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OT: Underrated Keyboardists (Rock/Pop) - Thoughts and Nominees

Prestonyte

Prestonyte

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Last musical post of the off season ;)

Leon Russell
Benmont Tench - TP & Heartbreakers
Chuck Leavell - Allman Bros
 
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Stardust710

Stardust710

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This guy

Jams out to make the clams come out.
 
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Swifty

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Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)
Derek Sherinian (Planet X, Dream Theater, Platypus, Black Country Communion)
 
will110

will110

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Is Ronnie Milsap underrated?

I know he's a country artist but he's had hits crossover to the pop charts so he might count.
 
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Harvard Gamecock

Harvard Gamecock

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Patrick Moraz
Nicky Hopkins
Although a recognizable name, in my opinion not enough credit is given to
Bruce Hornsby. I've seen him twice in concert, a consummate musician.
 
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Prestonyte

Prestonyte

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Harvard Gamecock said:
Patrick Moraz
Nicky Hopkins
Although a recognizable name, in my opinion not enough credit is give to
Bruce Hornsby. I've seen him twice in concert, a consummate musician.
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Forgot about Hornsby - excellent choice. Not as well known as he should be!
 
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Cackmandu

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Prestonyte said:
Last musical post of the off season ;)

Leon Russell
Benmont Tench - TP & Heartbreakers
Chuck Leavell - Allman Bros
Click to expand...
Again, these guys are some of the best ever, hard for me to put them in the underrated catagory, but I like the way you think Preston and thanks for keeping the summer threads more on the fun entertaining side!
Leon Russell, jeez what more can you say when Elton idolized him and there wouldn’t have been a mad dogs and englishmen tour without him he was the band leader, his solo career was excellent, go listen to Carney, he also wrote one of those songs that will be covered until the end of time, a song for you!
Chuck Leavell, you could easily say he’s the best ever, his wiki page reads like a who’s who of the history of rock and roll, he’s played and toured with everybody. When Clapton needed a touring keyboardist Leavell’s name was the first mentioned!
Benmont Tench, as I already mentioned the heartbreakers are one of my favorites and no great band doesn’t have a great keyboardist!

in that vein, is Paul Shaffer underrated? He is damn good!
 
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Cockburn

Cockburn

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Greg Hawkes ~ The Cars
Steve Nieve ~ the Attractions (Elvis Costello)
 
Harvard Gamecock

Harvard Gamecock

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George Winston.
Sadly I just recently heard of his passing. His album December is one of the best Christmas albums I have ever listened to.
EDDIT:
Unless I missed it I'm surprised no one has mentioned Partick Moraz
 
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ToddFlanders

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I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I think every keyboardist in the rock/pop genre is properly rated. None too high, none underrated.
 
Harvard Gamecock

Harvard Gamecock

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ToddFlanders said:
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I think every keyboardist in the rock/pop genre is properly rated. None too high, none underrated.
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Personally, hard for me to imagine that not ranking Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, or Booker T. Jones as very high is an option.
 
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ToddFlanders

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Gamecock Jacque said:
Rated by whom?
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It doesn't matter - if you're a rock keyboardist and someone has bothered to even mention your name, you've gotten all the accolades you deserve.

Are there a handful of guys that have made a difference in some great songs? Sure - but they get their due. But in general it's a tertiary instrument at best, and just used to add some depth to the sound.
 
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Swifty

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It should probably be stated, if not already, that Prince can be named in all of these categories. He was unbelievably proficient at anything he picked up. The same can be said of guys like Brendan O'Brien, Butch Walker and Clay Cook. They fall under the category of "Do you know a _________ player? Prince was better than the person you know."
 
Stardust710

Stardust710

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ToddFlanders said:
It doesn't matter - if you're a rock keyboardist and someone has bothered to even mention your name, you've gotten all the accolades you deserve.

Are there a handful of guys that have made a difference in some great songs? Sure - but they get their due. But in general it's a tertiary instrument at best, and just used to add some depth to the sound.
Click to expand...
🤣
 
Harvard Gamecock

Harvard Gamecock

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ToddFlanders said:
It doesn't matter - if you're a rock keyboardist and someone has bothered to even mention your name, you've gotten all the accolades you deserve.

Are there a handful of guys that have made a difference in some great songs? Sure - but they get their due. But in general it's a tertiary instrument at best, and just used to add some depth to the sound.
Click to expand...
Something is telling me you were made to take piano lessons and you hated it. 🙂
 
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IOPGCock

IOPGCock

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Throwing in a Duke to win the ACC vote for the keyboardist in Faith No More.
 
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