# The great keyboard player has left the building



## Baron Greuner (Mar 11, 2016)

Probably and arguably the greatest exponent of rock classical music in a trio that ever lived. Not quite sure what has happened at this point but I'm in a lot if shock at the news. Certainly my greatest playing influence in my lifetime.
The news of Keith Emerson dying today is a massive blow to me and I know others will feel the same way.


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## Baron Greuner (Mar 11, 2016)

Looks like a gun to the head unfortunately. This did not surprise me alas. Depression has finally got he better of him and this is a sad way to go. Depression is a dreadful affliction but the problems with his arm and hand nerves proved to be too much for such a great player. Awful situation and a sad day indeed.


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## NYC Composer (Mar 11, 2016)

Oh no. That he'd died was bad enough. 

Very very sad.☹️


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## germancomponist (Mar 11, 2016)

Sad!


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## woodsdenis (Mar 11, 2016)

Gutted, an inspiration.


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## zolhof (Mar 11, 2016)

Great words, Baron. I couldn't believe when the news broke all over social media that he had left us in such a tragic way. It just doesn't feel right to live in a world without Keith Emerson. Surreal. Shocking. Sad.


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## synthpunk (Mar 11, 2016)

I went to bed at night as a kid after watching ELP sign off PBS in NYC. I don't know how much more of this I can take this year. Someone want to meet at the pub ?


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## chimuelo (Mar 11, 2016)

True it is sad the King has passed, but I for one am happy how he lived, and how he influenced my playing.
I do 2 x ELP songs, the simple but memorable Lucky Man, and the Piano solo from 3 Fates as an interlude in between 2 songs.
If it wasn't for the God Emerson I would have remained a Guitarist, and likely overdosed from a lack of challenges.
Learning an Emerson song is still a challenge even for a classically trained Pianist.

But here you can see the deadliest mono synth weapon that I heard when I was 12 years (yes kids went to concerts in the 70s) old.
It literally changed my life when I heard Trilogy. The SPLs felt as though they were shaving hair off the sides of my head.

I hope he has a Tombstone as large as his Modular.
Bob Moog and Emerson started this, and will be remembered.




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## germancomponist (Mar 11, 2016)

And yes, we all have to die... .


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## tcollins (Mar 11, 2016)

Very sad. He was my hero as a teenager. He made being a keyboard player cool.


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## JonFairhurst (Mar 11, 2016)

I'll never forget attending the California Jam in 1974 as a sophomore in high school. ELP headlined. After a full day of music with 400,000 of our closest friends in the infield of the Ontario Motor Speedway, we crowded forward to witness ELP at their peak.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Jam

BTW, the wiki article missed Sha Na Na who performed early in the day. (yeah, they were a bit out of place.)

You can see much of the show on YouTube.


I also saw ELP on their Works tour at the Long Beach Arena in 1977.


I think I still have all of Emerson's Nice records.

I'm still in denial about the news of Keith Emerson's death. My initial reaction is tearing up and hearing an infinitely long, "Nooooooooo!"

These day's I'm playing violin (and a touch of ham-handed piano) in a community orchestra. One of our pieces? Hoedown. I practice it with Copland's score but more than ever, I enjoy jamming to Keith's version. The news makes me really want to nail it for our May concert.

So from high school to present day, Keith Emerson has inspired me. That will never end.

Roll up. See the show.


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## Baron Greuner (Mar 12, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> Oh no. That he'd died was bad enough.
> 
> Very very sad.☹️



I'm going to call up a friend of mine today who is on the library I contribute to. He knew Keith well and spent a lot of time in their Brighton studio years ago. He will be disappointed. Emerson being from Worthing was very much part of the Brighton set. I wish he'd stayed here to be honest but money was probably an issue and the US has a lot more opportunities and scale for the likes of Keith Emerson. I was only talking on the phone to him the other day and Keith's name came up. Both of us being keyboard players originally, Emerson was always the gold standard.

A lot of people for years always assumed Keith went to this or that music college. He didn't and more or less worked out the whole thing out himself from an early age. It's virtually mpossble to describe or tell people how good a player Emerson is. It's another world compared to what happens out there today. And he had to stand up playing most of the time.
To start off, he basically took Jimmy Smith's style to the enth degree and then took it fom there.

I was introduced to The Nice through a compilation album I think was called either Nice Enough To Eat or Imemediate Lets You In with the studio version of Rondo. Later on I was lucky enough to go round to visit Blinky Davison in his apartment in Hollands Park when I was at music college and shoot the music breeze.

The first time I watched The Nice was at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street and then later at the Bath Music Festival when he had a bunch of Scottish pipers on board. Haha.


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## NYC Composer (Mar 12, 2016)

You were fortunate to see them. I saw ELP at Saratoga in upstate NY, but I had heard a live The Nice album, which blew my freakin mind.

I spent most of an abortive year in college with my Hammond, woodshedding tunes on Tarkus. I was thrown out of two dorm rooms.


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## Baron Greuner (Mar 12, 2016)

This young American lady is going to be very disappointed.


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## synthpunk (Mar 12, 2016)

Some more info on Emerson's Epic Moog
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul14/articles/emerson-moog-modular.htm

I hope it ends up in the rock and roll hall of fame.



chimuelo said:


> True it is sad the King has passed, but I for one am happy how he lived, and how he influenced my playing.
> I do 2 x ELP songs, the simple but memorable Lucky Man, and the Piano solo from 3 Fates as an interlude in between 2 songs.
> If it wasn't for the God Emerson I would have remained a Guitarist, and likely overdosed from a lack of challenges.
> Learning an Emerson song is still a challenge even for a classically trained Pianist.
> ...


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## NYC Composer (Mar 12, 2016)

Rachael Flowers will be the Emerson tribute act par excellence.


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## chimuelo (Mar 12, 2016)

I sequenced Tarkus on a QX-1 and Palmers meter was so off I thought they were inserting measures of 11/8 on the 10/8 bars.


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## dpasdernick (Mar 13, 2016)

I saw ELP back in the late 70's in Vancouver. Emerson was blowing fireworks out of the end of a portable ribbon controller wired to the Moog. I was 15 and spent the summer working at a mushroom farm to save up for a set of drums like Carl Palmer had. I could never afford the large gongs...

RIP Keith.


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## chimuelo (Mar 13, 2016)

LoL...Brings back memories.
Our drummer went through the same turmoil as Mahavishnu Orchestra was the shit back then too.
Poor chump got busted trying to roll out a Gong cased up after a Kiss Concert.
Back then they settled things the old fashined way before PC Police were invented.
So for 2 weeks he wore the Taped nose and had a pair of shiners....

As kids we suffered wealth inequality but instead of whining about it took action.
I preferred shovelling concrete during the day for my addictions.
Our drummer chose poorly.............




picture share


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## Baron Greuner (Mar 13, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> Rachael Flowers will be the Emerson tribute act par excellence.


Emerson was using another keyboard player as it was in the live sets he managed to do. Greg Lake has been quoted today as saying he almost expected something like this to happen from many years ago.
Emersons girlfriend has been quoted today as saying he was very worried about the forthcoming Japanese tour because of the degenerative disease he had with nerve endings etc in his hands. She suggests he was going to retire after the visit to Japan. I personally doubt he would have done that.

She left him in bed with a bronchial condition in their apartment in Santa Monica, and on returning he had used the gun he apparently kept for protection, on himself.

I've seen some tweets today and I am most impressed with the the one from Billy Sheehan.

If you could somehow build a group around Rachel Flowers that worked, that would be something special and quite a thing to see.


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## synthpunk (Mar 23, 2016)

As Epic as it will ever get


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## chimuelo (Apr 13, 2016)

<iframe width="470" height="264" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YAm1QcqxlYU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


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