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Keith Emerson

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Keith Emerson
Musical artist

Keith Noel Emerson (born 2 November 1944 in Todmorden, Yorkshire) is a British keyboard player and composer. The popular and well-regarded All Music Guide notes that Emerson may be the best, most technically accomplished rock keyboardist in history. Formerly a member of The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice (which evolved from P.P.Arnold's band), he started Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), one of the early supergroups, in 1970. Following the breakup of ELP, circa 1979, Emerson had modest success with Emerson, Lake & Powell in the 1980s. ELP reunited during the early 90s. Emerson also reunited The Nice in 2002 for a tour. He currently tours (through 2007) with The Keith Emerson Band.

Biography

Emerson grew up in the seaside resort of Worthing, West Sussex, England. As a child, he learned western classical music, from which he derived a lot of inspiration to create his own style, combining classical music, jazz, and rock themes. Emerson became intrigued with the Hammond organ after hearing jazz organist Jack McDuff perform "Rock Candy" and it subsequently became his instrument of choice for performing in the late 60s. In 1969, Emerson incorporated the Moog modular synthesizer into his battery of keyboards. While other artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had used the Moog in studio recordings, Emerson was the first artist to tour with one.

He is known for his technical skill and for his live antics, including using knives to wedge down specific keys of his Hammond organ during solos, playing the organ upside down while having it lie over him and backwards while standing behind it. He also employed a special rig to rotate his piano end-over-end while he's "playing" it (purely theatrical, since acoustic pianos cannot function when turned upside down in this manner). Emerson is widely regarded as one of the top keyboard players of the progressive rock era (Contemporary Keyboard, October 1977, September 1980).

Central to much of Keith Emerson's music are rock arrangements of classical compositions, ranging from (lots of) J. S. Bach via Modest Mussorgsky to 20th century composers like Béla Bartók, Aaron Copland, Leoš Janáček and Alberto Ginastera. Occasionally Emerson has "borrowed" certain classical and jazz works without giving credit, particularly early in his career, from the late 1960s until 1972; the song "Rondo" by The Nice is a 4/4 interpretation of "Blue Rondo à la Turk" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, originally in 9/8 time signature. The piece is introduced by an extensive quote from Bach's Italian Concerto, third movement. In fact, considering the Bach and Emerson's own improvisations, the Brubeck contribution is merely the anchoring theme.

On ELP's eponymous first album, Emerson's classical quotes went largely uncredited. "The Barbarian" is heavily influenced by "Allegro barbaro" by Bartók, and "Knife Edge" is virtually a note-for-note restatement of "Sifonietta" by Janáček. Note-for-note extracts were taken from pieces by Bartók, Janáček and Bach, mixed in with some original material, and credited completely to Emerson, Lake, Palmer and roadie Richard Fraser. By 1971, with the releases Pictures At An Exhibition and Trilogy, Emerson began to fully credit classical composers, Modest Mussorgsky for the piano piece which inspired the first album, and Aaron Copland for "Hoedown" on the second. Emerson was adamant that he did not use Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition in developing the his own version.

In 2004 Emerson published his critically acclaimed autobiography entitled "Pictures of an Exhibitionist", which deals with his entire career, particularly focusing on his early days with The Nice, and his nearly career-ending nerve-graft surgery in 1993.

Emerson has provided music for a number of films since 1980, including Dario Argento's Inferno and World of Horror, the 1981 thriller Nighthawks and, more recently, Godzilla: Final Wars. He was also the composer for the short-lived 1994 animated television series Iron Man.

Instrumentation and playing style

On stage Emerson started out on Hammond organ, with a grand piano toward the back of the stage. By the end of his time with The Nice, the standard arrangement was two Hammond organs, a C-3 and an L-100, placed facing each other with the C-3 to the left from the audience point of view. The L-100 took plenty of abuse during the stage act and was usually reinforced, to the point where it weighed so much that, on at least one occasion, Emerson became trapped beneath it and had to be rescued by a roadie. At any given time Emerson is said to have owned several L-100 models, in various stages of repair, to support his act. The C-3, in contrast, seems to have lasted for years.

With ELP Emerson added the Moog synthesizer behind the C-3 with the keyboard and ribbon controller stacked on the top of the organ. The ribbon controller allowed Emerson to vary pitch, tone or timbre of the output from the Moog by moving his finger up and down the length of a touch-sensitive strip. It also could be used as a phallic symbol, which quickly became a feature of the act. When the Minimoog entered the act it was placed where needed, such as on top of the grand piano. The same location was also used for an electric clavinet keyboard, used almost exclusively for the encore piece Nut Rocker.

Occasionally Emerson used a pipe organ, when available. In particular, at the Newcastle City Hall he used the Harrison & Harrison pipe organ for the introductory section of Pictures at an Exhibition. The organ is located at the rear above the stage, at the top of a series of steps where choirs can stand. The end of the introductory passage is followed by a drum roll, covering the time while Emerson descended the steps. While all went well for the recording used to produce the album, the debut tour performance at the same venue ground to a halt as the power failed, just as Emerson arrived at the Hammond organ to open the next part of the piece. After a lengthy delay the performance continued with only the Hammond L-100 functioning.

Emerson also used the organ at the Royal Festival Hall for the recording of the debut album by the group. It is not known if he also used it in a live context.

Amplifiers and speakers behind Emerson became more elaborate, including a Leslie unit. There was also a board attached to the front of the stack, intended as a target for his knife-throwing.

As the technology of electronic keyboard instruments became more sophisticated, Emerson was quick to adopt new instruments such as polyphonic synthesizers, one of which can be seen on the video promoting Fanfare for the Common Man. Other more elaborate innovations have been previously described in this article.

Even on the grand piano, Emerson refused to limit his technique to hitting the keys. He would sometimes reach into the interior and hit, pluck or strum the strings with his hand. The introduction to Take a Pebble includes chords and arpeggios played by pressing down on keys, to raise the dampers from the strings, and playing the strings inside the piano as one might play the autoharp. In the live performance of Hang on to a Dream with the Nice, recorded for the post-breakup album Elegy, he performed a cadenza of sorts hitting the piano strings with a small hammer, followed by a lengthy wind-down returning to the song in which he alternated keyboard arpeggios with blows directly on the bass strings. The standard finale to the song has him reaching into the piano with fingers spread on both hands to pluck the final chord, presumably depressing the sustain pedal at the same time to lift all the string dampers. This can be clearly seen on a performance filmed for the television show Beat Club.

Despite his training, Emerson's finger technique was highly idiosyncratic. He tended to curl up his ring finger and little finger while playing, which a true classical musician would never do.

Partial list of pieces based on other composers' works

Note that lack of credit does not imply plagiarism. It is certain that, where required, royalties were paid to composers or their estates. Permission to use pieces was sometimes denied by the composer's family or estate, as for instance with Gustav Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War.

With The Nice

With ELP

See also

Trivia

The surreal comedy series Big Train featured Keith Emerson, played by Kevin Eldon, as a Roman slave, fighting his enemies with Prog Rock.

He was given his trademark knife by Lemmy who was a roadie for The Nice in his earlier days.

References

  • http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/emerson_keith/bio.jhtml
  • Forrester, George, Martyn Hanson and Frank Askew. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Show That Never Ends, A Musical Biography. (2001) Helter Skelter Publishing ISBN 1-900924-17-X.
  • Contemporary Keyboard, Vol. 3, No. 10, October 1977, pp. 22-30, 32, 36, 38, 52.
  • Contemporary Keyboard,Vol. 6, No. 9, September 1980, pp. 16-23.

External links

Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Box sets
Songs
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