Today is Keith Emerson's birthday!
He, along with Wendy Carlos, are two of the most important musicians in the world of synthesizers. They are both credited with introducing the use of synthesizers in mainstream music. Wendy brought synthesizers to classical music, and Keith brought synthesizers to band based Rock 'n' Roll. They were the first to bring synthesizers from the realm of the experimental, musique concrete, and educational applications to the main stream.
Keith Emerson's Moog modular is iconic. Not only does Keith still perform with it, but it inspired Moog Music to re-issue the awe inspiring monolith.
Thank you Keith, and Happy Birthday!!!
Left: Keith in St. Petersburg, Russia 2008 via wikipedia.
Below: Keith back in the day via @moogfest.
via wikipedia: "Emerson first heard a Moog when a record shop owner played Switched-On Bach for him. Emerson said: 'My God that's incredible, what is that played on?' The owner then showed him the album cover. So I said, 'What is that?' And he said, 'That's the Moog synthesizer.' My first impression was that it looked a bit like electronic skiffle.'[8]
Without one of his own, Emerson borrowed Mike Vickers' Moog for an upcoming The Nice concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London with the Royal Philharmonic. Mike helped patch the Moog and the concert was a great success. Emerson's performance of Also sprach Zarathustra from the recently released 2001: A Space Odyssey was a show stopper. Emerson: 'I thought this was great. I've got to have one of these.'[8]
With ELP's record deal with Atlantic came funds to buy the Moog. Keith: 'It cost a lot of money and it arrived and I excitedly got it out of the box stuck it on the table and thought, 'Wow That's Great! a Moog synthesizer [pause] How do you switch it on?...There were all these leads and stuff, there was no instruction manual.' Mike Vickers came through by patching it to produce six sounds and those six sounds became the foundation of ELP's sound.[8]
In 1969, Emerson incorporated the Moog modular synthesiser 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. Emerson's use of the Moog was so important to the development of new models that he was given prototypes, such as the Constellation he took on one tour[8] and the Apollo, which had its debut on the opening track of Brain Salad Surgery, 'Jerusalem.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment
To reduce spam, comments for posts older than one week are not displayed until approved, usually same day. Do not insult people. For items for sale, do not ask if it is still available. Check the auction link and search for the item. Auctions are from various sellers and expire over time. Posts remain for the pics and historical purposes. This site is meant to be a daily snapshot of some of what was out there in the world of synths.