Can never get enough of this. He's the greatest ever on keyboards. I've seen him numerous times. I still would like to see him in concert, with his bad right hand and all. Keith, do the tour anyway.
The 2000's were a great decade for Keith despite his difficulties with his right hand. I particularly enjoyed the Keith Emerson band and I had quite high hopes for upcoming compositions in the early 2010's. But that ELP farewell gig at the High Voltage festival (2010) made me worry a little. By that time he had great difficulties performing (especially due to the limited stamina of his right hand) and the rehearsals for the show were quite intense. Plus, I had the impression that he didn't look very healthy too. But I didn't think he would commit suicide just six years later. That Oscar Peterson show was incredible by the way!
A teenager Emerson at the piano, an Emerson's sweet smile at his mother, two piano performance with Oscar Peterson... I can't like this video enough...
What's great about Keith is that he talks about his music with a candid honesty, much in the same way as a young lad might talk with pride about his new paper round and the streets he visited.
Phenomenal! There just are not enough documentaries about Keith, produced. This man changed music, for all time, with the keyboard(s), in the most phenomenal way. Someone needs to do more of these with Keith! Thanks a TRILLION for posting this, Gandalf71, THANK YOU!
Thank you for posting this... always interesting to hear the man describing his music in his own words. And, I agree - where did you find this? I'm pretty up on most things Keith, and this is a new one for me. Cheers! :)
By this period of time, Keith looked like he was recovering from that 90s breakdown, but.... with the years he got worst. Anyway Keith didn't need to kill himself RIP
Keith Emerson has improved the quality of my life and inspired me to play piano, but all that is seen is the music and grumpy clashing egocentric ELP personalities. So good to see a little of the personality of the man behind the music. Thanks Gandalf71!
Did you see Carl Palmer on drums from that clip of Keith playing with Oscar Peterson? I think he was there to help calm Keith down as he said he was so nervous about playing with Peterson.
I first heard him many years ago with the Nice and was floored. Coming from classical music I just couldn´t get enough from Brandenburger, Country Pie etc. and America was one of the first tunes I played with my first band I joined soon after that. Since then I hardly can accept any other keyboardist than him because he just wasn´t only the best, he was so far ahead of his time as well. Unfortunately times and taste changed, keyboardists are in the back row again far behind the guitar player and singer and audiences lost their patience and curiosity for long tunes or improvisations. But at least there are a few music enthusiasts who share this kind of music.And by the way: I was just researching for an radio essay and looked for popular adaptions of Bach´s famous Toccata and Fugue in d-minor. Besides that Vanessa Mae crap I found a version by Jon Lord from about 2002. Unbelievably bad. No taste, no new aspects, poor technique, leaving out every difficult run (well, in fact they are not that difficult) and as the last point: this piece is so overplayed that Keith never would have done it. And that´s another point I really like about his work.
Jon did say that Keith had much better technique. You are correct in that they are different players. I actually think that when it came to pure improvising on the spot, Jon had the edge. Jon and Keith are my two favorite keyboardists. In my opinion, Jon was best Hammond player ever. Keith was simply the best all around. Jon's abilities never quite came out on the studio albums, was not apparent. I saw Purple numerous times in the seventies and eighties. His playing in concert was astonishing and mind blowing. That guy could definitely blow some fast Baroque type runs. He was always throwing in Bach, Mahler, Dvorak et al. To play what he did required excellent technique. Then of course, Purple is a different type of band than say the Nice or ELP. Any keyboardist who can keep up with Ritchie and hold his own, has to be a damn excellent player.
If you are referring to the Back on Bach version from the 1982 Before I forget album, it does suffer from over production, but is enjoyable (IMO). Judging by your comment, it would seem you are a purist, and if so, that's fine. Jon did add a little bit of a looseness into that recording with some improvised passages which offers a different take. Perhaps, this is what you found not to your liking. So be it. If I want to hear this piece played in a strict sense, then I will put on my recording of E Power Biggs playing this at the Thomaskirche. I have seen Jon play the Toccata and Fugue in totality in concert, start to finish as well as playing the bass pedals. He played it following the written score exactly (as I also played this piece, I am very familiar with it). And the way his Hammond growled was amazing. It was superb. If you saw that, you would change your opinion (especially about technique).
Great comments, gents. I was a fan of Jon Lord when it seemed my friends couldn't even notice the keyboard in a guitar band. Still a big fan, but when I discovered ELP it was another world. Lord is fabulous, but he was constrained by the more straight-ahead rock style of Deep Purple. Lord certainly made the Hammond growl, grunt and scream, but I think Emerson explored the B3's sonority better. Lord established what the B3 could do in hard rock. Emerson used the B3 to chart new ground for what rock even was. Two greats.
