Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Keith Emerson's video - great performance

(My apology if this has been posted here before)

Video of Keith Emerson's great virtuosic <strike>improv</strike> performance from California Jam 1974: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElaNJcLo5rU

I understand the regulars in this forum are mostly classical pianist, but this Emerson performance transcends genre, and I highly recommend taking seven minutes to watch it.

Enjoy!

(p.s. There's already a thread in the Piano Forum discussing it: http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/16322.html )

(p.p.s. As noted by one of othe replies below, it wasn't "improv" as I originally thought ... thanks for the correction.)

Thanks for that - Keith (and Rick Wakeman) are one of the reasons I started playing piano. I agree with your comment about genre crossing too BTW - Emerson may be a rocker but how many rockers have written a piano concerto?

In playing this type of music, what constitutes a "great" performance?

Regards,

ummm... ok, the guy has amazing chops and can fly around the keyboard but... this does nothing for me as a piece of music (sorry!). Lots of sound and fury , that's for sure.
I do admire his dexterity and speed.


Sophia

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sophial:
[QB] ummm... ok, the guy has amazing chops and can fly around the keyboard but... this does nothing for me as a piece of music (sorry!). Lots of sound and fury , that's for sure.
I do admire his dexterity and speed.


I agree, and said basically the same thing in the other thread on this topic (in the Piano Forum). I'd rather listen to (and/or watch) a simple Prelude played musically, than this kind of razzle-dazzle stuff. No doubt, the man has great skill. It's just not musically very appealing, imo.

Keith Emerson is the reason I began to think about taking piano lessons at age 19. First thing I heard was 'Tarkus' and initially thought it was too weird but I finally got a 'revelation' and thought it was so amazing. It hit me; if I can love this music I first thought to be terrible, maybe there really were a lot of unfamiliar genres of music to be explored and to be enjoyed. It was probably the most influential music I've ever had in determining my musical tastes.

To me, and most probably to others in classical music pianist corner, there is neither virtuosity nor greatness in this performance.

Before you rush off to judge Keith Emerson on one performance, I suggest you seek out and listen to some others.

As I mentioned in the other thread, my former piano teacher (piano major at New England Conservatory, Doctor of Music,Professor at New England Conservatory) went to a live ELP concert with me, and was blown away. He became a life-long fan.

The piece on youtube is one of his novelty tunes, and although I enjoy it, it isn't the best representation of his skills.

One of my favorite albums was recorded with the London Philharmonic, and I loved his Pictures At an Exhibition, but there are many others.

Check out his Piano Concerto No.1

Throughout the years, Emerson has consistently won the Overall Best Keyboardist award in the annual Keyboard Magazine Readers' Poll, since the magazine debuted in 1975 and holds a seat of honor on their advisory board. He was recently honored at The Smithsonian Institution, along with Dr. Robert Moog, for his pioneering work in electronic music.

Keith Emerson was definitely my hero as a teenager studying piano because of the way he crossed between classical styles, jazz, blues rock and even honky tonk. He made playing piano cool.
On the other hand, this solo was a very well rehearsed 'piece' of music which Emerson created and played over and over for years and works off all his strengths like his great ability to maintain a left hand ostinato and riff over the top of it.
Looking at his overall output over those years, some of it was definitely great in many respects, a lot of it was lifted from other composers and jazz musicians, and other stuff was just not good.

But the real question is where is Keith now? The last I've been able to trace of him he was hanging out in the Caribean doing not much I guess. Did he burn out? Was that all he had in him? Is he set for life and doesn't care anymore?

This only shows through July (last time it was updated).
According to his webmaster, he's touring in Europe now.

2006 Tour Schedule:

June 16, Fri. Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance
June 17, Sat. Phoenixville, PA Colonial Theater
June 19, Mon. Tarrytown, NY
Tarrytown Music Hall

June 20, Tues. Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage
June 21, Wed. Alexandria, VA
The Birchmere

June 22, Thurs. New York, NY B.B. King Blues Club (MoogFest headliner)

June 23, Fri. New York, NY B.B. King Blues Club
(full KE Band show)

June 24, Sat. New Haven, CT Toad's Place
June 25, Sun. Bethlehem, PA NEARfest
June 26, Mon. Arlington, MA Regent Theatre

July 2006 Europe updated: 21 May 2006

July 2, Sun. Paks, Hungary Gastroblues Festival
July 5, Mon. Budapest, Hungary Millenaris
July 7, Fri. Wiesen, Austria Wiesen Festival

July 8, Sat. Klam Castle, Austria Legends of Rock

July 10, Mon. Rome, Italy Villa Ada Roma Incontra Il Mondo
July 11, Tues. Naples, Italy 'Afrakà Rock Festival' , Villa Comunale
July 12, Wed. Palermo, Italy Teatro di Verdura
July 15, Sat. Vigevano, Italy Castello Sforzesco
July 16, Sun. Savona, Italy Fortezza Priamar
July 20, Thur. London, England Astoria London

This is just my opinion but when evaluating Keith Emerson against top classical pianists, one must remember they perform in totally separate arenas. I love Keith Emerson's music (it being the reason I began to play) but I'll be the first to admit that his ability is nowhere at the level of a top classical pianist. However, show me a classical pianist that has done what Keith has done as far as composing, utilizing classical, jazz, rock, blues, and pop into sometimes seamless arrangements that made it difficult to pigeonhole the music into a particular genre, arranging of classical pieces, pioneering the use of electronic elements with the modular Moog that at times was temperamental (in live performance at that), and opening up interest in classical music elements within a rock context. 'Context': that's the word I was trying to say, I guess. Judge Keith Emerson's music within the context of rock music and it's very impressive, far above much of the distorted, three chord music I sometimes like as well. This is not to denigrate classical players; they have taken their art to a highly brilliantly polished level and I love to hear them. I'm glad I was exposed to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's music. It gave me the ability to at least be open to appreciate the classical piano repertoire in a better way.

Some Keith Emerson fans are missing an important point in this thread, I think. Someone who was an informed admirer of Emerson asked us to watch this "great" performance. Not being familiar with this style of piano music nor with this style of playing, I asked what makes this performance so "great"? I'm still waiting to be enlightened.

Regards,

As a Keith Emerson fan "back in the day" I would venture to guess that what made the performance great (in some minds) was; the stamina to play that many notes with that much energy for that long.

I also think there was a belief by the original poster that the performance was entirely improvised. It was improvised but like many improvisations it strung together ideas that Emerson had been performing for some time. So while each performance may be unique in terms of small details the overall content was similar from day to day. If had truly been improvised on the spot it would be quite impressive in its creative synthesis of musical styles (in addition to the energy etc. as mentioned earlier).

It wasn't played on a guitar? And that's only half jokingly said. Keith Emerson (and, to be fair, Rick Wakeman, tho in that Great Debate, I have always been more an Emo fan) made it "cool" to be the piano (and synthesizer) player in a rock band. He proved that the piano has a place as a solo instrument, not only in "pop" music and radio-friendly ballads, but in "real" rock music. Was any of it exceptional or on a competing level with the best of the classical world players? Probably not, but you have to take it in context. For those of us who love this type of music AND love the piano, Emerson's talent and ability was amazing. I suppose for those who are more classically oriented and may not know or appreciate rock music, what he did may not appear "musical" or even interesting. But you also have to take it in context- yes, there was a large element of "flash and dazzle" in his playing, but he was competing against a whole genre of guitar gods, and he managed take the piano out of the back of the stage where it played more of a supporting role, and make it shine- and make the audience (who were used to those fat, loud, splashy guitar guys) appreciate what a piano could do. He also could use elements from many different musical styles- rock, blues, jazz, even a bit of classical here and there- and make them work within the context of a prog rock band. It's not everyone's taste, of course, but to a lot of folk, he is one amazing piano dude!

Well put Mak.

Keith isn't for everyone, and if you're a die-hard classical fan, he isn't going to measure up.

Of course, that's like comparing Segovia with Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton. I happen to love all three of them, but I certainly wouldn't compare Segovia and the other two, completely different genre.

To put it in perspective from my point of view, there's a good chance Piano World would never have existed if it weren't for Keith Emerson, as he's the one who inspired me in the first place.

When I'm in the mood for straight classical piano, I don't put on Emerson, I put on Rubenstein or Horowitz or one of the fantastic classical pianist we are honored to call a member of our forums, or one of the many other giants of classical piano.

But when I'm in the mood for some really energetic, fun (and still amazing) piano/keyboard containing jazz/blues/rock/classical ... Keith's the man.

Thanks for sharing that. No wonder that folks might find difficulty understanding a performance that transcends so many different musical genres. The fact that its an improvisational medley probably doesn't help either.

I liked it so much I tracked down (and ordered) the source. It appears to be from the "Beyond the Beginning (2005)" DVD which looks like it contains a wealth of live concert video:

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Beginning-Emerson-Lake-Palmer/dp/B000A2XBFE

Can't say what classical fans might see in ELP's work but that subset of pop fans who are musically open-minded often find their horizons extended into musical directions and genres they never imagined they might enjoy. I've even heard pop fans marvel, "Wow, that's possible on a Steinway?" ... Keith Emerson being more commonly known as Moog Synthesizer player than a piano player.

Howard

Thank you, BruceD.
You have an objective question and I have to say that although I have been a Keith Emerson fan for decades, this piece of 'improvised' music is not one of my favorites. I don't blame people who would say that it doesn't seem to say much in a musical sense. Hey, I've played Satie to some of my friends and they say his music sounds disjointed so I don't know.
I admire the dexterity and speed but to me the music is too much, too fast. If I want to relax and listen to Emerson, Lake & Palmer I would probably never put this one on. However, if you want to get an idea of the aim of the band in a guitar dominated age, I would suggest you listen to the first, self-titled album released in 1970. The ones I would listen to are 'Take a Pebble', 'Lachesis', and 'Knife-Edge'. Lachesis to me in particular sounds like a classical improvisation that uses a lot of arpeggios and scales.
Later you might also like 'Brain Salad Surgery'. This is what I would call keyboard oriented sci-fi rock. Very electronic sounding at times and very well done.
Anyway, BruceD; to make the short story long, I don't what makes this a great performance.

I don't know that I would say this video was the greatest thing Emerson ever did- actually, I know I wouldn't. But it still gives a good idea of what he could do, and that makes it worth watching. And, I agree- Brain Salad Surgery is pretty awesome.

Hmm. I thought Little Richard pretty much took care of that.

I would think it more appropriate to compare him to jazz or pop music pianists and not classical. Either way, it doesn't seem like he is being very kind to his back. I just wouldn't even bother comparing him to classical pianists. Not because of him being inferior but because it's different music and different style. Apples and oranges. Still I found it impressive. I would want to hear some of his other stuff.