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===Live Rig===
===Live Rig===
*[[Korg Kronos]] (88 keys) <sub>''Dream Theater''</sub>
*[[Korg Kronos]] (88 keys) <sub>''Dream Theater''</sub>
*Manikin Memotron <sub>''Dream Theater''</sub>
*[[Korg Triton]] Extreme (88 keys) <sub>''solo project''</sub>
*[[Korg Triton]] Extreme (88 keys) <sub>''solo project''</sub>
*[[Korg KARMA]] <sub>''solo project''</sub>
*[[Korg KARMA]] <sub>''solo project''</sub>

Revision as of 10:04, 7 May 2012

Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess with Dream Theater 2007
Jordan Rudess with Dream Theater 2007
Background information
Birth nameJordan Charles Rudes
Also known asThe Keyboard Wizard[citation needed]
Born (1956-11-04) November 4, 1956 (age 67)
OriginGreat Neck, New York, USA
GenresProgressive rock, progressive metal, instrumental rock, jazz fusion, New Age, electronic music
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Keyboards, lap steel guitar, Morphwiz on iPad, electric guitar, vocals, continuum, keytar, Bassoon Tablet PC, Harpejji
Years active1981–present
Websitehttp://www.jordanrudess.com

Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles[1][2] Rudes on November 4, 1956) is an American keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment.

Biography

Rudess was born in 1956 into a Jewish family. He was recognized by his 2nd grade teacher for his piano playing and was immediately given professional tuition. At nine, he entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music. Against the counsel of his parents and tutors, he turned away from classical piano and tried his hand as a solo progressive rock keyboardist.[3]

After performing in various projects during the 1980s, he gained international attention in 1994 when he was voted "Best New Talent" in the Keyboard Magazine readers' poll after the release of his Listen solo album. Two of the bands who took notice of Rudess were The Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater, both of whom invited him to join. Rudess chose the Dregs, primarily as being a part time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family, a choice he was not given with Dream Theater.

During his time with the Dregs, Rudess formed a "power duo" with drummer Rod Morgenstein. The genesis of this pairing occurred when a power outage caused all of the Dregs' instruments to fail except Rudess', so he and Morgenstein improvised with each other until power was restored and the concert could continue. The chemistry between the two was so strong during this jam that they decided to perform together on a regular basis (under the name Rudess/Morgenstein Project or later RMP) and have since released a studio and a live record.

Rudess encountered Dream Theater once again when he and Morgenstein secured the support slot on one of Dream Theater's North American tours.

In 1997, when Mike Portnoy was asked to form a supergroup by Magna Carta Records, Rudess was chosen to fill the keyboardist spot in the band, which also consisted of Tony Levin and Portnoy's Dream Theater colleague John Petrucci. During the recording of Liquid Tension Experiment's two albums, it became evident to Portnoy and Petrucci that Rudess was what Dream Theater needed. They asked Rudess to join the band, and when he accepted they released their then-keyboardist Derek Sherinian to make way for him.

Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist in Dream Theater since the recording of 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He has recorded six other studio albums with the group: 2002's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2003's Train of Thought, 2005's Octavarium, 2007's Systematic Chaos, 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings and 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events. In addition, he has appeared on the live albums Live Scenes From New York, Live at Budokan, Score and Chaos in Motion.

In addition to working with Dream Theater he occasionally records and performs in other contexts, such as a 2001 one-off duo performance with Petrucci (released as the CD An Evening With John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess), as well as backing up Blackfield on their first short US tour in 2005 and playing a solo opening slot for them on their second in 2007. He also contributed to Steven Wilson's 2011 album, Grace for Drowning.[4]

In 2010, Rudess composed "Explorations for Keyboard and Orchestra," his first classical composition. It was premiered in Venezuela on November 19, 2010 by the Chacao Youth Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Eren Başbuğ. Rudess played all of the keyboard and synthesizer parts.

On July 28, 2011, in a poll conducted by MusicRadar, Rudess was voted the best keyboardist of all time.[5]

Rudess says his influences as a keyboardist are Keith Emerson, Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz.[6] His favorite musical artists and groups include Gentle Giant, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Autechre, and Aphex Twin.[7]

Use of technology

While many keyboard players in progressive rock tend towards bringing numerous keyboards on stage, creating large racks of keyboards, Rudess took full advantage of the possibilities offered by the Kurzweil K2600xs during his live usage of the keyboard from the 1990s to 2004. Often sampling sounds from other keyboards he owned, Rudess creates a series of "setups", each of which maps different sounds to different layers and key ranges of the keyboard controller; these setups are then arranged in the order they will be required for a gig, and cycled through one at a time with a foot-switch (a control pedal placed on the floor underneath his keyboard). He often maps sounds to exact notes on the keyboard to avoid playing chords on sounds that are meant to be monophonic and to create realistic percussion sounds under the pitched sounds he is playing.

While Rudess' physical method of changing live setups will more than likely remain the same, his choice of hardware to implement this changed as of 2005. Citing a need for better tour support and more current technologies (his Kurzweil K2600XS's maximum sample memory of 128 MB had become insufficient for his touring needs), Rudess switched keyboard endorsements from Kurzweil to Korg's new flagship Korg Oasys workstation (which can support up to 2 GB of sample memory[8]), which he first used on Dream Theater's 2005-2006 20th Anniversary tour, along with a Muse Receptor hardware VST and a Haken Continuum X/Y/Z-plane MIDI Instrument triggering a Roland V-Synth XT and a Synthesizers.com Modular. Rudess is the first well known keyboardist to bring a Haken Continuum on to a live stage. Rudess still uses the Kurzweil for studio recordings and some of his most well known sounds, such as "the pig", one of his signature sounds which is often played in unison with the guitar or bass guitar, were sounds from the K2600xs. In 2011 Jordan switched from the Oasys to the new flagship Korg Kronos. So on the concerts with Dream Theater now he uses the Korg Kronos together with a Haken Continuum, a lap steel guitar and a Harpejji and an iPad.

Since 2001, Rudess uses custom made rotating keyboard stands on stage for both Dream Theater and his solo career, which are built by Patrick Slaats from the Netherlands.[3] On Dream Theater's 2007-2008 "Chaos in Motion" world tour, Rudess expanded his live setup with the addition of a Korg RADIAS, a Manikin Memotron,[9] and a Zen Riffer keytar. Rudess stopped using his Synthesizers.com modular after the European leg of the tour due to its size and weight. Rudess still owns the synthesizer and keeps it inactive in his home studio. During the Progressive Nation 2008 tour, he introduced on the stage a Kaoss Pad 3 for the closing medley.

For the 2009-2010 tour, in support of Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Jordan introduced the Apple iPod Touch on stage, running an application called Bebot Robot Synth.[10] He plays it during A Rite of Passage - both studio album and live versions of the song - and frequently uses it for improvised solos, like in Hollow Years' intro and during a new instrumental section on Solitary Shell.

On September 24, 2010, Rudess released the song "Krump," which was an electronica "single" released on iTunes. It featured the use of the new Roland Gaia, Roland's more recent keyboard.

Equipment

Studio equipment

Virtual instruments

Live Rig

  • Korg Kronos (88 keys) Dream Theater
  • Korg Triton Extreme (88 keys) solo project
  • Korg KARMA solo project
  • Steinway grand piano solo project
  • Roland Fantom-G8 Liquid Tension Experiment and occasionally for Dream Theater's studio work
  • Freehand Systems Music Pad Pro Often known to fans as the "scratch pad", as he uses it to write down musical ideas. The sheet music for the entire live set is displayed on the pad for Rudess to refer to as he plays.
  • 3x Roland V-Synth XT
  • Custom made rotating keyboardstands, by Patrick Slaats[4]
  • Lap steel guitar
  • Haken Continuum Fingerboard controls one Roland V-Synth XT and also controlled his modular synth.
  • Zen Riffer ZR2 keytar, which controls a Roland V-Synth XT like his continuum.
  • Apple Inc. iPod Touch
  • Apple Inc. iPad
  • Mackie 1604VLZ Pro Mixer
  • APS Power backup
  • Glyph and Iomega Hard drives
  • Korg Kaoss Pad 3
  • Muse Research Receptor
  • Synthesizers.com Custom Modular Synth currently retired, was used to play "On the run" and was also controlled by his continuum

Discography

Rudess has participated in 59 albums.

Solo albums

Dream Theater

Project albums

Liquid Tension Experiment

Guest appearances

Other

References

  1. ^ Nancy Kornfeld Becomes a Bride
  2. ^ http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=502354670&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=30&start=1
  3. ^ Stefanis, J. "Interview with Jordan Rudess", Get Ready to ROCK!, 2004
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ faq.dtnorway.com | Who are Jordan's influences?
  7. ^ Jordan Rudess.com
  8. ^ Sonic State - News (Video Item) Korg Expand and Update OASYS for Free, New STR-1 EXi instrument and OS 1.10
  9. ^ manikin electronic - elektronische Musikmaschinen aus Berlin
  10. ^ Rudess Meets Bebot
  11. ^ "User Stories-Jordan Rudess"

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