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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name =Jordan Rudess|landscape = Yes|background = non_vocal_instrumentalist|birth_name = Jordan Charles Rudess|alias = The Keyboard WizardCitation needed|date=February 2010|image = Jordan Rudess2 (H.I).jpg|caption = Jordan Rudess with Dream Theater 2007|birth_date = Birth date and age|1956|11|4|mf=y|death_date =| origin = Great Neck, New York , USA |instrument = Keyboard instrument|Keyboards , lap steel guitar , Morphwiz on iPad , electric guitar , Singer|vocals , continuum (instrument)|continuum , keytar , Bassoon tablet computer|Tablet PC , Harpejji |genre = Progressive rock , progressive metal , instrumental rock , jazz fusion , New Age music|New Age , electronic music , avant-garde |occupation = Musician , songwriter |years_active = 1981–present|label =|associated_acts = Dream Theater , Dixie Dregs , Liquid Tension Experiment , John Petrucci , Rod Morgenstein , David Bowie , Vinnie Moore , Tom Coster , Kip Winger , Nóirín Ní Riain , Rhonda Larson , Paul Winter , Scott McGill , Steven Wilson , Prefab Sprout , Jupiter (band)|Jupiter , Neal Morse , Daniel J , Neil Zaza , Annie Haslam , John-Luke Addison , Behold... The Arctopus , Liquid Trio Experiment , Mr. Fastfinger , Ricky Garcia , Frost* |website = http://www.jordanrudess.com Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/26/style/nancy-kornfeld-becomes-a-bride.html? sec=& spon= Nancy Kornfeld Becomes a Bride http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm? requesttimeout=300& mode=results& searchstr=502354670& search_in=i& search_type=exact& search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v& results_pp=30& start=1 Rudess on November 4, 1956) is an United States|American keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment .
Biography
Rudess was born in 1956 into a Jewish family. He was recognized by his 2nd grade teacher for his piano playing and was immediately given professional tuition. At nine, he entered the Juilliard School|Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizer s and progressive rock music. Against the counsel of his parents and tutors, he turned away from classical piano and tried his hand as a solo progressive rock keyboardist.Stefanis, J. http://www.getreadytorock.com/rock_stars/jordan_rudess.htm "Interview with Jordan Rudess", Get Ready to ROCK!, 2004
After performing in various projects during the 1980s, he gained international attention in 1994 when he was voted "Best New Talent" in the Keyboard Magazine readers' poll after the release of his Listen (Jordan Rudess album)|Listen solo album. Two of the bands who took notice of Rudess were The Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater , both of whom invited him to join. Rudess chose the Dregs, primarily as being a part time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family, a choice he was not given with Dream Theater.
During his time with the Dregs, Rudess formed a " power duo " with drummer Rod Morgenstein . The genesis of this pairing occurred when a power outage caused all of the Dregs' instruments to fail except Rudess', so he and Morgenstein improvised with each other until power was restored and the concert could continue. The chemistry between the two was so strong during this jam that they decided to perform together on a regular basis (under the name Rudess/Morgenstein Project or later RMP ) and have since released a studio and a live record.
Rudess encountered Dream Theater once again when he and Morgenstein secured the support slot on one of Dream Theater's North American tours.
In 1997, when Mike Portnoy was asked to form a Supergroup (music)|supergroup by Magna Carta Records , Rudess was chosen to fill the keyboardist spot in the band, which also consisted of Tony Levin and Portnoy's Dream Theater colleague John Petrucci . During the recording of Liquid Tension Experiment 's two albums, it became evident to Portnoy and Petrucci that Rudess was what Dream Theater needed. They asked Rudess to join the band, and when he accepted they released their then-keyboardist Derek Sherinian to make way for him.
Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist in Dream Theater since the recording of 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory . He has recorded six other studio albums with the group: 2002's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence , 2003's Train of Thought (Dream Theater album)|Train of Thought , 2005's Octavarium (album)|Octavarium , 2007's Systematic Chaos , 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings and 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events . In addition, he has appeared on the live albums Live Scenes From New York , Live at Budokan (Dream Theater)|Live at Budokan , Score (album)|Score and Chaos in Motion .
In addition to working with Dream Theater he occasionally records and performs in other contexts, such as a 2001 one-off duo performance with Petrucci (released as the CD An Evening With John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess ), as well as backing up Blackfield on their first short US tour in 2005 and playing a solo opening slot for them on their second in 2007. He also contributed to Steven Wilson|Steven Wilson's 2011 album, Grace for Drowning . http://www.jordanrudess.com/forum/showthread.php? t=13718
In 2010, Rudess composed "Explorations for Keyboard and Orchestra," his first classical composition. It was premiered in Venezuela on November 19, 2010 by the Chacao Youth Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Eren Basbug. Rudess played all of the keyboard and synthesizer parts.
On July 28, 2011, in a poll conducted by MusicRadar , Rudess was voted the best keyboardist of all time. http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-27-greatest-keyboard-players-of-all-time-484228/28
Rudess says his influences as a keyboardist are Keith Emerson , Tony Banks (musician)|Tony Banks , Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz . http://faq.dtnorway.com/question/41 faq.dtnorway.com | Who are Jordan's influences? His favorite musical artists and groups include Gentle Giant , Yes (band)|Yes , Genesis (band)|Genesis , Pink Floyd , Emerson, Lake & Palmer , King Crimson , Jimi Hendrix , Autechre , and Aphex Twin . http://www.jordanrudess.com/jr/ Jordan Rudess.com
Use of technology
While many keyboard players in progressive rock tend towards bringing numerous keyboards on stage, creating large racks of keyboards, Rudess took full advantage of the possibilities offered by the Kurzweil Music Systems|Kurzweil K2600xs during his live usage of the keyboard from the 1990s to 2004. Often sampling sounds from other keyboards he owned, Rudess creates a series of "setups", each of which maps different sounds to different layers and key ranges of the keyboard controller; these setups are then arranged in the order they will be required for a gig, and cycled through one at a time with a foot-switch (a control pedal placed on the floor underneath his keyboard). He often maps sounds to exact notes on the keyboard to avoid playing chords on sounds that are meant to be monophonic and to create realistic percussion sounds under the pitched sounds he is playing.
While Rudess' physical method of changing live setups will more than likely remain the same, his choice of hardware to implement this changed as of 2005. Citing a need for better tour support and more current technologies (his Kurzweil K2600XS's maximum sample memory of 128 MB had become insufficient for his touring needs), Rudess switched keyboard endorsements from Kurzweil to Korg 's new flagship Korg Oasys workstation (which can support up to 2 GB of sample memory http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm? newsid=2432 Sonic State - News (Video Item) Korg Expand and Update OASYS for Free, New STR-1 EXi instrument and OS 1.10), which he first used on Dream Theater's 2005-2006 20th Anniversary tour, along with a Muse Receptor hardware VST and a Continuum (instrument)|Haken Continuum X/Y/Z-plane MIDI Instrument triggering a Roland Corporation|Roland V-Synth XT and a Synthesizers.com Modular. Rudess is the first well known keyboardist to bring a Haken Continuum on to a live stage. Rudess still uses the Kurzweil for studio recordings and some of his most well known sounds, such as "the pig", one of his signature sounds which is often played in unison with the guitar or bass guitar, were sounds from the K2600xs. In 2011 Jordan switched from the Korg OASYS|Oasys to the new flagship Korg Kronos . So on the concerts with Dream Theater now he uses the Korg Kronos together with a Haken Continuum , a lap steel guitar and a Harpejji and an iPad .
Since 2001, Rudess uses custom made rotating keyboard stands on stage for both Dream Theater and his solo career, which are built by Patrick Slaats from the Netherlands .ref On Dream Theater's 2007-2008 "Chaos in Motion" world tour, Rudess expanded his live setup with the addition of a Korg RADIAS , a Manikin Memotron , http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/products_memotron.html manikin electronic - elektronische Musikmaschinen aus Berlin and a Zen Riffer keytar . Rudess stopped using his Synthesizers.com modular after the European leg of the tour due to its size and weight. Rudess still owns the synthesizer and keeps it inactive in his home studio. During the Progressive Nation 2008 tour, he introduced on the stage a Kaoss Pad 3 for the closing medley.
For the 2009-2010 tour, in support of Black Clouds & Silver Linings , Jordan introduced the Apple Inc.|Apple iPod Touch on stage, running an application called Bebot Robot Synth. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=KFG7-Q0WI7Q Rudess Meets Bebot He plays it during A Rite of Passage - both studio album and live versions of the song - and frequently uses it for improvised solos, like in Hollow Years ' intro and during a new instrumental section on Solitary Shell .
On September 24, 2010, Rudess released the song "Krump," which was an electronica "single" released on iTunes . It featured the use of the new Roland Music|Roland Gaia, Roland's more recent keyboard.
Continuum (instrument)|Haken Audio Continuum Fingerboard Rudess uses the upgraded half size model, which comes with inbuilt sounds as well as being used as a MIDI controller keyboard
Eigenharp Alpha
Muse Research Receptor
Kurzweil Music Systems|Kurzweil K2600X/S (88 keys)
Roland Fantom-G8 ''Liquid Tension Experiment and occasionally for Dream Theater's studio work
Freehand Systems Music Pad Pro Often known to fans as the "scratch pad", as he uses it to write down musical ideas. The sheet music for the entire live set is displayed on the pad for Rudess to refer to as he plays.
3x Roland V-Synth XT
Custom made rotating keyboardstands, by Patrick Slaatsref
Lap steel guitar
Haken Continuum_(instrument)|Continuum Fingerboard controls one Roland V-Synth XT and also controlled his modular synth.
Zen Riffer ZR2 keytar , which controls a Roland V-Synth XT like his continuum.
Apple Inc. iPod Touch
Apple Inc. iPad
Mackie 1604VLZ Pro Mixer
APS Power backup
Glyph and Iomega Hard drives
Korg Kaoss Pad 3
Muse Research Receptor
Synthesizers.com Custom Modular Synth currently retired, was used to play "On the run" and was also controlled by his continuum
http://www.hakenaudio.com/Continuum/html/examples/ex232.html Jordan Rudess performing on continuum live
http://www.progsounds.com/forum/showthread.php? t=303 Jordan Rudess Liquid T Lead emulation tutorial on Progsounds.com
http://www.progsounds.com/forum/search.php? searchid=2499 Jordan Rudess emulated patches for various synths on Progsounds.com
http://wikeyboardwizard.pbwiki.com/FrontPage Wiki about Jordan and his equipment (French & English)
http://flabonde.free.fr/rudess.htm Biography, pics, reviews and bonuses
http://www.youtube.com/user/JCRUDESS Jordan Rudess Youtube page
Jordan Rudess|state=plainDream TheaterLiquid Tension Experiment Persondata | NAME =Rudess, Jordan | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =November 4, 1956 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Rudess, Jordan Category:1956 births Category:American session musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Dream Theater members Category:Dixie Dregs members Category:American heavy metal keyboardists Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Living people Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:Keytarists Category:People from Great Neck, New York
