Favorite Yes Keyboardist

[VCO]

Yes had different keyboard players over the years. Which one was your favorite and why?

[hieronymous]

Yes had different keyboard players over the years. Which one was your favorite and why?

I like the first four - hard to rank them. I have my favorite moments from each. Can I rank those?

1. Rick Wakeman - Hammond solo in Roundabout (Fragile)/Mellotron on Siberian Khatru (Close to the Edge)/Birotron solo on Don't Kill the Whale (Tormato)
2. Patrick Moraz - solo in Sound Chaser from Relayer
3. Tony Kaye - Hammond playing on Yours Is No Disgrace & Starship Trooper (The Yes Album)
4. Geoff Downes - keys at the end of Does It Really Happen (Drama) as the music comes back in

[VCO]

I saw GD when he played in Asia , I saw him in Arizona, can’t remember which city though I was in the
US Army at the time and stationed at Fort Wachuca it was during the time of the falklands war.
Asia was supposed to have great promise but I can vaguely remember a song they did entitled heat of the moment. I actually saw Yes years later in the 90s I believe and they had this keyboard player that was Russian I believe can’t rember his name though, he worked for twelve tones if I rember the developer of cakewalk that midi sequencer and digital audio app that ran on ibm, and you had to use a Roland interface to hook it up to your pc. This was long ago. The group that warmed up for them was Kansas and they didn’t have many original members and they sounded like a heavy metal band and I remember thier keyboard player was playing a Hammond organ. The contrast between Kansas and yes was very noticeable to me being that they had such a diverse range of dynamics. Jon Anderson still sounded great. I never realized how many different members had been in yes until I looked it up. I favor early yes .My one friend played drums for Keith Emerson before Keith passed. My friend also played drums for edger winter , the doobie brothers, and van Morrison , he got gigs with a lot of 70s groups. Those early prog rock groups were great and innovative. I also saw UK with Alan holdsworth sadly he’s gone too. I believe Ronnie Montrose warmed up for him. My interest was mostly in 60s jazz being I’m a jazz player, but I love all those prog groups. The lamb lies down on broadway is one of my favorite albums. I even met McCoy Tyne once and have seen the great Tony Williams and herbie Hancock, Wallace Rooney Terri Lynn carrrington, Michael brecker, and Roy Hargrove . Sadly MB and RH are no longer with us. Don’t know if you listen to jazz much but those names mentioned are icons in the jazz world as Rick wakeman, Tony banks and the others you mentioned in prog rock.

[VCO]

I went to listen to your music. It’s eclectic. You seem to have different influences juxtaposed. I like it keep up the good work. I saw you mentioned miles Davis as an influence. I loves miles. All his groups were innovative from the 40s to the 60s and beyound. You mentioned the greatful dead also. I have a friend that’s a deadhead. I once gave piano lessons to this retro hippie kid that sold a Hammond organ I think it was an a100 to Mickey Hart , Mickey Hart had different side groups and he delivered the organ to him. This was like over 20 years ago. This kid would say groovy man and right on. He would promote concerts and go to music festivals all over the US. He had a cabin in West Virginia and one day would be in New Orleans taking lessons from a preservation hall piano player and then the next day eating lunch with Clint black. I think he was a country musician. One time many years ago I was learning how to sample and program with a kurzweil k 2000 sampler and ended up talking to shooter Jennings Waylon Jennings son on the internet I belonged to a Mirc channel called sample cds. He asked me to DRC him the samples on my pentium computer at the time which was like 3000 bucks and the state of the art back then. Way before iPhones and iPads lol. Anyway he bought them for 175 bucks and he put them on an album. I thought it was wierd being that he was a country musician and his father being a country music icon but he used the samples and programs I made. I’ve seen him on reverb.con giving tips on how he uses his moog voyager. Maybe he even belongs to this moog forum sorry to ramble. Are you familiar with Terripin
Station I think that’s the name of a greatful dead album. Take care

[hieronymous]

You definitely have eclectic tastes in music! And lots of experiences and connections. I guess after a while they start to add up, maybe even overlap. That's cool that you've seen a bunch of concerts - I was fortunate to see some good stuff when I was in Tokyo in the '80s - speaking of keyboardists, seeing Jon Lord with Deep Purple in 1985 on the "Destiny Brought Them Together Again" tour was a highlight in my life. He had those weird Leslie cabinets where a metal plate seemed to be spinning - but he had multiple cabs and they were all synched! I can still see it in my mind's eye. Thanks for listening to my music! I like to think much of the music I have listened through filters through somehow.

[VCO]

I have 5 Leslie’s lol I like deep purple. Japan must have been cool. The Leslie has an upper rotor and a bottom rotor. Certain years and models had different speed motors . The bottom rotor would spin constantly . The top rotor would speed up when you triggered the relay. Some people used a stomp pedal to trigger the Leslie. Mine had these half moon switches that I would flick to trigger the relay. I once hooked up four Leslie’s and I ended up blowing the relay lol. Hammond tone wheel organs are great. As are minimoogs. Thier kinda like the Harley Davidson of the keyboard world to use a motorcycle analogy. Take care

[VCO]

Smoke on the water is classic.