His most ardent fans have dubbed him “The Wizard,” and not just for that white Dumbledore goatee he has sported recently. All Harry Potter and Hogwarts allusions aside, keyboard maestro Jordan Rudess was acknowledged as a musical prodigy at a very early age. By his ninth birthday, he was enrolled at the illustrious Juilliard School of Music for classical piano training. At 19, Rudess broadened his horizons of mastery to include the so-called Brave New World of keyboard synthesizers. And by the time most kids are thinking about graduating from college, he was rocking out his “wizdom” on recordings, and in live performance.
After performing in various projects during the 80s, Rudess earned worldwide acclaim after the release of his solo project, Listen. It led to a "Best New Talent" nod in the 1994 Keyboard Magazine readers' poll – which led to the attention of two progressive rock juggernauts, Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater. Both acts invited Rudess to join them; with a young family, he decided on the Dregs (led by guitarist Steve Morse) and remained a part-time member of that band for several years while he honed his rock chops and concentrated on being a dad. He also collaborated with Rod Morgenstein (of Winger) in the Rudess/Morgenstein Project during that time.
Several years later, Rudess received another invitation to join Dream Theater with the departure of their keyboard player Derek Sherinian. He has been their full-time keyboard sorcerer ever since – offering virtuosity on the quintet’s recordings Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002), Train of Thought (2003), Octavarium (2005), and last year’s tour de force, Systematic Chaos.
Rudess has also been a part of the band’s three most recent live efforts, Live Scenes From New York, Live at Budokan and Score, the latter celebrating the band’s 20th Anniversary live at Radio City Music Hall with the backing of a full orchestra.
Rudess is also a key component to the Dream Theater offshoot project, Liquid Tension Experiment, featuring his Dream Theater bandmates Mike Portnoy (drums) and John Petrucci (guitars), as well as bass guitar legend Tony Levin – best known for his Funk Fingers and work with King Crimson, Peter Gabriel and the Yes “splinter group” Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe.
Rudess is, by all accounts, rock’s premier keyboardist – easily this generation’s Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Tony Banks (Genesis), and both Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz (Yes) all rolled into one. To wit, “The Wizard” has been influenced by all of those keyboard virtuosos (and their respective prog rock acts) and by everything from Gentle Giant to Aphex Twin.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
This is really, really long Peter. But it is also very, very good stuff. I really enjoyed reading all about the different people Rudess has played with (especially Steven Wilson as I'm a huge P. Tree fan), and about his influences (loved learning about his favorite Genesis songs by Tony Banks).
You might wanna consider breaking this into two, or three parts next time as not everybody is the progressive music fan I am, and might not have the where-with-all to stick it with it.
But personally I loved this as I expect most other Dream Theater/progressive rock fans will as well. Great stuff.
-Glen
2 - Peter
Thanks for the compliment, Glen. Rudess is a great interview... and I had thought about breaking the piece in half, but couldn't seem to find a place I felt comfortable doing so. In the end, a monthly magazine-length feature piece comes along once in a great while for me. I had to leave it intact. Anyway, thanks for checking it out; I appreciate the feedback.
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Yeah!! Excellent Interview!!
It's about time the man (Mr. Rudess) gets some credit here on BC. He definitely adds dimension to D.T. unfortunately their new album was disappointing(to me).
As for the Progressive Nation Tour, if it was to get huge, I would rather see some more underground prog bands instead of including SOAD or Coheed... They have such a great line-up right now and I wouldn't want to cheapen it any just to make it huge. Maybe add a couple more bands like Aghora,Cynic & Spock's Beard. Adding SP to have another giant that can sell tickets & because they are wicked good.