Favorite

[cannonball-addict]

At the request of Connoisseur 500, here is a poll on electric pianists.....as if there's any competition......well on second thought, we might have a debate here.

These came to me off the top of my head....well with a little help from AMG. Please excuse me.

Sorry Europeans, I should provide a qualifier; favorite American electric pianist (the only exception, of course, being Mr. Zawinul).

Edited November 27, 2004 by cannonball-addict

[connoisseur series500]

Had to vote "other." George Cables is the man...

[Chuck Nessa]

Either Ray or Ra.

[Jim R]

I think I'd go with Joe Sample, but I need more time to think back...

[7/4]

Sun Ra

[Bright Moments]

les mccann

B-)

[Alon Marcus]

Herbie Hancock!

His funky chords fit the fender Rhodes sound like a glove.

Also he was the first one to use all the ugly and synthetic instruments in a smart way.

[MartyJazz]

Just off the strength of his playing behind Joe Henderson on the latter's 1972 LIVE IN JAPAN date (Milestone), I nominate Hideo Ichikawa. In particular listen to his comping and solo on "Blue Bossa" alone. Tremendous!

[SEK]

I agree with ztrauq22 for Herbie Hancock's contributions to the larger culture, but I also recognize Sun Ra for his pioneering work.

[mikeweil]

Herbie!!!!!!!!!

Larry Willis is great on Rhodes, on his Groove Merchant LP he played a Wurlitzer, which has an even funkier sound. George Duke had a Wurlitzer.

Of the younger Hancock disciples, I favor Kevin Hays and Geoffrey Keezer.

But I like the stylings of many, including more avant-garde players.

Edited November 28, 2004 by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

Have to say, the stuff Herbie plays on his three Warner Bros. LPs is the greatest ever played on a Rhodes, IMHO. His solos on "Ostinato" sound like a bunch of balaphones gone funky. That one hooked me to Herbie and the Rhodes - played that track a thousand times - wish they had released the unedited version on the originally planned Warner box that was scaled down to that two-CD set.

[Д.Д.]

Sun Ra

[marcoliv]

for me it´s Chick. his stuff on the albums Return to Forever & Light as a Feather are pure magic for me

Marcus

[RDK]

for me it´s Chick. his stuff on the albums Return to Forever & Light as a Feather are pure magic for me

I'd have to agree that it's CC - at least among the artists listed and/or who I've heard. Prefer Jarrett and Hancock as pianists, of course, but I love Chick's playing on those early RTF albums.

[DrJ]

I don't know if I have a "favorite" but since he hasn't been mentioned yet, I want to give Kevin Hays some props here. Most will know him as a pianist, if at all (I find him to be a little under-rated myself). I've only heard him play Fender Rhodes a couple times, like on Eddie Henderson's DARK SHADOWS album, but he's really quite a talented and tasteful player. I'd like to hear a lot more.

[Guy Berger]

Have to vote for Chick. Was just listening to the Nov. 3 '69 "Masqualero", where he takes a five minutes solo -- yowza. Herbie and Joe come in 2nd and 3rd.

Guy

Edited November 28, 2004 by Guy Berger

[brownie]

Don't care much for electric piano.

Wish Paul Bley would play more of it but I won't blame him for sticking mostly to the plain (and glorious) piano.

One pianist who has explored interesting areas in the electric piano field is Gordon Beck. He gets my vote!

[mikeweil]

I want to give Kevin Hays some props here.

Try to get his OOP Blue Note CD "go Round".

[BruceH]

Don't care much for electric piano.

Me neither, at least in a jazz context.

[Guy Berger]

Just off the strength of his playing behind Joe Henderson on the latter's 1972 LIVE IN JAPAN date (Milestone), I nominate Hideo Ichikawa. In particular listen to his comping and solo on "Blue Bossa" alone. Tremendous!

Interesting. This is a case where I would have definitely preferred to hear an acoustic piano.

Guy

[vibes]

Bill Evans played a Rhodes on a few dates, and I actually like it quite a bit. I much prefer him on a traditional piano, but he's not bad on an electric. "From Left to Right" is a good example of Evans on a Rhodes.

[JSngry]

Cables on "Poinciana" (from Sonny Rollins' NEXT ALBUM) is my singlemost favorite Rhodes moment, if for no other reason than the sheer sound of the thing. But that's just such a damn fine recording of all the instruments, period - David Lee's cymbals on that one tune alone earn him admission into Drum God-dom if you ask me, and you can hear the wood on Bob Cranshaw's upright (sic!) like it was a freakin' sequoia. And then there's Sonny's soprano...yeah.

Warning, thugh - the CD remastering doesn't capture the full sonic pallate of the old LP.

Now here's a surprising (perhaps) Rhodes favorite - Barry Harris playing "Good Bait" on a Xanadu album. Very cool, at least soming over the AM radio, which is the only place I've heard it. But again, the sound of the thing was just too hip to resist.

Electric piano (at least how I like to hear it) has/had that "cloud" to it that's sort of the aural equivalent to the tinting used on the B&W photos of the old BN covers - it serves as both a mask and an indicator, a signal that things may not be exactly what they seem to be on the surface. And no, it's no substitute for accoustic piano, which is why I think a really "cleaned up" Rhodes sound is not cool in the least. Give me the distortion, the muddiness, the clinking hammer-on-tine sound, the slightly imperfectly tuned tines, the buzzin, give me all of that (with a double does of tremelo/vibrato/etcetero), and make it speak the language that such sounds speak best. Then you got something!

I dig the Rhodes immensely, and the Wurlitzer too. But the Wurlitzer didn't have as strong/fat/whatever sound and structure, so I don't think it held up as well to more "energetic" playing. But it was a soulful sounding little booger, yes it was.

[DrJ]

Well I was thinkin' about Wurlitzer, but didn't know if it was considered more like an organ or an electric piano or what. Regardless, if we're talkin' that instrument, Alice Coltrane ought to be mentioned in here for sure!

[JSngry]

Well I was thinkin' about Wurlitzer, but didn't know if it was considered more like an organ or an electric piano or what. Regardless, if we're talkin' that instrument, Alice Coltrane ought to be mentioned in here for sure!

Wurlitzer made both organs and electric pianos. The Alice work that I know of is on organ. Joe Sample's early electric piano work would be an example of the other.

[DrJ]

Never knew that Wurlitzer made two distinct types of instruments, thanks for the info!