TOP FIVE MINIMOOG PLAYERS

Tips and techniques for Minimoog Analog Synthesizers
Iaamusic
Posts: 145
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2016 12:26 pm

Re: TOP FIVE MINIMOOG PLAYERS

Post by Iaamusic » Wed Nov 23, 2022 4:00 am

Don Airey
yep, very underrated - a great player though.

And what about Jozef Skrzek, very melodic. https://youtu.be/L6p41HBn2ic

Mountain_77
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:34 am

Re: TOP FIVE MINIMOOG PLAYERS

Post by Mountain_77 » Wed Nov 23, 2022 12:52 pm

Yesssss!!!!! Josef Skrzek!!! I forgot to mention! I knew I was missing something. He is up there for sure. I actually have an album of his and it all started seeing that pipe organ video. He has great skill and nuance in his playing. My minimoog player obsession began with Don Airey from the Colluseum albums and then it went from there. There are so many good minimoog players but then there are a few guys that I feel like the minimoog became an extension of their souls like it was a djinn attached to them. Out of the giant list I provided previously I feel that attachment only applies to the best of the best and those players that really were innovators. Jan Hammer has to be #1. The Bend master. Minimoog and SEM combination, putting the Mini through a Marshall all that. #2 is Manfred Mann, I actually associate Manfred with his combination of Minimoog and ARP2600 playing on his Nightingales and Bombers album. #3 for me is Kit Watkins for his speed and fluid playing. Kit Watkins and Stu Goldberg borrowed a lot of ideas from Jan Hammer as did Benoit Widemann. Stu and Benoit are tied #4 for me maybe with a slight edge going to Benoit. Benoit was more into interesting sounds with his mini but still retained the fluidity of someone like Kit Watkins who is probably had the smoothest and most emotional minimoog player to me. #5 for me is Josef Skrzek for his haunting majestic tone that is for him like going to church. Tied for #5 is another player that I forgot much influenced by Jan Hammer and that would be Adam Holzman. His First Offense album with the Fents was pretty good. Also Robin Lumley I will keep at 5.

Of course there really is no official top 5 as there are only opinions and everyone’s taste differs. But it is pretty hard to argue with the fact that Jan Hammer is the Michael Jordan/Jimi Hendrix/Mike Tyson, of the Minimoog. The best of the best. What always blows me away is that when Jan first got his Minimoog it was beginning of 1972 and he achieved such mastery with pitch bending in such a short amount of time.

What’s weird is I don’t really think of top 5 or top 10 or whatever from best to worst I think of it like tiers of skill and innovation.

Someone like Chick Corea although an amazing pianist and I love his playing I don’t associate him with the mini at all. While he used the Mini briefly on Romantic Warrior I thought his bends were wack and crude and his solos were not tasteful or emotive. Herbie Hancock I associate with the ARP Odyssey. A guy like Rick Wakeman while obviously a legend I am a great fan gets no points in the Minimoog department for me because they didn’t master the bends like Jan and Kit did.

Overall these lists are fun and silly but that’s my 2 cents.

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