KEYBOARDIST

A 'keyboardist' is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid 1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more general term for a person who plays them. These keyboards include:

★ electric pianos such as the Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano

★ electronic pianos such as the Roland Digital Piano

★ Hammond and other electric organ such as the Farfisa and Vox Continental

★ analog synthesizers such as Moog and ARP synthesizers

★ digital electronic keyboards such as those produced today by Roland, Yamaha, Kurzweil and Korg

★ samplers

★ mellotron

★ clavinet

★ pianet

★ piano (but see Pianist for a list of famous pianists)

★ harpsichord

★ reed organ

★ celesta

★ clavichord

★ pipe organ

★ harmonium
It has become stylish among hard-rock enthusiasts and musicians to adopt an attitude of scorn and derision towards keyboardists and keyboard music. As an example, guitarist Ted Nugent goes hunting and shoots a keyboard in one of his DVDs. However, in general, the keyboardist has seen something of a resurgence in rock music in recent years, with bands like Maroon 5, Athlete and The Killers featuring keyboards prominently.

Contents

Notable electronic keyboardists

Rock and pop

Jazz

Classical

See also

External links

Notable electronic keyboardists

Main articles: List of keyboardists

Note: while the term 'keyboardist' can cover a wide variety of instruments both acoustic and electronic, the following musicians are mostly known as electronic keyboardists, although they may also play piano or other acoustic keyboards.

Rock and pop

:Vince Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode, Yazoo)
:Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
:Brian Eno
:Martin Gore (Depeche Mode)
:Ralf Hütter (Kraftwerk, Organisation)
:Jean Michel Jarre
:Booker T. Jones
:Geddy Lee (Rush)
:Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
:Manfred Lubowitz (Manfred Mann)
:Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
:Gary Numan
:Billy Preston
:Alan Price (The Animals)
:Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
:Florian Schneider-Esleben (Kraftwerk)
:Vangelis
:Stevie Wonder
:Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic)
:Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
:Rick Wakeman (Yes)

Jazz

Generally speaking, in jazz music, electronic keyboard players are very often also pianists.
:Chick Corea
:Herbie Hancock
:Keith Jarrett
:Jimmy Smith
:Josef Zawinul (Weather Report)

Classical

:Wendy Carlos

See also

★ Pianist

★ Organist

★ List of Hammond organ players

★ List of harpsichordists

★ Classical pianists (recorded)

External links

★ Keyboard Player magazine

★ Harmony Central resource for keyboard/synth players