeman made Yes into as much of a supergroup as ELP in the early
70's. His solo work was always tight but not particularly inspiring, but in
Yes he was part of a miracle of sound that became known as progressive rock
or progrock.
Laura Nyro: Ah,
Laura. Probably the most overlooked artist of the 60's and early 70's, she
was incredible. First, as a songwriter, she wrote beautiful songs that were
recorded by the Fifth Dimension, Blood Sweat and Tears, and others but
without getting much out of it herself. On her own albums, usually you got
Laura playing the piano and singing and that was all. But that was more than
enough. Her lyrics could be haunting and beautiful, her voice could be hard
as nails or soft as silk. Some of her songs are my absolute favorites. I will be
recording some of them soon. She died in 1997 after a long fight with
cancer.
Jerry Lee Lewis:
He did things to a piano that nobody had dreamed of doing before, and he can
STILL beat the living hell out of one. He was there in the beginning with
Carl Perkins, Elvis, Johnny Cash, and lots of other early rock n' roll stars
from Sun Records who are almost all dead now, but the Killer is still
standing and still playing. Rock and roll wouldn't have been the same
without him.
Leon Russell:
With a style all his own, Leon played with the best in the early days --
John Mayall, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, and others until he went on his own
with some really outstanding albums. Leon can pound out boogie, rock, blues,
and country with power and ease, and he was a showman to boot. He has always
been one of my favorite rockers. He still tours and he still rocks.
Elton John: Before
he got weird and pop, especially on his first three or four albums, he put
out some great music and some outstanding piano work. His style was new and
different, and he was truly a superstar. Then he got very weird and very pop, and the
rest is history. His latest album, "The Captain and the Kid", seems to be an
attempt to get back to his musical roots by using Bernie Taupin's
songwriting genius to good effect. It's not bad, and a lot better than most
of the junk he's produced over the last 30 years.
Carole King:
Great songs, great writing, great singing, and great playing. This lady was
is in a class all by herself. Even though some of her album tracks were a
bit overproduced, her trademark fluid and jazzy piano style is one of the
best parts of the 70's and her live albums are stellar. She is still a
powerful artist, a fact that is driven home with her newest live album, "The
Living Room Tour", which is probably her best work ever.
Billy Powell:
From the early days with the first Lynyrd Skynyrd band all the way to
today's band, Billy has been there bigger than life. His great honky-tonk
style helps make the band's sound unique, and in my opinion, he puts the
Southern in Southern rock. Keep on keepin' on, Billy.
Grace
Slick: I'll bet you didn't know she could play -- but she can and she's
GREAT. Most of the keyboards on the Jefferson Airplane albums are Grace, and
she put down some of the most hauntingly beautiful piano riffs I've ever
heard on the "Blows Against the Empire" album. Fluid and dreamy or rockin'
hard -- she could do them both and everything in between.
Andrew Giddings:
Playing the keyboards in Jethro Tull for almost 40 years, his magnificent
album tracks are among the most intricate and technically advanced of any
pianist (think about the intro to "Locomotive Breath"), yet his name is not well known. While laying down difficult and
intricate tracks for an album is hard enough, this guy plays live with the
same unbelievable perfection. I saw Tull three times in college, and
Giddings was consistently amazing each time. He was also a showman with
stage moves right up there with Elton John. He still gets out with the Tull
boys when they go a-touring, and he can still rule a piano.
Al Kooper: OK, this
is 11 instead of 10, but I had to put him in here. All Kooper is most well
known for his guitar, vocals, and songwriting but he is also one of the
all-time greats on the Hammond B3. He was a popular session musician in the
early years and played on albums with Bob Dylan (he was the organ on "Like a
Rolling Stone"), B.B. King, the Who, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Winter, Jimi
Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Joe Cocker, and many others. He also
started Blood, Sweat, and Tears and produced a few dozen albums for other
artists from the 70's through today, including Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three
albums. His solo albums are all great, although not well known. He still
writes, produces, and scores films, even though he lost 2/3 of his sight in
2001.
