Jun 19, 2017
This episode of Sounding Off features Dream Theater Keyboardist
Jordan Rudess. Here is Jordan's Biography:
Voted “Best Keyboardist of All Time” by Music Radar Magazine,
Jordan Rudess is best known as the
keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire for
platinum-selling Grammy- nominated prog rock band, Dream
Theater.
At nine, he entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College
Division for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had
grown increasingly interested in synthesizers 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.
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 solo album. Two of the bands that 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.
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 released a studio
and a live record. RMP did a short U.S. tour in November, 2013.
Before joining Dream Theater in January 1999, Jordan connected with
John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, bassist Tony Levin
of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel notoriety, and recorded two
albums with “Liquid Tension Experiment.”
Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist with Dream Theater, since
the recording of 1999’s Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He
has recorded seven other studio albums with the group: 2002’s Six
Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2003’s Train of Thought, 2005’s
Octavarium, 2007’s Systematic Chaos, 2009’s Black Clouds & Silver
Linings , A Dramatic Turn of Events, the self titled Dream Theater,
as well as their newest album, The Astonishing, a Rock Opera. The
story was written by John Petrucci with music written by John
Petrucci and and Jordan Rudess.