Name one Keyboard track that influenced your Keys composition style the most

[Arpangel]

Brian Eno - "Failing Light"

[tea for two]

Tony Banks that's three influences. How would we try to describe Tony's playing?
Tony has such a lightness of touch almost floating.

ManFromGlass, I know what you mean.
You'd think i've got buckets around my hands when I play.

John, Bob Dylan I missed that one. I will listen to it.

Folderol, the Original Popcorn from Gershon Kingsley is such a gorgeous track. Covers of it don't do it any justice.

Sky, Elton John that just right balance of percussiveness and tenderness.

IAA, White Rock was the first album of Rick's I was influenced by. I repurchased it just last year in between lockdowns.

Tony, Eno simplified Satie in a sensitive way.
Thursday Afternoon is a wonderful album.

Eddy, when I very briefly met Jarre at a record singing, I kissed his hand.
I ​would do this for a lot of keyboard musicians before (can't these days of ofcourse).
I just missed Vladimir Ashkenazy when he visited London 2014.
I was kicking myself and still kick myself as I had just moved to Golders Green the Jewish part of London,
and I wasn't aware Vladimir would be visiting The Jewish Cultural Center.
I would have kissed Vladimir's hands.

::::

To hear these tracks through someone else's ears, if that is at all possible, really is another way of appreciating them for me.

So I will listen to them through how I know you on forums for nearly two decades some of yous. Oh dear it's that long

[Martin Walker]

Memory is flakey today for titles so
A Chick Corea one (Senior Mouse?)

Ooh, that reminds me of this Chick Corea/Return To Forever track that has also greatly inspired my own music over the years:

'Medieval Overture': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDkqu7GPd0o

Martin

[Arpangel]

Memory is flakey today for titles so
A Chick Corea one (Senior Mouse?)

Ooh, that reminds me of this Chick Corea/Return To Forever track that has also greatly inspired my own music over the years:

'Medieval Overture': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDkqu7GPd0o

Martin

Eno and Corea may seem at opposite ends of the spectrum, but Chick was a big influence on me, the trouble with Chick is he just went too far, too many notes, I felt like shouting "shut-up!" But then, there’d be this lovely little oasis, and it’s these little bits that stuck in my mind, and I used them in my music.
Of coarse, Joe Zawinul is thee master magician, the solo on Black Market is unsurpassed, it's like he just got out of a spaceship after a trip to jam with people from another dimension, like WTF is this?! A bit like when I heard the synth solo on Virginia Plain by Roxy Music, miles apart, but just as magical and innovative, Eno ended up recording the track "Zawinul Lava"

[tea for two]

*1969 Terry Riley : A Rainbow in Curved Air
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hy3W-3HPMWg

Terry playing electric harpsichord, rocksichord, electric organ, saxophone.
2nd most influence upon my keys playing composing style.

Terry ofcourse Influenced :
The Who Baba O Riley 1971;
Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells 1972;
Kraftwerk Ralf und Florian album 1973;
Tangerine Dream Phaedra 1974 Sequences style, Soloing style that birthed Berlin school;
Suzanne Ciani Buchla Concerts 1975;
Synth Rock band Curved Air named themselves.

Sufism, African music, Indian Ragas, John Coltrane, were the inspiration on Terry Riley for A Rainbow in Curved Air.

Persian Surgery Dervishes is the Terry Riley concert  for In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air
1971 LosAngelos, 1972 Paris.
Persian Dervishes (the real ones lol) are from Sufism.

[tea for two]

Memory is flakey today for titles so
A Chick Corea one (Senior Mouse?)

Ooh, that reminds me of this Chick Corea/Return To Forever track that has also greatly inspired my own music over the years:

'Medieval Overture': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDkqu7GPd0o

Martin

Eno and Corea may seem at opposite ends of the spectrum, but Chick was a big influence on me, the trouble with Chick is he just went too far, too many notes, I felt like shouting "shut-up!" But then, there’d be this lovely little oasis, and it’s these little bits that stuck in my mind, and I used them in my music.

This is the thing with Vangelis. The restraint he shows with his level of keyboard improvisation.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGyVb_blHQ
This restraint influenced me from Vangelis.

[tea for two]

Cinema Show. Quite simply perfection. It pulls me in every emotional direction from start to finish. If I can ever create those emotional extremes in my own music I will die a happy man.

Genesis 'Watcher of the Skies'

Genesis: Tony Banks' piano intro to Firth Of Fifth. Beautiful melody, fantastic syncopation section, all setting out the motifs that get used later in the various sections of this prog rock classic.

But I could easily have listed The Cinema Show or Watcher Of The Skies epic haunting, cinematic, other-worldly Mellotron/organ intro too!

I've never tried to write a piece influenced by Tony Banks. I couldn't.  But I feel like i would like to.
I like to get a sense of how the person is.
Tony is thoughtful, attentive, with a breezyness to his style.
This helps me as much as listening to his music.

[resistorman]

Joe Zawinul, Mysterious Traveler, the whole album.

[Arpangel]

Joe Zawinul, Mysterious Traveler, the whole album.

Influences are a strange thing, Zawinul, just as an example, I would be plain mad to even try and play like him, firstly, why would I want to imitate him? and secondly, even if I did have the skill required, it would be pointless, he’s already been to that place, we don’t have his ability, or, his imagination, and in a way, to think "anyone could do it" is a bit of an insult.
We can be nudged into a direction by someone, they can have an overal effect on our "approach" to things, our lifestyle, they can point us to other people that they have mentioned, but as for taking their style, and riffs, it’s just not desirable, in any way.
We have to think big, just because we may not be highly revered by as many people doesn’t mean to say that we don’t have the potential to achieve great things in our own field, we have to be very self critical, without that you’re in danger of being disillusioned, self-criticism is your best friend.
To be just "average" at anything is too depressing for words, average people are all over the place, to stand a chance at being great means not caring about anything apart from your art, and that takes incredible talent, dedication, and selfishness, in that order.
We have to find a place in that metaphorical field where no one else has been, and make it ours, be confident being there, and defend it to the hilt. Because that’s what they did, the Zawinuls, the Eno's, the Beatles, whoever, unless you can stand up and confidently hold your head up alongside these people you are immediately in trouble.
We all the potential to achieve great things, it just depends on your attitude and your general outlook on life as to whether we will be talked about in fifty years time in the same way as we talk about the people mentioned in this thread.
I’ve said this before, we have been here many times, in this dimension, and when we see, or hear, a great work of art, it maybe because the person that has made that work has had to endure many journeys to get to that point in their skill and creativity, genius could be the result of many lives, preparing, and gaining experience, before we finally achieve our aims.

[BillB]

*1969 Terry Riley : A Rainbow in Curved Air
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hy3W-3HPMWg

Terry playing electric harpsichord, rocksichord, electric organ, saxophone.
2nd most influence upon my keys playing composing style.

Wow, thanks for this, tea for two. I hadn’t come across it before, will give it a proper listen. Fascinating in terms of its date and what it influenced, but also from the Youtube comments, how much the the power of this meditational music has meant to people through the years. Great stuff.

[Arpangel]

*1969 Terry Riley : A Rainbow in Curved Air
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hy3W-3HPMWg

Terry playing electric harpsichord, rocksichord, electric organ, saxophone.
2nd most influence upon my keys playing composing style.

Wow, thanks for this, tea for two. I hadn’t come across it before, will give it a proper listen. Fascinating in terms of its date and what it influenced, but also from the Youtube comments, how much the the power of this meditational music has meant to people through the years. Great stuff.

Great stuff, also check out Steve Reich "Music For Eighteen Musicians"

[Ben Asaro]

The opening theme to Escape From New York by John Carpenter.

[tea for two]

*1969 Terry Riley : A Rainbow in Curved Air
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hy3W-3HPMWg

Terry playing electric harpsichord, rocksichord, electric organ, saxophone.
2nd most influence upon my keys playing composing style.

Wow, thanks for this, tea for two. I hadn’t come across it before, will give it a proper listen. Fascinating in terms of its date and what it influenced, but also from the Youtube comments, how much the the power of this meditational music has meant to people through the years. Great stuff.

Welcome Bill.
Terry Riley also influenced Jarre's Oxygene5 end bit of sequences and solo.

Influence is a funny thing. When something comes out of my bucket hands it just happens.
Then when I listen back I can say oh it sounds like it was influenced by....

[tea for two]

The opening theme to Escape From New York by John Carpenter.

John is a legend.
Dark Electronica, SynthMetal owes a lot to John's scores.

I really dig the live concerts he did with his son's band.

[tea for two]

Joe Zawinul, Mysterious Traveler, the whole album.

Joe Zawinul I would kissed his hands. What a World Music aware Astral traveller Joe was.

[Ben Asaro]

The opening theme to Escape From New York by John Carpenter.

John is a legend.
Dark Electronica, SynthMetal owes a lot to John's scores.

I really dig the live concerts he did with his son's band.

No JC, no Darkwave.

His latest album is amazing as well.

[MarkOne]

Rick Wakeman's work on Fragile was a huge influence on me in my early teens. Trouble is however much I have tried to emulate him I am but a pale imitation .

The standout track and moment is of course Roundabout, and the hammond solo.

Similarly Keith Emerson's synth work in Karn Evil 9 - I still lust after that lead sound even today and I still haven't been able to emulate it properly. (I wore Brain Salad Surgery out as a 16 year old!), but again there is a distinct talent gap when I try anything like that.

But while Keith, and Rick's work was liberally sprinkled with a large dose of showmanship, Tony B as others have said plays in a beautiful and often understated way. (No gratuitous widdley-widdleyness!) - He's also an incredibly deep and accomplished songwriter.

All three for me massively influenced the keyboard player I am today, but if I had to choose just one, it would probably have to be Rick because he was the 1st guy who showed me that playing keys could actually be cool!

[Arpangel]

(No gratuitous widdley-widdleyness!)

When I heard Bach for the first time, it was the gratuitous widdley-widdleyness that really grabbed me, then I heard Walter Carlos, and two things came together that made everything sound better, then I heard ELP, and Rick Wakeman, they were like Bach and Carlos, but in technicolour, at the time I wan an innocent youngster, that didn’t have any prejudices, or much conditioning, and I loved all if it.

[BillB]

I have been holding off on this one, mostly because I am not a competent enough keys player or composer to have a style in which anyone could recognise an influence. But MarkOne has just pushed me close to the edge (see what I did there) with his comment. Rick Wakeman’s work on Fragile, the musical and compositional interplay between all the band members, is just so good and, Yes (see what i did there), Roundabout is an absolute stand-out track. The gentle Hammond arpeggios in the quiet central section, before the explosive solos, driven along by the best rhythm section ever...

I referred to this song in a previous post (“In and around the lake, mountains come out of the sky and they stand there....”) This is one of my life-long happy tunes. If there is any discernible keyboard influence, I guess it was just part of an awakening sense of how fabulous electronic keyboards could be. Unfortunately it also showed me how fabulous bass and electric guitar can be too, so I have spent my musical life as more of a magpie seeking shiny musical things and less of a musician dedicated to honing his craft on one instrument.

I guess, in a peculiar way, that has influenced my style, or lack of it!

[tea for two]

All three for me massively influenced the keyboard player I am today, but if I had to choose just one, it would probably have to be Rick because he was the 1st guy who showed me that playing keys could actually be cool!

As a spotty teen, one of musical dreams was to wear a Cape as Rick, play at Stonehenge, surrounded by Synths.